MUTARE- The Zimbabwe Coalition on Debt and Development (ZIMCODD) has urged government to institute a comprehensive audit to address with urgency, a bulging debt burden on the country.
This call comes after the social and economic justice organization launched a Week of Action Against Debt injustice to build a strong grass root movement and citizen agency around debt injustices in Zimbabwe.
In a statement, ZIMCODD said the Week of Action will be anchored on the catchphrase of the #HowFar campaign “You Deserve to Know” to build citizen accountability on debt in Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe is battling a huge debt burden, which according to the Minister of Finance and Economic Development is sitting at US$10.5 billion in external debt and ZWL$20 Billion in domestic debt.
After its viral social media public sector performance gauge, the #The HowFar campaign, ZIMCODD has now extended its attention to debt as it ‘remains one of the economic challenges that the country is grappling with.’
“An official debt audit provides a starting point of any debt relief or sustainability programme and is central in informing the country’s future debt strategy,” ZIMCODD said.
“This debt crisis has limited economic development, whose ripple effect is the abrogation of citizens’ social and economic rights despite them being guaranteed in the constitution,” ZIMCODD added.
The organization urged Zimbabweans to demand debt justice by joining the Week of Action against Debt injustice as well as the ongoing #HowFar campaign.
ZIMCODD is a social and economic justice Coalition established in February 2000 to facilitate citizens involvement in pro-people public policy. ZIMCODD views indebtedness, the unfair global trade regime and lack of democratic people-centred economic governance as the root cause of socio-economic crises in Zimbabwe and the world at large.
