Former Mt Pleasant MP Fadzayi Mahere has bemoaned what she described as the non-existent state of Zimbabwe’s disaster management capacity.
Mahere made the remarks following the capsizing of a ferry in Lake Kariba on Tuesday afternoon, an accident that has left at least 27 people still missing several hours later.
The former legislator accused Government officials of squandering national resources on luxury lifestyles instead of investing in functional civil protection systems.
She said millions were being spent on “small houses, cars and trinkets” while critical emergency services remained underfunded and ill-equipped to respond to disasters.
The Mbuyanehanda Ferry, operated by the Rural Infrastructure Development Agency (RIDA), formerly District Development Fund (DDF), capsized near Long Island with more than 100 people on board. Rescue efforts were still underway late into the night.
“Every day, we are reminded about how woefully inadequate, if not non-existent, Zimbabwe’s disaster management capacity is,” she wrote on Facebook.
“The Kariba Ferry disaster is further testament to a broken-down state which cannot save lives in critical moments.
“Instead of investing in functional civil protection systems, money is spent on small houses, cars and trinkets. It’s a mess.”
Mashonaland West MP Mutsa Murombedzi has said that the Mbuya Nehanda ferry provided the most convenient link between rural Nyaminyami in Kariba and Kariba Urban, a journey of about five hours.
“Communities in Kariba rural Nyaminyami used this boat as transport to cross Lake Kariba to go to Kariba urban and vice versa,” she wrote on X.
“These communities were displaced from their original lands, which is where the lake sits right now, to pave the way for the Kariba Hydroelectric project.
“To use the road, they have to first get to Karoi, then Makuti, which is a longer way.
“And besides, there is no reliable road transport because the Karoi Binga road has long been forgotten & is in bad shape.”
According to video footage that has since gone viral, bystanders who had gathered to see the vessel off were heard commenting on the unusually large waves on the lake, with some suggesting the ferry was overloaded and would struggle to complete its voyage.
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