Treasury Faces Questions Over US$27.3 Million Cancer Equipment Spending

Zimbabwe’s Treasury is facing calls for greater disclosure of a US$27.3 million healthcare procurement funded through the country’s sugar-content tax after an opposition MP alleged that cancer-treatment equipment had been significantly overpriced.

Mbizo MP Corban Madzivanyika raised the issue in the National Assembly during debate on the 2026 Mid-Term Fiscal Review, questioning whether the reported expenditure represented value for money.

Finance Minister Professor Mthuli Ncube rejected the suggestion that the entire amount was spent solely on four radiotherapy machines. He said the programme also covered diagnostic equipment, medicines and other medical supplies.

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Ncube nevertheless acknowledged that the pricing could warrant scrutiny.

“I will use a different word, value for money, that perhaps in terms of the pricing, there may not have been value for money and I should check that,” Ncube said.

“If he has some information, I will encourage him to give it to me directly and then I can investigate appropriately.”

MP Questions Cost Of Four Machines

Madzivanyika told Parliament that, based on his assessment, each cancer-treatment machine should cost no more than US$500,000, including duty and freight.

On that calculation, four machines would cost about US$2 million, leaving a difference of approximately US$25.3 million against the US$27.3 million expenditure under discussion.

“Each machine costs US$500,000 at maximum, including duty and also freight charges, but we are seeing the Government spending US$27 million for four cancer machines,” Madzivanyika said.

“That is outrageous, Hon. Minister. That is totally out of this world.”

The MP alleged that public funds could have been misappropriated and called for the procurement to be investigated.

“How can four cancer machines cost US$27 million? That is fraud. It must be followed up,” he said.

“I want to bet my last dollar that our money has been stolen on this one. Please conduct investigations and prosecute the people involved.”

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Madzivanyika did not present documentary evidence in Parliament supporting his US$500,000 estimate or identify the manufacturers or specifications used for his comparison.

Ncube Acknowledges Need To Check Value For Money

Ncube said the US$27.3 million figure should not be interpreted as the purchase price of only four radiotherapy machines because the programme included other healthcare equipment, medicines and supplies.

However, he did not provide an itemised breakdown to Parliament showing the individual costs of the radiotherapy machines or the other components of the procurement.

The minister’s explanation also differs from an earlier public description of the programme.

In June, Health Minister Douglas Mombeshora said four radiotherapy machines — two multi-energy and two low-energy units — had been procured during the first phase and that the “total cost came to about US$27 million”. He also said the package included two CT scanners.

Government reports from December 2025 identified a broader range of equipment procured through the programme, including MRI scanners, infusion and syringe pumps, patient monitors, laboratory analysers and video laryngoscopes.

Sugar-Tax Spending Under Scrutiny

The dispute centres on revenue raised through Zimbabwe’s sugar-content tax, introduced in the 2024 National Budget to fund cancer treatment and other public-health interventions.

During the parliamentary debate, Zanu-PF legislator Clemence Chiduwa welcomed the reported US$27.3 million expenditure on two high-level and two low-energy radiotherapy machines at Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals and Mpilo Central Hospital.

Chiduwa called for cancer-treatment services to be expanded beyond the two referral hospitals and eventually made available at district level.

The Government has said the new equipment will help reduce a radiotherapy backlog affecting hundreds of patients. Zimbabwe’s public hospitals have faced longstanding problems with obsolete or frequently non-functional cancer-treatment equipment.

The latest parliamentary exchange has, however, increased pressure on Treasury to provide a detailed account of the US$27.3 million.

Such a breakdown would need to distinguish the amounts spent on the four radiotherapy machines from the CT scanners, other medical equipment, medicines and supplies included in the wider programme.