Cathy Buckle: Zim's "phantom data" claims collide with unpaid school fees, bulldozed homes

In her latest Letter From Zimbabwe, Cathy Buckle contrasts Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube's celebration of the World Bank delisting Zimbabwe from its fragile-economies list — citing 8.3% GDP growth — with harsh realities on the ground. Critics like former finmin Tendai Biti and Fadzayi Mahere dismissed the figures as "phantom data" and "creative mathematics" that mask poverty and collapsing services. Meanwhile, government owes schools over $292 million in unpaid fees for five million children; informal traders face a "clean-up" eviction drive as homes have been bulldozed in Harare; and 115,000 Zimbabweans were recently expelled from SA and returned with nothing. Echoes, Buckle writes, of 2005's Operation Murambatsvina..By Cathy Buckle.Every morning at dawn the purple-crested Turaco, which used to be called the Red-winged Lourie, is among the first birds to sing. It’s a loud, beautiful call, forever unforgettable, ringing in the quiet of the new day, insisting everyone wakes up and witnesses the arrival of spring. True to its old name, the Lourie has stunning red primary feathers that always give away its location as it hops along branches, flies from one fruit tree to the next, or splashes with gay abandon in the bird bath. Spring has arrived in Zimbabwe. The Msasa trees are preparing for their spectacular spring colours here in the highveld, expelling their pods as soon as the sun warms them. They are carrying a heavy load this year and the days are filled with the sound of pods cracking, popping and spitting their flat, round, shiny seeds in every direction. With every breath of wind, the leaves from the trees drift down, a slight whisper as they land on the hard, dry, thirsty ground below.As ever, spring brings beauty and hope, but in that naked moment, when the last of the leaves have fallen, and before the new ones appear, the ugliness of politics and propaganda arrives to fill the pause and to distract attention from the tragedies of everyday life in Zimbabwe.At a time when Zimbabwe continues to reel from the tragedies of 97 people lost in the Kariba Ferry disaster, and three weeks later, 27 church members who died in the Chivhu Bus crash, we heard the unbelievable news about the World Bank, and we were staggered.Zimbabwe’s Minister of Finance, Mthuli Ncube, announced that the World Bank has officially removed Zimbabwe from its list of Fragile and Conflict-Affected Economies. The Finance Minister said Zimbabwe’s GDP grew by 8.3% in 2025 and ZiG inflation dropped by 2.9%. Mr Ncube said the World Bank’s decision to delist Zimbabwe was a “direct validation of the country’s ongoing economic turnaround, governance and institutional reforms.”There was an instant outcry. Former Finance Minister Tendai Biti said Minister Ncube’s “phantom data” does not reflect widespread poverty, unemployment, political polarisation and deteriorating public services. He described Zimbabwe’s maternal and infant mortality indicators as “medieval” and accused the Government of “prioritising appearances over the material conditions facing citizens. The hard reality is that this is a poor, fragile state,” Mr Biti said.Lawyer and politician Fadzayi Mahere wrote on her social media page: “Mthuli will do whatever creative mathematics is necessary to push his narrative. The majority of Zimbabweans have been left behind in Mthuli’s “economic growth” fairytale. While the government spin went on, another story was back in the news, raising eyebrows over the claim of economic recovery. It was the BEAM story, again. BEAM, the Basic Education Assistance Module, is the government’s social welfare programme to assist vulnerable and orphaned children who can’t afford to go to school. The government now owes schools over US$292 million in unpaid school and examination fees for five million children across the country. While the fees remain unpaid, children are vulnerable, never knowing from one day to the next whether they will be sent home for non-payment, even though the Government says that’s not allowed; it continues to happen because how can schools function without fees from students? Is this the boasted ‘economic recovery’ when the government can’t even pay school fees for vulnerable children?While the government pats itself on the back about what it says is ‘economic recovery,’ it means nothing to the countless people who had had their houses demolished by municipal bulldozers in St Martins in Harare in recent weeks or the thousands who wait to see if they will be next. .Read more:.Cathy Buckle: Zimbabwe’s food crisis deepens, 9M in need of aid.It means nothing to street vendors who have just been told that they must leave undesignated sites or they will be removed in a nationwide ‘’clean- up operation” next week. It means nothing to 115,000 Zimbabweans who were chased out of South Africa last month, leaving with nothing and returning to nothing; they are undoubtedly going to get caught up in this ‘cleansing.’ It all feels like Operation Murambatsvina in 2005 all over again. My book “Millions, Billions, Trillions,” contains my eyewitness stories of that hell. Zimbabwe has not learnt from its past; it just repeats it again and again.Thank you for continuing to read and share these Letters From Zimbabwe. They may be hard to read but are even harder to live..Ndini shamwari yenyu (I am your friend)Love, Cathy 3 September 2026. Copyright © Cathy Buckle https://cathybuckle.co.zw/ .Sign up for your early morning brew of the BizNews Insider to keep you up to speed with the content that matters. The newsletter will land in your inbox every morning on weekdays. Register here.Support South Africa's bastion of independent journalism, offering balanced insights on investments, business, and the political economy, by joining BizNews Premium. Register here.If you prefer WhatsApp for updates, sign up to the BizNews channel here.

Cathy Buckle: Zim's "phantom data" claims collide with unpaid school fees, bulldozed homes

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