United Kingdom Ambassador to Zimbabwe Melanie Robinson set the cat among the pigeons in an ambiguous tweet after visiting the Cowdray Park Health facility.
On 25 April 2023, she tweeted, “Great visit to a hospital the UK’s NMS is building in Bulawayo, before going to ZITF. Work on the Cowdray Park facility started in 2022, one of 35 hospitals & clinics being expertly built here by NMS. Proud of this shared investment in providing better healthcare to Zimbabweans.”
This immediately led to questions with many people asking who exactly is responsible for the construction of the facility.
One user, @Ubuntu_Bethu, asked, ‘So this is a UK government / NMS initiative and NOT the GoZ? What a revelation!’
Another commented, ‘Wait a minute, isn’t this funded by Zim taxpayers through a US$193 (Standard/Absa) facility? Your Excellency you are being economic with the truth. NMS is the builder but the funding is from this facility.’
Another user said, ‘Thank you for clarifying. Zanupf was going to claim these projects as their own funded ones.’
The confusion caused by the tweet was captured by another user, who said, ‘Well done for the ambiguity! Go through the whole thread and see the confusion you have caused.’
This follows previous communication from government and ruling party officials that the facility is being constructed by the Government of Zimbabwe, as can be seen on Minister of Finance Prof Mthuli Ncube’s campaign poster.
Whose facility is it?
The Ambassador’s tweet is ambiguous in that while it does not claim that the facility’s construction is being funded by her government, it also doesn’t make it clear that the funding is from the Government of Zimbabwe.
She does speak of a ‘shared investment’ without clarifying how it is being shared.
The Cowdray Park Health facility is one of the health facilities being built in Zimbabwe as part of a dual tranched $193 million ECA-backed facility by ECIC (Export Credit Insurance Corporation of South Africa); the lenders, Absa Bank and Standard Bank (as joint MLAs) and the Borrower, Ministry of Finance & Economic Development of Zimbabwe (MOF).
The borrower is the Government of Zimbabwe through the Finance Ministry.
According to the NMS, the deal was signed in Cape Town on 17th March 2023, with the NMS being the contractor.
The initial phases of the project, valued at $25 million, have been funded by MOF in cash with the balance of the project to be funded by the ECA-backed structured finance package.
The initial phase involved the design of the Health Centres and the construction and equipping of the first eight facilities. The first of these new facilities, in South Harare and Bulawayo, have already been completed. The project envisages that the new Health Centres and Hospitals will provide improved access and enhanced patient care in local districts, as well as additional capacity of 365,000 patient bed nights annually in rural communities.
Various media houses have provided coverage of this project and explained the funding here, here and here.
NMSI is a leading UK construction company working in Sub-Saharan Africa and currently has projects in Zambia, Ghana, Côte d’IVoire, as well as Zimbabwe.
The NMSI has completed the Cowdray Park and Stonebridge facilities, and are currently finishing up clinics in Mataga, Mberengwa and Runyararo, Chimanimani.
Conclusion
While the Ambassador’s tweet does not claim that her government is funding the Cowdray Park Health facility, it was understood by many users to do so. The health facility is one of five 60-bed District Hospitals and 30 x 22-bed Health Centres in Zimbabwe under a total of $210 million contract with the Ministry of Health & Child Care.
The funder is the Government of Zimbabwe, from a loan facility from ABSA and Standard Bank in South Africa as the lenders.
