Source: 95% For Salaries, 5% For Safety: The Budget Decision Behind The Kariba Boat Disaster ⋆ Pindula News
The Lake Kariba boat disaster, which claimed dozens of lives, has shown that budget decisions can become matters of life and death when agencies responsible for infrastructure and disaster response do not have enough money to do their jobs.
The Mbuya Nehanda ferry, which was operated by the Rural Infrastructure Development Agency (RIDA), an agency under the Office of the President and Cabinet, capsized on 11 August near Long Island while on a voyage from Kariba town to Chalala Fishing Camp.
As of Sunday, 84 bodies had been recovered, with rescue teams from the Zimbabwe National Army Boat Squadron and the ZRP Sub-aqua Unit still searching for more victims.
Preliminary investigations have ruled out structural failure, pointing instead to navigational error, possible overloading and failure to heed adverse weather warnings.
But a deeper look at how the government allocates money, contained in Treasury’s “Blue Book”, tells a more systemic story.
An analysis by newZWire, based on the 2026 Budget estimates for Vote 1: Office of the President and Cabinet, shows that RIDA is barely funded to operate.
Of the money allocated to RIDA this year, 95% is going towards salaries. That leaves only about 5% for goods and services – the money needed to run operations and maintain equipment, such as the stricken ferry.
The figures are stark. According to the Blue Book, RIDA was allocated ZWG 473,069,000 for compensation of employees in 2026, plus ZWG 621,090,000 in statutory and other resources, compared to just ZWG 27,344,000 for use of goods and services. In 2024, the agency spent ZWG 181.8 million on salaries against ZWG 33.1 million on operations.
In other words, the agency that owns and operates the ferry has almost nothing left to service it, repair it, or ensure it is seaworthy.
The underfunding extends to the very institutions meant to respond when such disasters happen.
Disaster response is also poorly funded. The Civil Protection Unit (CPU), which is responsible for coordinating disaster preparedness and response across the country, received only about 2% of the Ministry of Local Government and Public Works’ 2026 budget.
Disaster Risk Management programmes, the programmes aimed at managing the risk of disasters, including preparedness, prevention and emergency response, received just 3.2% of the Local Government budget.
The result was seen on Lake Kariba: a delayed, under-resourced search and rescue operation, a vessel that video footage showed was already labouring in choppy waters shortly after departure, and a weather warning about the deadly “Binga Wave” that was either missed or ignored.
Transport Minister Felix Mhona has said a technical report will be tabled before Cabinet on Tuesday, with Government legally mandated to investigate under the Inland Waters Shipping Act [Chapter 13:06].
He has said Government will be guided by the President on regulatory reforms.
But for families of the victims of the Mbuya Nehanda, the question now is not just what went wrong on the water on 11 August, but what went wrong in the budget months before – when 95% of RIDA’s allocation was set aside to pay salaries, leaving its ferry, and the lives on board, barely afloat.
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