HARARE – Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube on Monday announced a RTGS$50 million fund to repair the damage caused by Cyclone Idai in Manicaland and parts of Masvingo and Mashonaland East.
The cyclone has killed 98 people and more than 200 are missing in the three provinces, the government said on Monday.
Ncube said money was being allocated towards capacitating the Civil Protection Unit as well as repairing roads, schools, power and water infrastructure.
The minister said in a statement: “The ministry of finance has released $50 million for emergency and infrastructure restoration following Cyclone Idai-induced flood destruction and infrastructural damage. The funds will go towards Cyclone Idai rescue efforts and rehabilitation of affected citizens and restoration of rural feeder roads and other structures.
“The funds have been allocated to the Civil Protection Unit, the department of roads, education, health, electricity and water and sanitation.”
Ncube lauded his much-criticised 2 percent tax on electronic transfers introduced last October, saying the $50 million was “the social impact of the tax in action”.
Rescuers were struggling to reach people in Chimanimani district, cut off from the rest of the country by torrential rains and winds of up to 170 kph that swept away roads, homes and bridges and knocked out power and communication lines.
Families began burying the dead but the death toll is expected to rise. Local hospitals, without power, are unable to preserve dead bodies at their mortuaries, forcing families into quick burials.
Many people had been sleeping in the mountains since Friday, after their homes were flattened by rock falls and mudslides or washed away by torrential rains.
The government has declared a state of disaster in areas affected by the storm. The country was already suffering a severe drought that has wilted crops.
