Khupe Sounds Alarm on Escalating Cancer Crisis

Former deputy Prime Minister in the government of National Unity (GNU) Dr. Thokozani Khupe has demanded swift and transparent government action as on surging cancer related deaths in the country.

Addressing Parliament in Harare yesterday, Dr. Khupe described the situation as a “matter of grave and urgent national importance,” warning that delays in addressing the cancer burden are costing lives every single day.

“The statistics are not just numbers. They are names, faces, families and futures tragically cut short. More of our fellow citizens are succumbing to cancer now than ever before,” Khupe said

Khupe, herself a cancer survivor, urged the Government to elevate cancer to the top tier of public health priorities.

Her call comes amid widespread concern over the fate of a US$38 million fund collected through Zimbabwe’s “sugar tax” a levy introduced to combat non-communicable diseases by supporting cancer treatment and prevention efforts.

In a pointed reminder to Parliament, Dr. Khupe said she had previously raised questions about how the sugar tax revenue was being utilised.

“I was informed that the procurement process for cancer equipment and medications had commenced,” she recalled, but highlighted the need for transparency in how the money is being spent.

By avoiding intermediaries in the procurement of cancer machines, Khupe said the country stands to benefit from reduced costs and better-quality equipment.

Procurement through middlemen has in the past resulted in inflated prices and even obsolete or substandard machines — an outcome she warned would be “devastating” given the stakes.

Dr. Khupe went beyond policy raising the moral dimensions of the crisis.

“We are losing mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters — productive citizens whose potential contributions to society are being lost due to late diagnosis, inadequate treatment or lack of access to modern cancer care.”

She called on the Minister of Finance to immediately deliver a Ministerial Statement to Parliament, outlining the remaining balance of the sugar tax fund progress in the procurement of state-of-the-art cancer treatment equipment and measures in place to ensure transparency, efficiency and value for money.