A Workforce Audit & the Economic Cost of a Failing Road Strategy. Published 7 Jan 2026 —by Tete Getty
As we navigate the transition into 2026, the “Second Great Zimbabwe” faces an existential threat that isn’t found in a bank ledger or a mining survey. It is found on our tarred surfaces. We are witnessing a workforce hemorrhage—a brutal attrition of the very people meant to drive Vision 2030—due to a road safety crisis that is as preventable as it is tragic.
1. The Economic Impact: Lost Billions and Broken Families
Road traffic accidents are not just social tragedies; they are economic “black holes.”
The GDP Drain: Statistics from early 2026 confirm that road crashes cost Zimbabwe approximately US$400 million annually—roughly 3% of our GDP.
Workforce Attrition: The majority of those lost are aged 15 to 44—the peak productive years. When an engineer or a skilled artisan dies on the road, the “Return on Investment” (ROI) of their decades of education is erased in a second.
The 2025/2026 Brutal Fact: In 2025, Zimbabwe recorded nearly 2,000 deaths from road accidents. As of January 2026, the trend remains “lethal,” with an average of five people dying every single day. Without intervention, 2026 will not just match 2025; it will surpass it as vehicle volumes increase while safety remains stagnant.
2. The Tax Evolution: A System That Refuses to Decolonize
To understand why our roads are “Public Health Disasters,” we must look at the evolution of the tax system. Far from being “modernized,” our vehicle taxes are a colonial hangover designed to keep the majority immobile.
© TGRI | January 2026
3. The Economic Catalyst: Why Tax Removal is an Engine for Growth
Critics argue that removing the 25% Age Surtax would deplete the treasury. On the contrary, Tete Getty argues it would act as a massive economic stimulus. A decolonized system serves the people. By maintaining an 80% tax on the only cars a Zimbabwean professional (like a teacher earning US$419/month) can afford, the system effectively mandates that the majority must drive 20-year-old “death traps.” This presents a structurally violent fiscal policy. Lowering the “barrier to entry” for safe vehicles creates a multiplier effect:
The Volume Effect: Lowering the total tax from 80% to 40% would likely trigger a 300% increase in vehicle imports. ZIMRA would earn significantly more from the sheer volume of 40% duty on three cars than it currently earns from an 80% rate on one car that most citizens cannot afford to buy.
Capital Accumulation: When a nurse or civil servant saves $3,000 on car taxes, that money is reinvested into the domestic economy—buying building materials, paying school fees locally, or starting micro-enterprises.
Transport Efficiency: A newer fleet reduces the “Deadweight Loss” of constant mechanical breakdowns and fuel inefficiency. Reliable logistics shrink the economic distance between rural producers and urban markets, directly supporting the Transformation Pillar.
4. The “Stroke of a Pen” Solution
The power to end this hemorrhage is in a stroke of a pen. It does not require an IMF loan; it requires a change of will.
The Prevention Strategy: Removing the Age Surtax for civil servants tomorrow would trigger an immediate mass replacement of “undead” cars with safer models.
The Driver’s Environment: We must acknowledge that while we build the nation’s “Vehicle” (Infrastructure), we are neglecting the “Driver.” Poor driving skills are a symptom of a learning environment where survival is prioritized over safety._____________
Final Author Note: The Will to Change
There comes a time when we must ask: Are we building a “Great Zimbabwe” for the living, or are we just paving roads to a graveyard?
The trajectory of 2026 is not set in stone; it is set in policy.
The Second Great Zimbabwe must be a nation of life. We cannot afford to lose 2,000 more “Drivers” in 2026. The power to change this is in the will of the leadership to put the safety of the citizen above the revenue of the tax collector.
To the Ministry of Finance, Economic Development & Investment Promotion, the Ministry of Transport & Infrastructural Development, and the Cabinet of Zimbabwe.
As we operationalize NDS2 (2026–2030), we must confront a brutal contradiction: our national ambition is being crippled by a 19th-century road crisis fueled by a 20th-century tax regime. We are building the roads of the future, but our people are dying on them in the cars of the past.
It is now an urgent necessity of Decolonizing Zimbabwe’s Vehicle Tax Framework to Prevent Workforce Attrition.
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