There was never any doubt in anyone’s mind that Zimbabwe was going to
extend the country’s initial 21-day lockdown. The lockdown was imposed when the
country had less than 5 confirmed corona virus infections and at the end of the
lockdown the number had climbed to 25! If the lockdown was justified with 5
cases then it was even more justified with 25 cases!
The question then was, the lockdown should be extended by how many more days?
It turns out there was a fierce cabinet debate on whether it should be by 14 days
or another 21 days!
"There were vibrant deliberations in Cabinet over the duration by
which the lockdown should be extended. Everyone agreed that the situation on
the ground surely merited an extension as it would be unwise to bring it to an
end at a time when the Covid-19 crisis is deepening. However, there was no
agreement on the duration as some thought it should be extended by 21 days
while others thought 14 days were enough," a Cabinet source told the
Zimbabwe Independent newspaper.
"Basically, the debate centred around the issue of the duration of the lockdown extension. The President first proposed 21 days and got support from the two vice presidents and Dr (Obadiah) Moyo (Minister of Health). However, other ministers felt 21 days were too long and proposed 14 days with less restrictions."
"For instance, the Finance minister said from his consultations with Zimra (Zimbabwe Revenue Authority), he had come to realise that revenue inflows had reached unsustainably low levels. The financial services sector was also in severe distress. (Industry and Commerce minister Sekai) Nzenza agitated for the manufacturing sector to be allowed to re-open with skeletal staff and this was also supported by (Mines and Mining development minister Winston) Chitando."
State Security minister Owen Ncube and Defence minister Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri too did not want the lockdown extended by 21 days “to prevent the likelihood of civil unrest."
"Basically, the debate centred around the issue of the duration of the lockdown extension. The President first proposed 21 days and got support from the two vice presidents and Dr (Obadiah) Moyo (Minister of Health). However, other ministers felt 21 days were too long and proposed 14 days with less restrictions."
"For instance, the Finance minister said from his consultations with Zimra (Zimbabwe Revenue Authority), he had come to realise that revenue inflows had reached unsustainably low levels. The financial services sector was also in severe distress. (Industry and Commerce minister Sekai) Nzenza agitated for the manufacturing sector to be allowed to re-open with skeletal staff and this was also supported by (Mines and Mining development minister Winston) Chitando."
State Security minister Owen Ncube and Defence minister Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri too did not want the lockdown extended by 21 days “to prevent the likelihood of civil unrest."
So those keen to revive some economic activity and fearful of civil
unrest won the day but in reality this was an empty and pyrrhic victory because
corona virus, the real enemy the nation is fighting against, is marching on,
inflicting a heavy toll and growing stronger by the day.
There are some who have argued that the lockdown was imposed too early
and without careful planning; the regime and its supporters have argued
otherwise. However, what cannot be disputed is that the corona virus is
spreading and the number of confirmed cases is growing.
In the last 3 days since the 14-day lockdown extension the number of
confirmed covid-19 cases has already increased to 29 up from 25 with 4 dead. In
the remaining 11 days the confirmed cases are expected to 50 plus, if government
keeps its promise to carryout 1 000 tests per day up from 40 or so before the
extension.
If the lockdown was justified with less than 5 confirmed corona virus
cases then it will be irresponsible to relax much less end the lockdown when
there are 50 confirmed cases and the number growing exponentially!
Still, there will, no doubt be yet another fierce cabinet debate on
whether to extend the lockdown and, if so, by how many days! Which half of this
Zanu PF cabinet will claim the pyrrhic victory on 3 May 2020 and is of no real
consequence. What matters is that corona virus will be victoriously marching on
and inflicting heart-breaking suffering and deaths.
As for the civil unrest, Mnangagwa and his Zanu PF cronies cannot avoid
that no more than they can stop the sun rising tomorrow. Indeed, the civil
unrest, as the only way to end the Zanu PF dictatorship, the economic meltdown
and the tragic human suffering it caused has been long in coming.
40 years of gross mismanagement and rampant corruptions have left the
country in economic ruins. All efforts by the people to bring about peaceful
and democratic change have all come to naught because Zanu PF blatantly rigged
the elections and used brute force to impose its tyrannical rule.
The economic hardships and the human suffering and deaths of the last 40
years have been amplified ten, a hundred-fold by the outbreak of the corona
virus outbreak. There is no doubt that the blundering incompetence of this Zanu
PF regime is making the economic and humanitarian suffering brought by corona
virus even worse. As that political reality finally dawn of the people of
Zimbabwe, there is no doubt that they will overcome their fear of the regime’s
brutal oppression to demand real democratic change.
As long as it is clear that Zanu PF’s blundering incompetence is having
no effect in containing corona virus and is making the economic and
humanitarian situation even worse than it need be; civil unrest, as a meanings
to end the Zanu PF dictatorship, will remain on the nation and cabinet’s agenda.
A TOTAL of 460 tests for Covid-19 were done across the country yesterday bringing to 5 450 the number of screening and diagnostic tests done to date, the Ministry of Health and Child Care has revealed.
ReplyDelete"Of the 101 PCR tests done in Bulawayo on 22 April 2020, one was positive for Covid-19, which brought the country's number of confirmed cases to 29 with two recoveries and four deaths.
Last week, government promised to do 1 000 tests a day and it has not done so.
We should also be targeting such people as the soaring malaria patients; not even one has been tested.
Mnangagwa, just like Robert Mugabe before him, is corrupt and incompetent and will do anything in his power to hide all evidence of his incompetence and looting. The regime will not want the people of Zimbabwe to know how many of them have died of corona virus and ask the difficult questions of why so many had died and what could have been done to save their lives!
ReplyDeleteWhilst China has refused to tell the world exactly how many Chinese died of covid-19 at least the CCP acted to contain the virus; the same cannot be said of this Zanu PF regime. Mnangagwa has made many blunders in the handling of the pandemic and will try to hide the truth.
THE extension of the country’s lockdown by two weeks has worsened the plight of worker as employers struggle to keep their companies afloat. The Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI) recently revealed that 82% of companies will not be able to pay salaries beyond one month, and some companies have already laid off workers, while others have sent them on forced leave.
ReplyDeleteWe also need international humanitarian assistance and a multi-sectoral resource mobilisation task force which must be composed of respected and trusted local leaders for us to build the lost confidence.
Already, many are questioning the selection criteria and disbursements of the social assist. Without transparency we will not be able to mobilise sufficient international support to complement national resources.
I totally agree, Zimbabwe has done nothing to end its reputation as a corrupt and wasteful nation. How can we expect anyone to help us when the donors know a significant part of the donation will end up in the pockets of corrupt officials!
@ Dzimir
ReplyDeleteIf you are after beautifully written pieces then why don't you read William Shakespeare or better still pen such pieces yourself!
We are dealing with matters of life and death issues here and all you can say is the language is not lyrical enough for your taste! No wonder the country is in a mess!
@ Mechavio
ReplyDelete“You would still have written a whole thesis on whatever length of extension time Wilbert.”
Actually, I am worried sick than this corrupt, incompetent and, let’s face it, illegitimate Zanu PF dictatorship is now not only aware how its blundering incompetence has already turned this corona virus tragedy into a catastrophe of Biblical proportion. But worst of all, how it is now rigging the corona virus data to hide the extend of its blunders and their consequences.
The regime now has 50 000 corona virus test kits and promised to test 1 000 samples a day from target groups including those with corona virus like symptoms. A week latter the regime has only done 5 000 tests and from each batch announce the rests of 80% or so of the tests and promise to announce the rest later but never do.
The regime agrees that there has been a spike in the number of people dying of malaria. It also admits those with malaria have corona virus like symptoms but still refuse to have them tested for civid-19.
In the March 2008 vote, Morgan Tsvangirai polled 73% of the votes by Mugabe’s own Freudian slip. Mnangagwa and his team forced ZEC to recount the votes and after six weeks, WALA! Tsvangirai had 47% and Mugabe 42%. After three months of punishing the electorate for daring to reject Mugabe in the earlier vote, Mugabe secure a landslide 84% victory in the June run-off.
Mnangagwa and his cronies are using their 40 years of vote rigging experience to falsify the corona virus data. Come 3 May, they want to ease the lockdown conditions if not end it altogether and they cannot do it if the confirmed corona virus cases are going up.
According to Mnangagwa, Zimbabwe will be the only country in the world in which corona virus peaked after a tiny percentage of the population were infected when the governed had done nothing, absolutely nothing, to contain the virus.
Other nations like South Korea and Germany nipped the pandemic in the bud by testing and tracking aggressively. Other country had to impose the lockdown and beef up their health care service and only managed to contain the pandemic after hundreds of thousands were infected and many died.
Zimbabwe government’s blundering incompetence even allowed those with corona virus to mix with the population. The regime has not been testing and following up in any meaningful way. Its quarantine facilities for returnees from corona virus hotspots are in such unhygienic condition, they are a corona virus hotspot in their own right.
So, how is it then that Zimbabwe has somehow managed to stop the spread of corona virus, in the last week the number has gone from 25 to 28! Simples! Cook the figures, just as the regime has cooked election results!
The tragedy here is that corona virus is not the simpleton Morgan Tsvangirai who was easily cheated and Zanu PF got away with it. Corona virus is spreading far and wide and it is going to cause heart-breaking human suffering and deaths of Biblical proportion.
Trying to cheat corona virus is the most foolish thing Mnangagwa has ever done and the nation is going to pay dearly for it! One only hopes that the nation will wake-up to this reality and stop the madness before many, many more innocent people suffer and pay the ultimate price – death!
As for writing the thesis on how Zanu PF has blundered, falsified corona virus data, etc., I will leave to you my friend and many other intellectuals out there. The most important this at the moment is making sure the people wake-up and demand change, with civil unrest if need be!
Zanu PF promised last week ramp up the number of covid-19 tests from the 40 or so then to 1 000 per day. It is now over a week and the authorities have never hit that target even once. And now the number has even dropped to less than a quarter!
ReplyDeleteZanu PF has, these last 40 years, perfected the art of misinformation by ignoring the facts, down right lying or a cocktail of the two. Corona virus is spreading in the country and affecting a lot more people than the regime would have us believe. The regime has already passed a law designed to stop anyone else saying anything about corona virus.
The tragedy is no amount of disinformation will slow down much less stop corona virus spreading. We can all relax and believe we have been saved from some of the suffering and deaths corona virus inflicted to many other nations. It will not be long before we notice that the number of people sick and dying are going up and they all have corona virus symptoms!
China falsified the number of corona virus infections but at least the country did something to stamp out the infection. Zanu PF is falsifying the number of corona virus infection and doing nothing to stamp out the infection. By giving false information on the virus the party is only helping to spread the virus far and wide. The nation will be completely overwhelmed by the corona virus hotspots everywhere!
Mnangagwa and his fellow Zanu PF are falsifying the seriousness of the corona virus to draw attention away from their blundering incompetence especially in the handling of the pandemic itself. All they care about is staying in power, they do not care that their lying will cost the nation dearly in aggravated corona virus sufferings, deaths and economic collapse.
The group, most of whom were deported from the neighbouring country, were released from the quarantine centre on the same day after testing negative for Covid-19.
ReplyDeleteTheir male counterparts who were staying at Bulawayo Polytechnic were released on Wednesday.
Bulawayo Provincial Affairs Minister Judith Ncube condemned the manner in which officials from the Department of Social Welfare handled the issue, saying Government does not condone such actions. “It is unfortunate that our people were subjected to inhuman treatment and what is more worrying is the fact that there are also vulnerable babies involved. I had an opportunity to listen to the complaints of the affected people and their sad story after they were dumped at the hiking spot,” she said
As the number of Zimbabweans returning from SA, Botswana, etc. grow from the present trickle to a flood the returnees will be forced into these quarantine facilities which are filthy and not fit for purpose, they are corona virus hotspots. After being kept there for days, the returnees will be released without being tested.
The regime has promised to ramp up the testing to 1 000 per day but yesterday it only tested 237. So, this group of 456 alone would have taken two days to test!
The irony is the country has been receiving millions of dollars in aid to help fight the pandemic and yet it is failing to using any of the donated money to ensure these is something as basic as clean running water in the quarantine centres! No doubt all the cash and kind donations are all being funnelled to the five-star hospitals being fitted for chefs and for their additional personal needs. VP Chiwenga inspected rural hospitals the other day wearing the full “space-suit” PPE! The medical staff, for whom the space-suit PPE was meant had cheap face masks only, no gloves, no eye protection, etc.
Indeed, forget PPE; most urban much less rural hospitals do not even have clean running water!
Zanu PF’s blundering incompetence is making a bad corona virus situation even worse! Mark my words; we will pay dearly for everyday we allow this Zanu PF regime to remain in power!
The real tragedy here is MDC have completely taken their eyes of the big national issues like the spreading corona virus to settle their internal differences - the in-fighting is going to last for months if not years!
ReplyDeleteSocial Welfare Deputy Minister, Lovemore Matuke also confirmed her presence at the teacher training centre, adding the government noted with concern that some of the UK returnees were actually MDC Alliance activists who attacked Minister Moyo.
ReplyDelete“Ms Nyandoro is among the batch of 26 UK returnees who are complaining about the facilities at the college,” Matuke said.
The health conditions at Belvedere Teachers’ College are unacceptable and the facts on the ground speak for themselves. It is shameful that government officials continue to deny the story and are now trying to politicise the issue.
Belvedere Teachers’ College is not suitable for use as a corona virus quarantine centre for any human being – regardless of the individual’s gender, political affiliation, etc.
@ Tavaka Zhou
ReplyDeleteExactly!
Least we forget, this Zanu PF has received billions of dollars in cash and material to help fight corona virus in the last three months alone. How much will it cost to install a water tank and supply clean running water to the rest of the complex and not just to one or two taps?
It is a damning indictment of just how corrupt and incompetent this Zimbabwe government is that it cannot supply something as basic as clean running water to even a big institution like Belvedere Teachers' College, right in the heart of the nation's capital city in this day and age! It speaks volumes too of us; why have we allowed this to happen? Are we really that brain-dead that we allowed thus thugs to destroy our economic livelihoods, human dignity and now our very lives!!!!
The volume of shares changing hands on the bourse has plunged by 55% since the government imposed strict measures to limit movement on March 30, said Justin Bgoni, chief executive officer of the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange. Foreign participation has dwindled to just 10% of all activity, from 34% last year.
ReplyDeleteThe disruption caused by corona virus has already affected the economy of all nations right across the globe. The weak economies have no reserves to cushion the disruption and, not surprisingly, will be hit the hardest. The Zimbabwe economy was already in the doldrums long before the corona virus outbreak.
Unemployment had already soared to 90% and had been 80% plus for the last decade, at least. So, unemployment had long stopped to be a measure of the country’s economic wellbeing. Poverty was the new measure.
According to a 2019 WB report, 34% of Zimbabweans were living in “extreme poverty”, i.e. they could not afford even one decent meal a day let alone other basic necessities as education for the children and health care. Extreme poverty in the other countries in the region was single digit!
Corona virus economic disruption is going to push the number living in abject poverty even higher and, make no mistake, Zanu PF’s blundering incompetence will make the situation even worse!
It is already clear that Zanu PF’s blundering incompetence has helped in the spread of corona virus. It was a Zanu PF leader who instructed the late Zororo Makamba to be allowed to mix freely with the populous even when it was clear he had the virus, for example.
As of 25 April 2020 government announced that 380 tests were carried out and 3 were positive bring the total of confirmed cases to 31.
ReplyDeleteThe regime is not testing aggressively because it wants to create a false narrative that the virus is not spreading! There is a heavy price to be paid for burying one's head in the sand especially with corona virus!