Government give returnee
Zimbabweans quarantined Belvedere Teachers’ College bottled water and tell them
they must stay put!
“The institution had running
water, but what they wanted was borehole water and we are in the process of
getting that sorted,” said Public Service,
Labour and Social Welfare Secretary Mr Simon Masanga.
“However, today we will
organise bottled water for them. Since we could not secure accommodation for
them at the UZ, that means we will have to work with what is there. They will
have to stay at Belvedere Teachers’ College, after all this is only a temporary
arrangement.”
This is just nonsense!
Let us start again, from the
very beginning. The returnees Zimbabweans are not criminals who are being
detained, quarantined, to attorn for the transgressions. They are innocent
people who found themselves, for no fault of their own, in a country with the
deadly corona virus outbreak. It is possible that they too have been infected.
If they are infected, then they
could spread the virus to follow Zimbabweans. So before they can be free to mix
with everybody else, they will be quarantined for 21 days – the maximum
incubation period the virus will take before it becomes active and infectious.
The returnees are going into
quarantine out of their sense of duty and care to others; just in case they are
infected, they do not want to infect others.
Anyone of the returnees COULD,
potentially, have the virus and therefore everything possible must be done to ensure
the infected individual does not infect the others in quarantine.
In this Belvedere Teachers’
College quarantine setup, 65 plus returnees are fetching water to drink, to
wash and for flushing the toilets from one communal tap. They share the same
washing facilities and toilet with 20 others. It is hard enough to stop spreading
the virus when one has to share washing and toilet facilities with just one other
person for one day; it is near impossible to do so when one has to share with
20 others for 21 days, especially with no clean running water to wash one’s
hands regularly!
“Belvedere Teachers’ College
had running water!” Secretary Masanga insisted. No one is disputing that for a
minute; what matters here is that there is no clean running water NOW!
If anyone of these people in
quarantine should ever be found to have the corona virus infection, then there is
a real chance the individual passed the virus to others. Everyone at the centre
must reset their quarantine countdown clock back to 21 days.
If there should be yet another person
testing corona virus positive; the clock will be reset back to 21 days, again!
It seems that new returnees are
being allowed to mix and share the same tap of water, etc. with those who were
there before. The clock should be reset back to 21 days for everyone every time
a new batch of returnees arrive.
It is very doubtful that any of
these clock resets will ever happening!
In short the returnees at Belvedere
Teachers’ College (it is almost certain the condition at similar quarantine
centres will be the same or worse – bottled water will not last) might just as
well be convicted criminals. Their sentence:
“You will to stay in quarantine
for 21 days.
“If you should catch the corona
virus, you will stay until you are corona virus negative or else leave in a
coffin.
“If you did not catch the virus
after 21 days, you can leave but are not out of the woods yet. Place yourself
into self-quarantine for a further 21 days.”
The unhygienic conditions and laissez
faire and chaotic conduct of Zimbabwe’s quarantine centres have turned them
into corona virus hotspots in their own right!
“They will have to stay at Belvedere
Teachers’ College, after all this is only a temporary arrangement!” Charming! One
story of someone in quarantine sick and dying of a corona virus and Masanga can
find some other guinea pigs for his charming accommodation!
Social Welfare minister Paul Mavima said Cabinet had approved the use of Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) tests on individuals who are returning into the country to ease pressure in quarantine facilities.
ReplyDelete"PCR testing of all returning residents means that they are tested at day eight from the day they would have been admitted at the quarantine centre and if they are found to be positive they will be sent to an isolation centre and if they are negative they will be released. This will help in decongesting the quarantine centres, which are fast filling up as people are still coming back into the country," Mavima said.
He further said that he would visit the quarantine centres, particularly the Belvedere Teachers' College, where 65 United Kingdom returnees have complained over poor living conditions.
Hostel facilities where people have to share toilets and washing facilities are not suitable as quarantine centres. The centres must have running water.
Why the ministry has failed to install a water tank at Belvedere Teachers’ College beggars belief!
If government cannot ensure basic hygiene condition and physical distancing then people should be allowed to make their own self-isolation arrangements.
Nguni’s mother died at West End Hospital in Harare Wednesday morning leaving the public with questions as to why she had been admitted at a hospital that has not been designated for Covid-19 cases.
ReplyDeleteSome of us have said that Zanu PF’s blundering incompetence is going to turn this tragic corona virus situation into a catastrophe of Biblical proportion. Here is yet another case to prove the point. The lady was already known to be corona virus positive, hence case 19, so why was she admitted into a hospital that was not designated and equipped to handle corona virus patients?
Remember the late Zororo Makamba was allowed to go free when he should have been sent to an isolation centre after Airport officials picked he had corona virus. He was released because some Zanu PF chef told the officials to let him go!
There should have been a full fledged inquiry on who authorised Makamba’s release and the idiots punished. There was no inquiry and now Ms Nguni fcuk up! How many more innocent lives will it take before the people of Zimbabwe finally wake up to the reality that Zanu PF’s blundering incompetence is cost the nation untold but easily avoidable suffering and human lives!
HEALTH Minister Obadiah Moyo says the government’s effort to carry out malaria treatment has been derailed seriously by the outbreak of COVID-19 with all resources and efforts being channelled to fighting the novel disease.
ReplyDeleteHe was speaking during the weekly Cabinet media briefing where he confirmed malaria deaths in Zimbabwe had reached 152 in less than two months.
“Malaria outbreak is for real and this is its peak season in Zimbabwe. The burden of testing has been hampered by COVID-19. Our teams that normally go out to test right now are experiencing slowing down of the process,” said Moyo.
How many of the 152 malaria cases were tested for covid-19? With covid-19 spreading like wildfire Zimbabwe cannot afford to over look a covid-19 epicentre by assuming it is malaria!
Masanga reported gave the returnees bottled water and promised to "sort out" the other problems!
ReplyDelete“There is running water coming out of this shower for bathing, contrary to claims that there is no running water at the college. Ablution facilities are all in order proving that the living conditions are quite habitable,” reported ZBC.
Could it be that block the minister visited had running water and there was none in the other blocks. The video showed empty drums next to toilet units showing the problem of no running water was a long-term problem!
The trouble with this Zanu PF government is that it is a regime of corrupt, incompetent and murderous thugs who think they are wiser than King Solomon and there is nothing in this world they cannot do. The last 40 years have been a catalogue of blunders and failures. Every time their incompetence comes to light they always have a scapegoat to blame and bully everyone into silence.
How ironic that the minister and his entourage visited the one block with running water donning face masks and made sure they touched nothing and were out of there a.s.a.p. Yet they want the returnees to stay in blocks with no running water for 21 days (reduced to 8 days if PCR test is done) with no mask, no gloves, no disinfectant, nothing!
Said Chamisa, "Zimbabwe needs a multi-phased broad range of measures to mitigate the worst effects of the pandemic on communities, individuals and businesses. These include tax relief, support to vulnerable households, and business, and job protection. Government must stop politicizing or weaponizing this relief!"
ReplyDeleteYeah this is what the nation has come to expect from Nelson Chamisa and his fellow corrupt and incompetent MDC leaders – the occasional 142-character twitter comment full of sound and fury and signifying nothing. So, if government grants tax relief where will it get the money to support vulnerable households?
Of course, Chamisa has no clue what Zimbabwe must do to get out of this economic and humanitarian corona virus tragedy made even worse by having the corrupt and incompetent Zanu PF regime in power. What a nightmare!
A group of Zimbabwean nationals living in South Africa want to be repatriated. They say they are battling to make ends meet during the lockdown.
ReplyDelete"The last decent meal I had was a month ago … I don't know how I will pay my [R250] rent this month," says Munyaradzi, who asked for his surname to be withheld.
Munyaradzi is one of a group of Zimbabwean nationals living in South Africa who want to be repatriated. They say making ends meet became even harder since the lockdown began, leaving most of them who were informal traders without an income.
The trickle of returnees will soon become a flood!
Sadly, for these returnees the government will take them into quarantine centres with no basic hygienic condition, not even clean running water, and where physical distancing is impossible. The quarantine centres will be nothing but covid-19 hotspot and most returnees will only leave them in coffins!
“Welcome back home comrades!” from yours truly E D Mnangagwa, President of the (Second Banana) Republic of Zimbabwe.