This has caused serious economic disruption with some companies such as the travel and hospitality industry have closed and will take years to recover. The world economy has gone into depression. Unemployment rate in most developed countries like USA; was single digit in November 2019, before the covid-19 outbreak; has surged to 20% plus today. Millions of people who were enjoyed a reasonable standard of living six months ago, are now worrying about finding enough to eat!
Unemployment rate in Zimbabwe was already 90% before covid-19 outbreak, one has to look someplace else for the true measure of the economic consequences of the covid-19 economic disruption. Before covid-19, 34% of Zimbabwe’s 15 million population were living “in extreme poverty”, according to World Bank report. I.e. they could not afford one decent meal a day let alone other basic necessities of life such as education for the children and health care. After covid-19, today after six weeks of a nationwide lockdown the number living in extreme poverty has probably increased to 45% plus.
The most immediate effect of covid-19 on a nation is its effect on people’s health which is why nations have risked economic disruption just to avoid the virus spreading and infecting people. Covid-19 is a flu-like virus which some people get over without even noticing they had the virus. Others will get very sick but will recovery after a few days. And yet others get so sick they cannot breathe and will need hospital care. Many covid-19 patients have died, even with the hospital care.
What makes covid-19 so dangerous is:
· It is highly contagious, in favourable conditions one infected person can infected three others per day.
· There is no cure for it
· There is no vaccine against it
As of today, 7 May 2020, covid-19 has infected a global total of 3 784 085 confirmed cases and 264 679 covid-19 related deaths.
In Zimbabwe there have been a total of 34 confirmed covid-19 cases and 4 deaths. And for the last 7 days the country has had not a single new covid-19 case.
“It is good that we have not recorded any case in seven days. This means the lockdown is effective. It means we have to be more careful and remain like that,” said Zimbabwe’s Minister of Health, Obadiah Moyo.
“We still have to get more data and we need to carry out more testing so it is not yet time to celebrate until we have tested a certain figure which we feel is a significant number to say we are now out of danger.”
So, why have failed to carry out more tests and get more data?
Covid-19 was first reported in China and the first step to stop the virus getting into any other country was make sure all new arrivals are put into strictly supervised self-isolation or quarantine for 14 days, the incubation period of the virus. New Zealand is the one country that enforced this rule religious and it paid dividends.
The second line of defence was to test aggressively all suspected covid-19 cases, track down contact, isolate all suspected cases and treat all infected ones.
Zimbabwe’s blundering incompetence in the handling of this covid-19 has been shocking at every turn. It was a senior government official who reportedly instructed the immigration officials to let the late Zororo Makamba go free when he had shown all the symptoms of having covid-19 and should have been placed into strict self-isolation.
When the regime imposed the 21-day nationwide total lockdown on 30 March 2020, the country had 7 confirmed covid-19 cases and had done 100 or so tests. By the end of April the regime promised it would have done 30 000 tests. On 25 April 2020, the last day the regime gave a detailed breakdown of covid-19 tests carried in each of the 10 provinces, the total number of tests stood at 6 067.
The next update was not until 5 May, the regime announced nearly 1500 tests had been carried out, all negative and bring the total number of tests to over 11 000. And the next day the regime reported no additional new cases and the new total number of tests was now 14 821!
Zimbabwe has received 50 000 covid-19 test kits most of them from free donations. The country could and should have tested over 30 000 by now if it really wanted to.
Worse still, the regime has stubbornly refused to test malaria cases for covid-19, for example, although there has been an unusually high number of malaria reported deaths and malaria patients have the same symptoms as covid-19 patients.
As of today, 7 May 2020, USA has a total of 1 243 029 confirmed covid-19 cases and 74 239 deaths. The corresponding figures for China are 83 974 cases and 4 637 deaths. Many people did not believe China’s figures and they have since been revised upwards and still many people doubt China is telling the truth.
Worse still, China did not report the covid-19 outbreak timeously in fulfilment of its international obligation.
There is no doubt the economic and health damage caused by covid-19 around the world would not be as bad as it is today if people had known about the corona virus sooner and China had not been so secretive.
There is no doubt the economic and health damage caused by covid-19 in Zimbabwe would not be as bad (there are a lot more cases and deaths than 34 and 4) if Zanu PF was not so incompetent and so secretive to hid its blunders!
The source further said some desperate MDC legislators had gone to an extent of offering bribes to Khupe and Mwonzora in a bid to save their careers as most of them were career politicians who survive on salaries and other pecks from Parliament.
ReplyDeleteIt was also revealed by a National Executive Member of the MDC that fear had gripped some legislators because all along they had a false belief that the Chamisa camp had the power to decide who should be in Parliament.
He said reality was now sinking into them that the leadership reins of that party was now firmly in Thokozani Khupe's hands, hence, they are now making a bee line to Mwonzora's house pledging to abide by the Supreme Court ruling.
Poor Chamisa after years of boast about “God is in it!” and it is clear it was the Devil and not God who was in all his foolish schemes.
A corrupt and incompetent main opposition party led by the Devil’s imp was not going to deliver the free, fair and credible elections the nation was dying for. So, we are still stuck with the same corrupt, incompetent and tyrannical Zanu PF dictatorship.
Thokozani Khupe has already endorsed the July 2018 elections as having been free, fair and credible and Mnangagwa and Zanu PF as the legitimate winners. She will not be calling for any democratic reforms and the prospect of yet another rigged Zimbabwe elections in 2023 is now a certainty.
This is a nightmare we have a corrupt and incompetent Zanu PF dictatorship in power, a corrupt and incompetent opposition, we are facing the existential threat of covid-19 and now we learn we are going to be stuck with Zanu PF complete with its useless opposition hangers-one for not only the next three years but eights years! Eight years! FCUK ME!
Zimbabweans have not paid attention to the need to elect competent leaders and now the chickens have come home to roost big time!
The European Union Commission has announced that it has blacklisted Zimbabwe and other countries for failing to have stronger anti-money laundering systems.
ReplyDeleteRead the statement below:
Under the Anti-Money Laundering Directive (AMLD), the Commission has a legal obligation to identify high-risk third countries with strategic deficiencies in their regime regarding anti-money laundering and countering terrorist financing. Pending the application of the above-mentioned refined methodology, the Commission has today revised its list, taking into account developments at international level since 2018. The new list is now better aligned with the lists published by the FATF
Countries which have been listed: The Bahamas, Barbados, Botswana, Cambodia, Ghana, Jamaica, Mauritius, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nicaragua, Panama and Zimbabwe.
Countries which have been delisted: Bosnia-Herzegovina, Ethiopia, Guyana, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Sri Lanka and Tunisia.
It never rains but pours for Zimbabwe. The other day it was singled out together with Sudan as the two countries that did not deserve to have their debt written off! This is all happening at a time when the whole world is turmoil as a result of covid-19.
It is hard enough to emerge out of such a devastating nightmare as this covid-19 is proving to be but when you are a pariah state no one wants to deal with – it makes the struggle near impossible! There is no doubt Zimbabwe is going to pay dearly for being a Banana Republic!
The need for meaningful democratic change in Zimbabwe has never been more urgent that it is now. The sooner the country can finally get rid of this Zanu PF dictatorship the sooner it can start the hard task of rebuilding this nation.
@Newsday
ReplyDelete“But knowing the brutality of the regime against opposing forces, he is in a dilemma whether to continue on the legal route or take to the streets and confront an armed force that will not think twice about using live ammunition.”
Newspaper are there to entertain and, most important of all, to inform and educate the people. The worst thing a newspaper can do is misinform the public!
What is it exactly that Chamisa will be challenge here? He was warned at the time that the way he had seized power was in violation of the MDC constitution. He shot himself in the foot and now, typical of our stupid Zimbabwean politicians, he is not man enough to admit and so finds a scapegoat to blame.
Newsday is suggesting he should “take to the street”. Yeah right! With placards reading “Chamisa must be allowed to rig MDC elections!”
1. The Standing Committee noted the perverse and insidious attempt by ZANUPF and its proxies to dismember the MDC Alliance by executing a coup against the legitimately elected leadership of the MDC Alliance under the guise of implementing the equally insidious judgement of the Supreme Court which seeks to foist ZANUPF proxies as leaders of the MDC Alliance in brazen violation of the MDC Constitution.
ReplyDelete2. The MDC Alliance Parliamentary Caucus shall forthwith suspend its participation in all Parliamentary processes, programmes and activities pending the party’s consultations with its structures and a final resolution of the National Council on the way forward given the ZANUPF insidious attempted coup against the elected and legitimate leadership of the MDC Alliance.
The Standing Committee should first address the matter of Chamisa’s takeover of the party after Tsvangirai’s death. Was that constitutional or not? The so called “insidious” Supreme Court judgement said the process was not constitutional and many MDC members and anyone else with common sense have all said the same.
MDC leaders and supporters have all become as foolish as Zanu PF leaders and supporters they will not admit doing wrong even when they is a mountain of evidence to prove it. They default setting is to find someone to blame, scapegoat. Enough of this nonsense!
Senator Jim Risch (R-Idaho) said the US$7 million funding would be accompanied by strict measures to avoid being lost to mismanagement by Mnangagwa's government.
ReplyDelete"The US$7m World Bank grant for Zimbabwe reported today should come with strict transparency and accountability measures to ensure Zimbabweans receive services and support during COVID-19 and that these funds aren't lost to ongoing mismanagement by the Zimbabwean government." Risch said.
Zimbabwe, which is under US sanctions since 2001 over human rights abuses, has been denied credit lines by the Bretton Woods institutions that have been demanding economic and political reforms.
In the leaked letter to the WB and IMF, Ncube admitted policy missteps, corruption and excessive government expenditure had resulted in the collapse of the country's economy.
Kenya on Wednesday received US$739 million from IMF while Mozambique also received US$309 for its COVID-19 response.
Every ordinary Zimbabwean welcome this because they know only too well how many billions of dollars have been creamed off by the ruling elite at the expense of the ordinary people. The real tragedy is that Zimbabweans themselves have failed to produce a competent and democratic government all these last 40 years and have paid dearly for it.
Zimbabweans needs a competent and accountable government now more than ever before, the covid-19 road ahead is going to be long and a steep climb the last thing we want is to be carry the dead weight of a corrupt and incompetent government everyone else is loath to di business with. The last thing we want is carrying the dead weight of a milestone round our neck!
The United Nations and partners yesterday launched an updated Global Humanitarian Response Plan (GHRP) in New York, seeking US$6,7 billion with Zimbabwe's immediate share being US$84,9 million to respond to both the immediate public health crisis and the secondary impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on vulnerable people.
ReplyDeleteThe total of US$6,7 billion is required to protect millions of lives and stem the spread of coronavirus in a large swathe of fragile countries. Launching the updated GHRP, UN humanitarian chief Mr Mark Lowcock called for swift and determined action to avoid the most destabilising effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.
One gets the feeling that there is a lot more the UN and WHO in particular know about the covid-19 situation in Zimbabwe than they are letting on. Zimbabwe’s Minister of Health, Obadiah Moyo, has just told the nation the country has 34 confirmed covid-19 cases and has not had a single new cases for the last 7 days. If this is true then why is Zimbabwe getting all this money in “responsible to a public health crisis and secondary impacts of the covid-19 pandemic” that is not there!
Many people fear that the Zanu PF regime is not telling the truth about the covid-19 situation in Zimbabwe and WHO knows that and are therefore raising the assistance to meet the reality on the ground. Great!
One has to ask, however, why is the UN and WHO helping Zanu PF hid the truth about covid-19 in Zimbabwe?
But more insidiously, by allowing the regime to have one figure for fund raising purposes and another figure public consumption is the UN not encouraging corruption and dishonesty?
The WB is giving Zimbabwe US$7 million and the US Senate has imposed “strict transparency and accountability measures”. Why has the UN never imposed an such conditions?
The UN has become a source of cheap money and has bankrolled Zanu PF’s many corrupt and oppressive operations all in the name of helping the ordinary Zimbabweans. As a Zimbabwean, I am sick and tired of fighting the tyrannical Zanu PF regime and these “see nothing, hear nothing and do nothing” UN fat cats!
“The isolation centre has no tap water because Beitbridge generally has a serious water crisis attributed to the inefficiencies of the local council. The borehole that the centre had resorted to has also broken down, said officials during a tour of the facility,” reported Masvingo Mirror.
ReplyDeleteThis is just an outrage!
Whilst we all agree on the need to isolate all those coming from outside the country and might bring into the country the deadly covid-19. It is important to understand that not everyone of the returnees has the virus and therefore the isolation centre must offer living condition to protect those who are not infected from being infected.
Whilst it would be good to have these centres equipped with ICU equipment, ventilators, etc., etc. since it is clear they are now doubling up as isolation centres for returnees and covid-19 hospitals. Still the is no excuse why these centres are failing to supply something as basic as clean running water.
The Chinese built, equipped and staffed from scratch a 1 000 bed state of the art field hospital, Houshenshan Hospital, for covid-19 patients in 10 days! It is nonsense that Zimbabwe cannot deploy a team of soldiers to install water tanks and pump to ensure isolation centres up and down the country have clean running water.
Instead of these isolation centres serving the important purpose of stop the spread of covid-19 they are now the virus hotspots – anyone who goes there is certain to catch the virus!
Zanu PF’s blundering incompetence in the handling of covid-19 is turning a tragic situation by all account into a catastrophe of Biblical proportion! The regime was quick off the mark in deploying the bloated Police, Army and the dreaded CIO to enforce the lockdown but did not even have the common sense to employ even a few of them to do really useful for a change!