"Cross Chamisa, will hang you to dry" boasted Chatunga - brutality comes easily, his father's boy N Garikai

"Wanzira Chamisa kana Winky D kana uchida kuona kuti upenyu hwako hwepa Sosho media hunounyana seshizha rabva pana mai varo!" (Say anything bad about Chamisa or Winky D on social media and you will be a plucked leaf and left out to dry!) Twittered Chatunga Mugabe wrote in Shona language.

Chatunga is one of the late Robert Mugabe’s two sons.

Well, well! Like father like son! Robert Mugabe ruled Zimbabwe for 37 years by corrupting those around him and riding roughshod over the populous denying them their freedoms and basic rights. Mugabe was both a devious operator and ruthless tyrant; conning and fear were his guiding mantras. His son, Chatunga, learnt and learnt well from his father and is already putting what he learned into practice!

For the ordinary Zimbabweans he expects us all to be fearful of what we say on social media about our superiors like Chamisa! During his 37 years in power Mugabe had over 30 000 murdered in cold blood and millions were beaten and raped for selfish political gain. Chamisa may not be as powerful to do all that yet but who knows what he can do on social media. One of the things fuelling fear is not knowing powers these social demigods wield!

The second and more poignant component of Chatunga’s twitter was directed at Chamisa himself. Flatter him and he will be eating out of your hand like a puppy!

"Oh this one is another level!!"came Chamisa’s tweet reply.

QED!

Chatunga has no doubt seen how, first, Tsvangirai’s daughter and then when she died his son had used their late father’s name and ill-got wealth to catapult themselves into parliament. Chatunga is clearly thinking of doing the same.

Everyone knows that MDC leaders have no principles and values, they are breathtakingly corrupt and incompetent. Chatunga’s late father Mugabe exploited this weakness to the dregs during the 2008 to 2013 GNU. The dictator gave the MDC leaders ministerial limos, generous salaries, a US$ 4 million mansion to Tsvangirai, etc. and the MDC leaders spent the five years singing praises to Mugabe.

“He is the father of the nation. A fountain of wisdom! He is unflappable!” sung Tendai Biti!

MDC leaders not only kicked implementing the reforms into the prickly pear thicket but not even the constant nagging by SADC leaders could get them to implement even one reform.

They thought Mugabe had accepted them in the exclusive ruling elite club, they did not need to implement any reform now. Mugabe went on to blatantly rig the 2013 elections and MDC’s defeat was so overwhelming, over MDC leaders lost their gravy train seats and were in shock!

One can only imagine the young Chatunga asking his father to tell him the many stories of how he had outwitted Morgan Tsvangirai et al again and again! Now Chatunga can start outwitting Chamisa too!

The young Chatunga will only have to ask and one of the safe MDC parliamentary seat will be his.

There is no denying that Professor Jonathan Moyo, Patrick Zhuwao and other Zanu PF leaders booted out of the party in the 2017 military coup, played a major role in propping Nelson Chamisa and his MDC Alliance in Zimbabwe’s July 2018 elections.

The one thing we can all be certain about Professor Moyo and his disgruntled colleagues is they are all itching to get back into power and, above all else, they will not want the discredited autocratic and tyrannical system of government dismantled. They would happily pour huge chunks of their looted wealth just to maintain the status quo.

So, all our efforts to dismantle the corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF dictatorship is doomed as long as we have the resourced filthy rich ruling elite, their families and cronies and their descendants using their wealth to bribe and block all efforts to implement democratic reforms.

If we want a democratic Zimbabwe must trace and recover all the vast looted wealth amassed by Mugabe and his cronies or the prospect of the likes of Chatunga Mugabe becoming another dictator will hang over our head like the sword of Damocles. 

Dear Mr President, have lockdown extension but if covid-19 deaths soar you MUST and WILL step down W Mukori

Dear Mr President

“Balancing the need for economic growth or saving the lives of the people?” you said.

“I came to the conclusion that if citizens die, if our people die, we cannot resuscitate them.

“The economy can die, it can be resuscitated now or in the future, as long as people are alive.”

The tragedy here is Zimbabweans will die in their hundreds of thousands whether you extend the lockdown or not.

You have handled the whole corona virus outbreak with your trademark blundering incompetence and the consequences are the virus has spread far and wide. You have been advised to test, track, isolate and treat. You have only done 7 000 tests, far short of the 30 000 you promised. Without accurate test data all your decisions have been guess work, just shooting in the dark.

Zimbabwe has done very little of the other activities, tracking, isolating and treating.

Whilst it is true that easing the lockdown when the number of corona virus cases are set to increase was clearly unthinkable. Still there is no empirical evidence to show the chaotic lockdown of the last five weeks is having any notable effect in slowing down the spread of the virus.

The lockdown is yet another one of your overrated ; “a dog’s puny fart that will never put out the furnace fire”, a the Chinua Achebe would aptly put it!

As for resuscitating the economy, the Zimbabwe economy was already in total meltdown after 40 years of unrelenting decline. When you seized power from Mugabe following the November 2017 military coup you were cocksure of reviving the economy and proclaimed “Zimbabwe is open for business!” No one answered the call, the flood of investors never materialised.

Investors are a shrewd lot, they were never going to be fooled by Zanu PF musical chairs game and empty rhetoric. You promised to end corruption and corruption is still rampant to this day. But most important of all you promised to hold free, fair and credible elections only to blatantly rig the July 2018 elections.

You failed to produce something as basic as a verified voters’ roll. You claim that you received 2.6 million votes but none of the election observers could trace or verify claim with no verified voters’ roll.

Go ahead, extend the lockdown by another two weeks, make it three weeks if you wish. It is clear that you are not testing aggressively because you want to hide the true picture of the seriousness of the corona virus in Zimbabwe – cook the figures, the Chinese Wuhan covid-19 recipe. The Chinese did the tracking, isolation and treating; you are not. And hence the reason the virus has been spreading like wildfire.

You rigged the July 2018 elections and cheated Nelson Chamisa and his MDC friend. You have failed to rig economic recovery before the corona virus pandemic and you will not do so after the pandemic. And most important of immediate importance, you will never ever cheat covid-19!

As Zimbabwe moves into the cold winter days of May, June and July the number of corona virus cases and deaths will soar. Hundreds of thousands of Zimbabweans are going to suffer and die unnecessarily because of your repeated blundering incompetence, you will not resuscitate any of the died. Will you do the only honourable thing then – admit you failed and step down?

What Zimbabwe has needed for the last 40 years is a competent and accountable government and the country needs one such government now as matter of life and death. Even now a competent government will help save many Zimbabweans from unnecessary suffering and death. And only a competent government will revive Zimbabwe’s economy now.

If there is one thing the tragic events of the corona virus have proven beyond all reasonable doubt it is that Zanu PF does not have the monopoly of knowledge. Zimbabwe must now break with the past, end the curse of rigged elections, and restore all the individual freedoms and rights including the right to free, fair and credible elections and the right to life.

Zanu PF rigged the 2018 elections, the party is illegitimate and must step down! Mr President, this is not negotiable! Step down or you will be forced to do so.

Yours sincerely,

Wilbert Mukori

Citizen of Zimbabwe. 

Covid-19 is the greatest existential threat; tough times demand competent regime not blundering one P Guramatunhu

Compared to Zimbabwe, Mozambique has enjoyed economic boom for decades now. It is therefore no surprise that many Zimbabweans have drifted to Mozambique to escape economic hardship and political oppression. Corona virus has disrupted economic activity in Mozambique as it has done the world over and Zimbabweans are being forced to return home.

The Zimbabwe government is holding all Zimbabwe returnees in quarantine and the country has taken the first batch of eight from Mozambique.

When Zimbabwe gained her independence in 1980, the country was set to be the South Korea of Africa, a healthy democratic nation with robust and prosperous economy. The nation has instead become the North Korea of Africa, a banana republic with a filthy rich ruling elite few and the masses living in abject poverty and forever begging!

It is common knowledge that when Mozambique gained her independence from the Portuguese, it was one of the poorest nations in Africa. The departing Portuguese colonialists reportedly poured concrete into the sewage system and sabotaged as much of the little infrastructure the country had.

On the other hand, Zimbabwe had good economic infrastructure and robust economy when the country gained her independence. The late Julius Nyerere of Tanzania called the country “the jewel of Africa” and cautioned Robert Mugabe to keep it that way. He wasted his breath!

40 years of gross mismanagement and rampant corruption under the Zanu PF dictatorship have turned the jewel of Africa into one of the poorest in Africa. Zimbabweans have been flocking into the neighbouring countries and beyond to escape poverty and political oppression. Zimbabwe’s economy has all but collapsed and its roads, railway, hospitals and other infrastructure are all in varying stages of rot and decay.

According to a 2019 World Bank report, 34% of Zimbabwe’s 15 million population are living in abject poverty; i.e. they could not afford even one decent meal a day let alone other necessities such as education for the children, health care service for the sick, etc. Extreme poverty in all the other countries in the region is single digit percentage.  

Corona virus is set to be one greatest challenge the world has ever faced, no nation has been spared the economic disruption and the humanitarian suffering and deaths. And during trying times like this most nation will struggle to need the basic needs of their own citizens and will not be so generous to foreigners. And so many Zimbabweans are being forced to return home, to a country in worse economic turmoil than they left behind!
  
Whilst corona virus has spared no one across the globe, all told it will cause as much as 1% deaths in the developed countries. Corona virus is going to hit Zimbabwe very, very hard, the hardest hit in the region. The death toll in Zimbabwe could well soar to as much as 10% of the population and here is why:

·       Zimbabwe’s health care service has all but completely collapse it has no equipment, few health care workers, no PPE, no medicine and will be completely overwhelmed by a few hundred patient-days. Without hospital care many will die.

·        

·       Zanu PF’s blundering incompetence in handling the virus has allowed covid-19 to spread far and wide and when the number of cases start to soar, expert to do so with winter, many more people be infected and all in a short space of time. The nation at large will be overwhelmed resulting even more suffering and dying because there was no one to feed the sick.  

·        

·       Most of corona virus’ deaths are by someone had an existing health problem such as TB, heart problems, etc. 34% of the population in Zimbabwe live in abject poverty and cannot afford one decent meal a day much less health care. It therefore is no surprise the country has many people with serious pre-existing health problems.

·        

·       World Food Program has announced that over four million Zimbabweans are facing starvation as we speak. The country wide lockdown of the last four weeks will only make the food shortage worse. The starving is just as susceptible to corona virus death as those with pre-existing health problems

·        

·       Those who do recover from corona virus or are saved by arrival of the vaccine will not be out of the woods yet. The corona virus induced economic depression is expected to last a decade in the developed nations and in Zimbabwe economic recovery will take a lot longer, if at all! Many who did not die of corona virus will die of starvation and other poverty related problems.

·        

Yes, Zimbabwe could have become the South Korea of Africa but has instead because the North Korea because that is what Robert Mugabe and his Zanu PF cronies wanted. We, the people of Zimbabwe, could and should have stopped him but did not. The country had many golden opportunities to end the Zanu PF dictatorship, the best chances falling to Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends, but wasted them all.

Nations get the government their deserve and Zimbabweans certainly deserve this corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF dictatorship complete with its coterie equally corrupt and useless opposition parties.

Zimbabwe has paid dearly for having a corrupt, incompetent, vote rigging and tyrannical government these last 40 years. During a serious international such as this corona virus outbreak, the going will get tough and only the tough will get going. The need for a competent government instead of this corrupt, incompetent and illegitimate (of course the party rigged the July 2018 elections) Zanu PF dictatorship is now more urgent than ever.

The nation’s performs throughout the corona virus pandemic and the decades of economic recovery to follow will depend on how soon this nation replace Zanu PF with a competent and legitimate government. 

UN procure US$4.1 m PPE for covid-19 workers - yeah, whatever is left after kitting VP Chiwenga W Mukori

THE United Nations (UN) Monday announced plans to disburse US$4.1 million support to help Zimbabwe tackle Covid-19, reported New Zimbabwe.

The funds will be used to procure personal protective equipment such as gloves, masks, sanitisers, cleaning materials and gowns for frontline staff in the fight against Covid-19 across the country.

“Due to the infectious nature of Covid-19, it is critical that our frontline health workers are protected and feel safe to provide the best care for patients,” said UN Development Programme Zimbabwe representative, Georges van Montfort.

“We are making all efforts for speedy delivery of the equipment.”

Yeah but how much of that equipment will go to the frontline staff in hospitals and clinics used by the ordinary Zimbabweans and how much will end up at St Anne Hospital and other hospitals for the ruling elite? There is overwhelming evidence to show how Zanu PF greed, corruption and blundering incompetence has made the corona virus situation in Zimbabwe a catastrophe of Biblical proportion.

This Zanu PF regime has failed to provide something as basic as clean running water at quarantine centres, hospitals and clinics across the nation and yet the few hospitals for the ruling elite everything one can ever imagine!

Indeed, VP Chiwenga has been touring hospitals kitted in the top of range PPE when most of the health workers will ever get are face masks to last a month at most! 

There is also overwhelming evidence to show that UN officials have turned a blind eye to Zanu PF’s greed, corruption and blunders.

Indeed, many donors have stopped helping Zimbabwe because of the corruption and waste by the Zanu PF government. The question that must be asked is, why has the UN continued to prop up this Zanu PF regime at the expense of the long-suffering masses of Zimbabwe?

The people of Zimbabwe recognise that they have a serious problem with this corrupt, incompetent and illegitimate, everyone who is anyone acknowledged that Mnangagwa rigged the July 2018 elections, Zanu PF dictatorship. The problem of bad governance has come to the fore during these difficult days of corona virus pandemic, Zanu PF’s blundering incompetence have made things worse. 

Why is the UN pretending everything is fine in Zimbabwe and Zanu PF is the most competent government ever? The UN has served Zanu PF well but served the ordinary Zimbabweans badly! 

"I will not talk about sanctions" says Masiyiwa - why not, need no-hold-barred to get out of this hell P Guramatunhu

“While I don’t want to get into the issues around how and why there are sanctions, everyone knows that I personally had to flee my country, Zimbabwe, because of persecution 20 years ago,” said Strive Masiyiwa in a statement. “I have not been back since. For the avoidance of doubt; This is not an appeal for the lifting of sanctions.”

Masiyiwa has launched an appeal for help for Sudan and Zimbabwe to fight the coronavirus outbreak. The two countries are facing economic sanctions imposed by the West, particularly the USA and, to add insult to injury, they were singled out when other countries had their debts written by IMF and the other multilateral organizations.

In 2016 the then President Robert Mugabe admitted the country was “swindled of US$ 15 billion in diamond revenue alone”! He never arrested even one swindler or recovered one dollar.

The following year, 2017, Patrick Chinamasa, then Minister of Finance confirm in parliament that government was getting 1/6 of the expected diamond revenue. In other words the looting was still taking place.

Mnangagwa, Mugabe’s successor following the 2017 military coup, promised “zero tolerance to corruption” and yet he too has yet to arrest one swindler and/or recover one dollar.

The Chinese helped Mnangagwa rig the July 2018 elections and they were back in Zimbabwe soon thereafter. Mugabe booted them out of Marange and Chiadzwa diamond fields, the only looters who had been singled out. They have since been back to pick up from where they left off!

So, writing off Zimbabwe’s US$ 8 billion debt would only have given the regime yet another source of money to loot! We need a deeper understanding of our nation’s problems and a wholistic solution!

Many Zimbabweans have avoid talking about gross mismanagement, rampant corruption and, most important of all, rigged elections and bad governance for the last 40 years. These problems have not gone away but have instead grown and spread like the deadly cancers they are. Today Zimbabwe’s once promising economy is in ruins, 34% of our people live in extreme poverty, according to a recent WB report.

Our political system is total dysfunctional because politics is now a dirty game so dirty only seasoned thugs are playing it.

Many Zimbabweans left the country and have played no role is helping find the solution to Zimbabwe’s economic and political problems. The corona virus crisis is forcing millions of Zimbabweans to go back to a country still ruled by the same corrupt, incompetent and vote rigging thugs complete with the entourage of equally corrupt and useless opposition sell-outs.

Zimbabweans must now face the country’s teething problem of rigged elections and bad governance or there will be heart-breaking gnashing of teeth and countless deaths as Zanu PF’s blundering incompetence drag the nation deeper and deeper into the abyss. We are masters of our own destiny and so far we have let clueless buffoon in charge and it shows. How much longer are we going to let this madness continue?

“I don’t want to get into the issues around how and why there are sanctions!” Why the hell not? If the country is ever going to get out of this hell-on-earth then it is time we had a hard long look at ourselves and have a no-hold-barred discussion of the nation’s problems!

@ Province will have 10 plus covid-19 centres - another Wilkins gimmick , overwhelmed long before flood N Garikai

Government of Zimbabwe continues to establish isolation centres to house COVID-19 patients across the country. So far government has named 10 and 23 such isolation centres in Masvingo and Manicaland Provinces.

Here we go again, this is just another blunder by this incompetent Zanu PF government. There are many questions for which there are no answers – proof this is just another ill-advised move.  

How are the ordinary people to know whether the patient has covid-19 and not some other disease? What is almost certain to happen here is people will take the sick to the nearest hospital and clinic including those that are not listed as covid-19 centres. The covid-19 patient will queue for hours together with other patients until they are finally attended to; by then they would have infected a few others.

Are the health workers at the hospitals and clinics, not designated covid-19  centres, have the covid-19 test kits and PPE to deal with covid-19 patients?

How many fully kitted ICU for covid-19 patients are available at each of these covid-19 hospitals and clinics? The last thing people want is to track 40 km or more to the hospital or clinic only to be told they are not admitting any more patients!

It is no secret that Zimbabwe’s health care service has all but collapsed after 40 years of neglect.

Even the country’s referral hospitals like Parerenyatwa and Mpilo Hospitals are in a very advance state of rot and decay with poorly paid doctors and nurses, no equipment, no medicine, etc. Parerenyatwa Hospital has often cancel even routine operations because the hospital did not have something as basic as painkillers. Indeed, the hospital has gone for days without running water!

If the country’s referral hospitals are in a sorry state, the provincial and district hospitals are in much, much worse state. Most of the covid-19 designated hospitals and clinic will still have no clean running water and whatever allocation of medicine, PPE, etc. they have allocated for the purpose will run out after the first 100 patient-days. At the peak of the pandemic these hospitals and clinics will sending away 100s of very sick covid-19 patients every day!

What is annoying here is that Zimbabwe’s health care service is in this sorry state not because the country is poor. God no! The money that should have been invested in our health care services was cream off to build sprawling palatial mansions such as the Mugabe’s Blue Roof, to prop up the chefs’ corrupt and wasteful business empires, to bankroll the chefs’ lavish lifestyles, etc.

The chefs did not mind that the country’s health care services was in a sorry state because they did not use it. In 2012 alone Mugabe made 8 trips to Singapore for an eye check-up each trip costed US$3 million, according to Tendai Biti who was the Minister of Finance at the time and paid the bills.

With US$ 24 million, the country could have built, equip and staff a five-star eye centre that would still be there to this day!  

President Mnangagwa boasted of Zimbabwe’s “preparedness” to deal with corona virus and names Wilkins Hospital as the country’s first covid-19 designated hospital. The nation was shocked that the hospital only had a bed and a bucket toilet to offer Zororo Makamba, its first covid-19 patient! The hospital did not even have running water!  

Zimbabwe is not prepared to deal with the covid-19 pandemic, that is a fact. The government has announce 23 or so designated covid-19 centres in each of the country’s 8 rural provinces; this is just a gimmick these centres will be completely overwhelmed after receiving the first 10 patients or so, long before the flood of 100s of patients per day!

There are a lot of useful things government should be doing to mitigate the spread of covid-19 such as equipping and deploying health care workers who will visit the sick in their homes and decide who is a covid-19 suspend, what help they need and where to get it. It is utterly pointless giving the people false hope that they will get covid-19 hospital attention when there will be no such help.

The corona virus has brought into sharp focus Zimbabwe’s need for a competent government. This corrupt, incompetent and vote rigging Zanu PF regime’s blunders and gimmicks have the nation running around like headless chickens making the covid-19 pandemic worse and worse.

The question to be asked is; what will it take, in lost treasure, human suffering and deaths, to finally force Zimbabweans to open their eyes to the need for good governance?  

Dr Moyo's "innovative solution" is to contest 2023 elections with no reforms - blinded by greed N Garikai

The people of Zimbabwe have risked life and limb to elect Zanu PF’s political opponents on the understanding, once in power, they would implement the democratic reforms the nation was dying for.

Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC friends have had many golden opportunities to implement the reforms, with the best chances coming during the 2008 to 2013 GNU. Sadly, Tsvangirai et al took their eyes off the ball and they wasted all the opportunities. They have failed to implement even one reform!

Mugabe bribed the MDC leaders with the trappings of high office; the ministerial limos, the generous salaries, a US$4 million mansion for Tsvangirai himself, etc. And to show their appreciation, MDC leaders forgot about the reforms!

“Mazivznhu eMDC adzidza kudya anyerere!” (MDC leaders have learned to enjoy the gravy train good-life. They will never rock the boat now!) boasted Mugabe’s cronies during the GNU, when asked why MDC leaders were not implementing any reforms.

After the GNU, MDC leaders have abandoned all hope of implementing any reforms and have since settled for a few gravy-train seats Zanu PF gives away as bait.

The scramble for the bait seats has brought out the nation’s scum, the 2018 elections were a hotly contested affair with 23 candidates contesting for the presidency alone. They all knew with no reforms Zanu PF would win 2/3 majority in parliament plus the presidency; they were fighting over the remaining 1/3 or so MP seats and the coveted title of opposition party leader.

Of course, all of the opposition leaders contesting these flawed and illegitimate elections knew their participation gave credibility to the rigged elections and, thus some modicum of legitimacy to the resultant Zanu PF government. They were doing it out of greed, as David Coltart, a MDC leader and minister in the GNU, readily admitted in his book. The Struggle Continues 50 years of tyranny in Zimbabwe.

“The worst aspect for me about the failure to agree a coalition was that both MDCs couldn’t now do the obvious – withdraw from the elections,” wrote Senator Coltart.

“The electoral process was so flawed, so illegal, that the only logical step was to withdraw, which would compel SADC to hold Zanu PF to account. But such was the distrust between the MDC-T and MDC-N that neither could withdraw for fear that the other would remain in the elections, winning seats and giving the process credibility.”

The “obvious” thing for the opposition to have done in 2013, 2018 and ever more so in 2023 is not participate in the elections without reforms designed to stop the curse of rigged elections. The country’s opposition is but scum, they participated in the elections then and they are already out campaigning for the 2023 elections!

"Good leaders are not seen by the size of their promises, but by what they have done to date. Conmen thrive on sweet promises, convincing you they can move mountains for you when they can't lift a pebble for themselves. We stand by that assertion, track records matter more than promises," Dr Nkosana Moyo, leader of Alliance for People's Agenda. He was one of the 23 presidential candidates in the rigged July 2018 plebiscite.

"Elections came. The people chose. Did the people choose on merit or emotions? Did the people choose on track record or future promises? In Bulawayo one leader was not elected by the voters, but leadership is in him. He continues to innovate and find solutions to community problems."

How can people “choose on merit” if elections are not free, fair and credible?

The country is stuck with this corrupt, incompetent and tyrannical Zanu PF dictatorship for 40 years and counting because the thugs rig elections. How can asking the nation to participate in these flawed and illegal elections for the umpteenth time be an “innovative solution” to ending the rat race?

“Hupedzi inyama yegakava!” (There is no one more stubborn than a fool!) so goes a Shona adage. 

Dr Nkosana Moyo greed has closed your eyes, ears and mind to reason, reality and truth. You are just a first-class village idiot, no different from Mugabe, Mnangagwa, Tsvangirai, Chamisa and all the others whose greed landed us in this hell-on-earth and is keeping us there.

Zimbabwe's number one priority is to make sure we implement the reforms necessary for free, fair and credible elections. It would be irresponsible to let the nation be stampeded into yet another rigged election by those blinded by greed! 

Ramaphosa's face mask palava is symptomatic of his blundering incompetence - no laughing matter P Guramatunhu

Did you see the video clip of President Cyril Ramaphosa struggling to put on the face mask? Boy oh boy, instead of covering his mouth and nose he kept covering his eyes. What a palava!

“I am going to open a TV channel where I will teach people how to put on a mask,” chuckled President Ramaphosa, the following day. “You can enrol.”

“Kudos to our president,” said one Twitter post. “At least he’s got a sense of humour.”

Oh! How I wish President Cyril Ramaphosa had opened the TV channel and was never elected President of the Republic of South Africa! We can all laugh about Ramaphosa’s failure to put on the face mask but none of us are laughing about his blundering incompetence as president, especially in the handling of the corona virus pandemic.

Countries such as South Korea and Germany have heeded World Health Organisation’s advice to aggressive test, track, isolate and treat corona virus cases. They have managed to contain the spread of the virus. SA, like all the other African countries without exception, was slow off the mark, allowed the virus to take root and now it is spreading like wildfire.  

President Ramaphosa imposed SA’s nationwide lockdown far too early, without careful consideration on its effectiveness in high density suburbs and worst of all with no resources lined up to feed the most vulnerable. He is already easing the lockdown when pandemic is set to get worse with the arrival of winter.

I am disappointed in President Ramaphosa’s blundering incompetence in the handling of the corona virus threat but was not altogether surprised. Like every other thinking Zimbabwean out there, I was very disappointed when President Ramaphosa said Zimbabwe’s July 2018 elections “went well”! When Mnangagwa had blatantly rigged the elections and all the democratic nations had said so.

And to add insult to injury, President Ramaphosa has stubbornly refused to accept that Zimbabwe’s economic meltdown was caused by the gross mismanagement and rampant corruption and, instead, blames it on targeted sanctions imposed on a few Zanu PF leaders. How can anyone be that dumb, especially one in the position of power and authority!

Like it or not President Ramaphosa’s failure to put on the face mask was symptomatic of his blundering incompetence in the handling of the corona virus and many other big national issues. The consequence of his failure to contain the corona virus is the virus spreading far and wide and wrecking economic, social and humanitarian havoc of Biblical proportion. That is no laughing matter!

At least President Cyril Ramaphosa was elected by the majority of South Africans in a free, fair and credible election. They, if they so decide, can remove him from office.

The people of Zimbabwe are too facing the consequences of Mnangagwa’s blundering incompetence in the handling of the corona virus. The situation in Zimbabwe is going to be a lot worse than SA given Zimbabwe’s economic was in total meltdown and health service had all but completely collapsed before the pandemic.

Emmerson Mnangagwa and his Zanu PF thugs blatantly rigged the 2018 elections to impose themselves on the nation! The regime has no democratic mandate to rule, it is illegitimate. We are stuck with this Zanu PF dictatorship and have been for the last 40 years!

The worsening economic meltdown and humanitarian suffering will only underline our desperation for meaningful change; for free, fair and credible elections! 

Cabinet hawks, fearful of unrest, forced 14, instead 21, day lockdown extension - a pyrrhic victory W Mukori

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."

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.

Zanu PF is not covid-19 testing malaria dead for same reasons China silenced Dr Li Wenliang P Guramatunhu

Last week government announced that it was going to increase the number of covid-19 tests from 40 or so per day to 1 000 per day. This was a welcome move. “Long overdue!” many people rightly said because without testing and thus knowing how the virus was spreading in the country, we would never stop it spreading.

Two on the top of the list of criteria on who must be testing were “people with influenza like symptoms and all patients with fever symptoms”, Nick Mangwana announced. Now it seems government is going back on this undertaking! Government is not testing for covid-19 they many people who have reportedly died from malaria.

"This matter came up for discussion on Monday and while it was regrettable that Zimbabwe continues to lose life to Malaria, the statistics of infections and deaths are in fact consistent with trends in recent years,” said President Emmerson Mnangagwa's spokesperson, George Charamba.

"What this says is that reports must be very careful not to confuse Coronavirus with malaria, merely because symptoms are largely similar.

"Secondly, while the worldwide hype on Coronavirus is warranted, this should not detract from the traditional killers of our people, namely malaria, Aids and cancers, which must continue to receive greater attention.” 

Charamba readily acknowledged that the symptoms of these malaria deaths are largely similar to those of corona virus patients, which is the criteria announced by his colleague Nick Mnangagwa.

Secondly, it is a well-known fact that the overwhelming majority of people who have died of corona virus also had other underlying health problems such as HIVAIDS, cancer and/or had compromised immunity because of their advanced age or some other reason. It is logical to add malaria as just of “other underlying health condition” putting those with malaria at increase risk of death if they contracted covid-19.

This claim that there is a serious malaria outbreak in the country when the same government has been attributing the food shortage in the country to drought does not make sense. There cannot be malaria outbreak when there is a drought!

So, whilst in the past many people would get malaria and would recover. However, if they should have malaria and corona virus infection too, it is a death warrant!

Since corona virus is a very contagious disease it is important that all covid-19 patients are tested and confirmed a.s.a.p. and from there on they must be treated as covid-19 patients whether or not they have malaria or any other underlying disease. The failure to do so will only help spread the virus because, in their ignorance, people will fail to take the necessary anti corona virus precautions.

This Zanu PF and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) have one big thing in common – they both have no democratic mandate to govern and hence the reason they are very secretive. They would rather deny, falsify and/or conceal the truth; even if they know there is a heavy price to be paid for doing so: just to hide their weaknesses and failures. For all their posturing as great leaders, tough as an old boot; they are ultra-sensitive to criticism especially when the criticism is exposes them for the corrupt, incompetent and feeble minded they are.

CCP did not want the world to know about corona virus. Indeed, the party even recommended that Dr Li Wenliang, the Wuhan doctor who first diagnosed the virus and raised the alarm, must be reprimanded. Even after acknowledging the corona virus outbreak, China has continued to be very secretive about how many people were infected, how many died, etc.

There is no denying that by failing to be open, truthful and transparent China has contributed to the spread of the corona virus across the globe. So far, there have been over 2.6 million confirmed cases of covid-19 and nearly 200 000 have died. The pandemic is yet to reach its peak in Africa and many other developing countries whose health service will be overwhelmed and are poorly resourced to contain the outbreak. The number infected and dead will increase five to tenfold!

The economic disruption caused by the corona virus pandemic will result in a 10% to 30% contraction of the economy in the industrialised nations causing a depression to last 10 years or so. The contraction will be even worse in poor countries and last even longer.

WFP has predicted that up 30 million people will soon be facing starvation!

Zanu PF has handled the corona virus threat with its characteristic blundering incompetence. The regime allowed the late Zororo Makamba, for example, to roam and mix with the rest even after the officials at the Airport had noticed he had the corona virus symptoms. Now the party is determined to falsify the spread of the virus and the suffering and deaths it is causing.

Zanu PF is loathed to test for covid-19 all those are sick or have died of malaria and other diseases because the party does not want the true number of corona virus confirmed cases and deaths to be known. The true cost of this deceit is that even more people are going to infected and many more will die because, had they known the true corona virus status of those around them, they would have been more cautious!

The world is paying dearly for CCP’s failure to tell the truth about corona virus to conceal its incompetence. Likewise, Zimbabweans are paying dearly for Zanu PF’s refusal to reveal the truth on how widespread corona virus is for the same reason – to conceal its blundering incompetence.

"Returnees will have to stay in quarantine" decrees Gvt - to catch covid-19 and recover or leave in a coffin W Mukori

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!