"The National covid-19 Vaccination Programme will further guarantee a Zimbabwe that continues on its course to achieve Vision 2030. We are determined to emerge out of this pandemic with greater capability to play a more effective role towards peace, harmony and prosperity within the comity of nations,” said President Mnangagwa after receiving the second batch of Sinopharm vaccines.
“My administration is confident that this vaccination intervention will greatly contribute to our country's realisation of herd immunity. We are making steady progress in the fight against the pandemic and in the on-going National COVID-19 Vaccination Roll-out Programme.”
Vision 2030 is not just wishful thinking but idiotic! “Kurotomoka!” as one would say in Shona.
Mnangagwa’s “Zimbabwe is open for business!” mantra has failed to attract the much hoped for investors because everyone could see the country was still a pariah state ruled by corrupt and incompetent thugs. If anyone still doubted the country had not change since the November 2017 military coup all doubt evaporated when Zanu PF blatantly rigged the July 2018 elections.
By the end of 2019 it was clear the Zimbabwe economy was still in serious trouble. The corona virus outbreak has made the bad economic situation even worse.
A November 2019 World Bank report said 34% of Zimbabwe’s population was living in extreme poverty; i.e. they could not afford one decent meal a day let alone other basic necessities such as education for the children and health care.
The economic disruption caused by the corona virus in the last year alone must have pushed the number living in extreme poverty to 40%. The country has been slow in procuring the corona virus vaccine and will be very luck to get enough vaccines for 10 million by June 2022. By then the number of Zimbabweans living in extreme poverty will be 50% plus!
The country’s education and health care services have all but collapsed. Decades of under funding had taken their toll and the corona virus delivered the coup de grace.
NRZ has 10 out of 67 working locomotives. How the mighty have fallen! NRZ had over 50 electric locos plus four times as many diesel ones in the 1980s! Many other big companies are in similar rot and decay.
Zimbabwe’s economy shrink by a staggering 50% in the period 2000 to 2008 under the double whammy of collapsing agricultural sector and the regime’s money printing crazy that saw inflation rate soar to 500 billion percent.
Vision 2030 is about Zimbabwe attaining middle income status. To achieve that Zimbabwe’s economy will have to grow by 25% plus every year! An impossible feat considering this will be happening in a country with very poor infrastructure, a poorly educated and sickly labour force governed by corrupt and incompetent leaders! Yeah! Mnangagwa arikurotomoka!
Zimbabwe's economy has been in decline for the last 41 years and Emmerson Mnangagwa has been a senior member of the Zanu PF government that has presided over the decline all these years. One is given to wonder why he has done nothing to stop the rot!
ReplyDeleteHis “Zimbabwe is open for business!” mantra was dead in the water from the word go. Zimbabwe was a pariah state and the November 2017 military coup itself confirm that. The same thugs who had rigged elections and retained Mugabe in power for 37 years had turned on their boss and booted him out because he was booting them out! How anyone can read the musical chairs game as a transformative moment to justify the assertion “Zimbabwe is open for business” beggars belief! Investors are a shrewd and savvy lot, they were not going to be so easily fooled. They were not fooled!
It is clear that Mnangagwa believes his own claim that Zimbabwe will attain middle income status by 2030. When you live in cloud cuckoo land you can claim to walk to the moon. The tragedy for Zimbabwe is the country is sinking deeper and deeper into the abyss, 50% of the population and living in extreme poverty, these people need solutions to their problems and not this idiotic nonsense.
As long as Zanu PF is able to rig elections, the nation will remain a pariah state led by daydreamers building their Blue Roof mansions whilst the nation’s hospitals, school, etc. rot and decay! Vision 2030 is achievable but only for the filthy rich ruling elite and the expense of the overwhelming majority whose lives is hell-on-earth!
CHINESE Ambassador to Zimbabwe, Gu Shaochun, has defended the Sinopharm vaccine produced by the Asian giant, saying that it is safe amid indications that the rollout is floundering due to public scepticism.
ReplyDeleteZimbabwe launched its inoculation programme on February 22, after receiving 200 000 doses of the Chinese vaccine, but as of yesterday morning, only 37 660 people had been vaccinated against a target of 100 000.
On February 16, Vice-President and Health minister Constantino Chiwenga told Parliament that government planned to vaccinate about 54 000 health workers and an unspecified number of customs, immigration and extension workers in the initial stage of the programme within 10 days.
Speaking after Zimbabwe received a second batch of Chinese vaccines yesterday, a combination of 144 000 doses purchased by the government and another donation of 200 000 doses, Shaochun insisted that the Sinopharm vaccine was safe.
Speaking at the same event, Mnangagwa urged citizens to embrace the vaccines to ensure the country achieved its targeted herd immunity of 60% ahead of the looming third wave of the disease.
"The fact that we are the first country in Africa which has received the second batch of Chinese-donated vaccines attests to the comprehensive relationship we have with the people of China," he said.
If Sinopharm vaccine is safe and effective why is China not releasing the data for peer review and approval by WHO and others?
So today it is 24 days since the launch of the vaccination programme that was supposed to vaccinate 54 000 in 10 days, 24 days it has only vaccinated 37 000. At this rate it is going to take 64 days to use up the first batch of 200 000 vaccines. It will take 176 days to use up the last bottle of the vaccine now in the country. It will take 6 470 days or 17.7 years to vaccinate 10 million!
Why is Zimbabwe getting a vaccine that has yet to be approved by WHO? Is it because it is cheap? If the uptake is low and causing the slow down in the roll-out then government must buy the approved vaccine and accelerate the vaccination. 37 000 vaccinated in 24 days is simply not good enough!
Zanu PF has been in power for the last 41 years and in all those years Mnangagwa was a senior member of the Zanu PF government. And all the 41 years, the Zimbabwe economy has been in decline! The country's once very productive agricultural sector has all but collapsed, a nations that once prided itself as the breadbasket of the region is now a basket case of a failed state.
ReplyDeleteThe country's skilled labour has fallen to 10% or less in such key areas as engineering and agriculture. The economic meltdown is now so bad that the country is still failing to employ even this depleted skilled labour force.
The country's basic services such as education and health care have all but collapsed and decades of being starved of funds.
Mnangagwa has failed to stamp out corruption, the biggest leak in the Zimbabwe economy.
For Mnangagwa to be claiming that Zimbabwe's economy is recovering let alone thriving to registered the greatest economic growth rate in human history at 25% plus when everything is pointing to an economy is serious trouble goes to show he really has no clue what is going on here. The tragedy is the nation desperately needs a competent government to get out of this hell-hole and has buffoons instead!
"President Mnangagwa's New Dispensation has improved our economy. His administration has made it clear that it is preparing the country for an upper middle economy by 2030."
ReplyDeleteRubbish, as long as Zimbabwe remain a pariah state rulled by corrupt, incompetent and murderous thugs the country will continue to sink into the abyss!
When the MDC leaders failed to implement even one democratic reform during the 2008 to 2013 GNU, it was clear they are corrupt, incompetent and utterly useless. The MDC leaders have pressed the self-destruct button and the party is imploding.
Still MDC’s failure to implement reforms does not mean the nation does not need the reforms any more; the need is greater now than ever. And just because MDC leaders sold-out on reforms does not mean there are no other Zimbabweans competent to get this job done - they are!
If Zanu PF does not implement the democratic reforms BEFORE the 2023 elections the party should know here and now that the election will be declared null and void. Zanu PF’s years of rigging elections and getting away with it are over!
VP Chiwenga, who is also Minister of Health, said Zimbabwe will vaccinate 54 000 in the first 10 days of the vaccination programme roll out. The programme started 22 February and today, 24 days latter, the country has vaccinated only 37 000! We need to vaccinate 10 million to reach head immunity and at this rate it will take 17.7 years to achieve it!
ReplyDeleteZimbabwe's official corona virus cases and deaths is one of the lowest per capita in the region but only because we have not been testing for the virus as diligently as WHO recommended and common sense would dictate. The penalty for not testing is many people with the virus were left in society to spread the virus. So a lot more people got the virus and many of them died.
The penalty of taking ages to vaccinate the 10 million is many more people will get the virus and many of them will die!
Many developed nation will reach head immunity by June this year. Middle income nations like SA will reach head immunity by end of 2021. Zimbabwe will be very luck if it reached head immunity by end of 2022!
CHINESE ambassador to Zimbabwe Guo Shaochun says he was not sure how many Sinopharm vaccine doses can be administered on a human anatomy for one to be guaranteed of protection from Covid-19.
ReplyDeleteShaochun was Tuesday at Robert Mugabe International Airport to help President Mnangagwa receive an additional 200 000 doses of the vaccine from his country.
It is the second consignment of Covid-19 vaccine donations extended to Zimbabwe by China.
Reports in Dubai indicate that some individuals have now taken their third doses of the drug.
Asked to clarify on the number of doses one needs, the Chinese diplomat said, “I’m not very sure. You may need to speak to the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Health.”
Shaochun also said he was not sure how many doses of the Sinovac vaccine the government of Zimbabwe procured from his country, again directing questions to the Health and Finance ministries.
In total, China has availed 400 000 doses of the Sinopharm vaccine to Zimbabwe.
Meanwhile, Ministry of Health deputy Minister John Mangwiro said each person will require only two doses to get sufficient protection against the deadly virus.
“This vaccine (Sinopharm) in particular one need two doses. So, if one get one dose today, after a month, that is 28 days or so, one must get another. This is the system that we are using,” Mangwiro said.
This explains why people are reluctant to take the sinopharm vaccine! Surely a proper evaluation of the vaccine should answer all the basic questions as the efficacy of the vaccine after one dose, second dose, etc. and how long the protection will last. It is should not be left to the individual user to get as many doses as he/she wants.
China under the communist party is a secretive nation and one has to wonder why the Chinese are hiding as regards their Sinopharm vaccine!
THE Presidential Farming Inputs Programme popularly known as Pfumvudza has been used to fleece unsuspecting farmers through a well-orchestrated scheme involving thousands of United States dollars.
ReplyDeleteA total of 1,8 million tonnes of cereal and 360 000 tonnes of oil seed have been delivered to a registered 1,8 million families for 290 000 hectares countrywide.
This translates to 72 000 deliveries made by 30-tonne trucks to various wards across rural Zimbabwe.
Investigations have revealed that a syndicate of Zanu-PF councillors conniving with Agritex officers and GMB staff have been demanding amounts ranging from US$1 to US$2 from each household to transport the inputs
This means they have realised at least US$1 200 per truck. The loads consist of 600 by 50kg bags fertilisers which were transported at a cost of US$2 each.
Some 5 kg bags of maize seed, 2 kg of sorghum, 50kg of gypsum were some of the several inputs delivered.
Any one familiar with the growing season in Zimbabwe will know no one would be planting anything now and so will not need seed or fertiliser. People will take these donations only because they are free, or relatively free in this case but will go to waste.
These Presidential Farming Inputs Programme, Pfumvudza, are state funded and yet the recipients are never left in any doubt that these are Mnangagwa and Zanu PF sponsored. It is a common occurrence for people to be asked to produce Zanu PF membership cards and for known opposition supporters to be singled out and denied assistance.
Zanu PF has reduced the rural people into helpless medieval serfs beholden to the overbearing Zanu PF landlords! It is nonsensical to talk of free, fair and credible elections in Zimbabwe as long as the ruling Zanu PF retains such a tight grip on the rural populous!
"So when you add land, construction, design and landscaping costs, at a minimum square metre charge of US$2 500 it becomes US$20 million, but if you take a maximalist approach it will be US$39 million. This includes the cost of paying the whole project team; the architect (team leader), structural engineer, civil engineer, mechanical engineer and electrical engineer. These days there is also the environmental engineer. While professional architects usually charge 7% of the project cost, the engineers charge 3.5%. These are the professional rates but, of course, people always negotiate.
ReplyDelete"Besides all that, there will also be a road which will stretch for a kilometre inside the property given its magnitude and that will cost up to US$1.5 million on its own. Building a kilometre of a proper tarred road costs between US$1 million and US$1.2 million."
When Simba wed Bona in 2014, Mugabe gave them his old historic house at 40 Quorn Avenue in Mount Pleasant. That is where Mugabe first stayed when he became prime minister in 1980 after leaving his Highfield home.
From there, Mugabe stayed at Zimbabwe House and then went to the Blue Roof, which was registered in the name of a company linked to Zanu-PF that donated the stand to him. Mugabe was also given– he did not buy – the Mount Pleasant house.
While it is not clear how much Mugabe was worth at the time of his death in September 2019, his account at CBZ Bank had US$10 million which was part of his estate.
Mugabe's family, children and relatives did not make much money during his rule, hence most of them are struggling at the moment.
Mugabe, however, allowed his family members to grab farms and his cronies to loot and accumulate wealth.
His wife Grace is more monied than the rest of the struggling family. As reported by The NewsHawks last October, Mugabe's family, according to documents, accumulated 24 farms, not 14 as widely and repeatedly reported.
No wonder these Zanu PF thugs are prepared to kill than lose power: they are living in super comfort and know that they day they lose power is the end. The mansion will never be finished!