In response to ED extends lockdown, Mai Ruru says: That Zimbabwe has been hard hit by successive years of drought, then last year’s Cyclone Idai and this year’s coronavirus has worsened the situation is a fact.
While drought and Cyclone Idai are natural disasters, the situation has been compounded by lack of leadership. The lack of preparedness on the part of government in as far as natural disasters has been the hallmark of Zimbabwe’s post-independence governments. The coronavirus pandemic has laid bare how ill-equipped our health institutions are to such incidents. This year, the coronavirus has shut down the world, and it will never get easy for Africa, a continent mostly hard done by poverty.
Chief Chiduku says: President Emmerson Mnangagwa missed the point when he extended the lockdown to combat the spread of coronavirus by 14 days. While our neighbouring countries have extended their lockdowns, Mnangagwa was supposed to be guided by Zimbabwe’s economic situation to engage a low gear in as far as fighting COVID-19 is concerned. With the Zimbabwean economy on its knees, extending the lockdown is tantamount to switching power in an intensive care unit. Zimbabweans are surviving from hand to mouth and they cannot afford a day out of work. Mnangagwa could have learnt a lesson from Ghana which lifted restrictions on the capital, Accra, and major centres. Ghanaians returned to work yesterday even though other restrictions such as school closures and a ban on sport and religious meetings remain in place. President Nana Akufo-Addo lifted a 21-day lockdown on one of the country’s biggest cities after the restrictions bought the government enough time to improve its preparedness for the coronavirus pandemic. That’s a show of leadership. Local circumstances should guide policy formulation, not this business of cutting and pasting borrowed ideas.
In response to Council demolishes Mbare vendors’ stalls, Mukwasha Mboko says: This shows how inconsiderate our leaders are. It is unAfrican to kick someone when he is already down. While the Mbare informal traders were still counting their losses brought about by the lockdown, the government, working in cahoots with the Harare City Council, went on to institute such an inhumane operation. Instead, the government should have taken advantage of the lockdown to construct proper vending stalls and relocate them as soon as the restrictions are lifted.
