WHEN Zimbabwe recorded its first COVID-19 case in March of 2020 which claimed the life of prominent journalist, Zororo Makamba, many feared that the country would be overrun by the disease as was seen in countries such as Italy.
The manner of Makamba’s passing revealed that the country was ill-prepared and had no capacity to handle the impending crisis. Further to this, former Health minister Obadiah Moyo did little to inspire confidence in a country that had a collapsed health sector.
In fact, many countries were believed to have weathered a storm of epic proportions. The statistics that were recorded for many African countries showed that the virus had not spread as many feared. This resulted in what many countries having what has been described as COVID-19 fatigue and the relaxing of many restrictions. However, the second wave of the virus has again struck the African continent with a vengeance. Zimbabwe, due to the state of the country’s economic downturn, is now at the wrong end of the second wave with the health sector struggling to cope with the rising numbers of infected patients. Desperate patients have resorted to using social media platforms to ask for assistance for hospital beds.
What is even more concerning is the fact that hospitals are charging exorbitant fees for beds and in many cases these fees are out of reach for many citizens. Such was the magnitude of the crisis at hand that the Zimbabwean government through its Health ministry implemented a strict lockdown with the hope of curbing the virus. Health minister Vice-President Constantino Chiwenga announced that only essential services would be allowed to travel to work, while everyone else was to be confined to their homes.
From the Zimbabwean perspectiv, the ever-growing case for the decentralisation of power ring louder as the pandemic persists.
The hope is that COVID-19 has shown the importance of having a total recalibration of Zimbabwe’s governance procedures and processes.
Recently, it was announced that the entire country had become a hotspot further arguing for the implementation of the lockdown.
If devolution is implemented, provinces are likely to have the power to implement measures to curb the virus.
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The use of devolution as stated in the Constitution is an important element of governance, especially seeing the impacts of COVID-19 in the country.
Gwinyai Regis Taruvinga
