THE confusion caused by government’s announcement on Tuesday that it was reintroducing exemption letters of April last year when the country introduced its first hard lockdown, cannot escape scrutiny.
Information minister Monica Mutsvangwa, in a post-Cabinet briefing, threatened stiffer penalties on those who violated the restrictions, including the withdrawal of business licences.
The demand for letters was to be with immediate effect, causing confusion as people were already home and would need the letter to go to work the following day.
The confusion was evident on social media as people tried to interpret the Cabinet statement, forcing Information permanent secretary Ndavaningi Mangwana to issue a clarification via his Twitter handle.
“The latest law regulating the lockdown is Statutory Instrument 189 of 2021 which followed HE’s lockdown statement. This is to say, after 1530 the only people out working should be those providing essential services. People have three hours to get home before 1830-0600 curfews, except essential services,” Mangwana tweeted.
Under the country’s first lockdown, exemption letters were demanded at every roadblock. People without letters to prove that they were essential service workers were turned back on the spot.
One didn’t need to produce the exemption letters only during curfew hours. Companies were closed down, including informal trade. This time, however, the economy is open and the regulations ban certain movements in specific places and at certain times.
Government communication should not confuse, but must be clear without room for ambiguity. It has been a recurring theme that President Emmerson Mnangagwa goes on Twitter every now and then to try to clarify confusion caused by one statement or another. It means there is a communication gap within his administration.
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Just a week ago, different government officials were making pronouncements on unvaccinated frontline workers employed by government. Each statement was different and had different implications.
It was left to Defence minister and chairperson of the COVID-19 interministerial taskforce chairperson, Oppah Muchinguri, to clarify that government was simply encouraging its workers to get inoculated and that some sections, such as security cluster had already achieved 90% success rate.
Perhaps only one person should speak on behalf of government, or at the very least, there should be coordination in government so that communication is not confusing to the citizens.
