Rudo Saungweme

Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services, Mr Ndavaningi (Nick) Mangwana said that the focus at the moment was on rescuing victims of the Cyclone Idai and recovering dead bodies.

Responding to a question about what the Government is doing to damaged infrastructure, Mr Mangwana said, “Our teams are currently focusing on issues of rescue, recovery and restoring. These are the major issues we are dealing with. We are not dealing with issues of infrastructure assessment, but where we need bridges, where we need accessibility.

“We cannot talk about infrastructure damage now when issues of people who are not yet buried, people who are still in a bad place and people that have not yet been found are not dealt with. It will appear very insensitive. The point is what infrastructure we need to get assistance to rescue the people,” he said.

The army continues to lead several rescue missions across the province and have constructed an alternative road network to enable transporters reach the affected areas.

Several Government ministers have toured the provinces to assess the damage and President Emmerson Mnangagwa has gone Manicaland today.