by Grace Chekai
President Emmerson Mnangagwa needs to be applauded for all his efforts in the fight against the highly infectious coronavirus. Ever since the virus emerged, His Excellency President Mnangagwa has been busy trying by all means to implement measures to contain the disease. Unfortunately some among us have chosen to throw mud in all these efforts in a bid to perpetuate their never-ceasing nefarious narrative that President Mnangagwa’s administration has allegedly failed to run the country.
It’s a disgrace that some fellow Zimbabweans have failed to put politics aside and work together to fight COVID-19 which has proved indiscriminate of political, social, economic standing when it comes to casualties. These misguided fellow Zimbabweans who are under the influence of some G40 cabals like Professor Jonathan Moyo, want nothing better than to see the country being ravaged by the pandemic as it has done in European countries to spite President Mnangagwa’s administration which they have alleged has not made adequate preparations for the highly infectious disease.
Progressive Zimbabweans are in agreement that this is not the time for throwing stones but rather people should unite and put their political differences aside, more so when confronted with an enemy that is claiming thousands of lives per day in other countries.
President Mnangagwa declared the 21-day lockdown in order to contain the spread of COVID-19. Even this declaration, the supposedly learned Professor Moyo and his like-minded cynics, are finding fault with.
Professor Moyo tweeted saying that the lockdown can only work in developed countries.
“We can beat #coronavirus if we stay home,” says Mnangagwa.However,in America and Europe staying at home works because the majority there have homes for self-isolation. Not in Zim. The majority live in crowded informal settlements, townships, compounds and streets,” tweeted Professor Moyo.
How many African countries have declared lockdowns? Is Zimbabwe an exception? Is it not prudent for African countries to arrest this pandemic in its tracks by way of lockdown considering their not-so-developed health systems?
One can deduce that Professor Moyo only wishes Zimbabweans ill, in retaliation to being booted out of the ruling party. Apparently, the Professor’s bitterness has pushed him to the edge of unreasonableness eliciting a high level of immaturity which might put other learned professors to shame.
Contrary to Moyo’s assertion, President Mnangagwa was right in implementing that decision, as coronavirus can only be contained by restricting the movements of the people.
According to scientists who have fought pandemics in the past, difficult measures are needed to contain the spread of the coronavirus. The Dean of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, United States of America, Michelle Williams emphasised the need to quarantine in order to fight the pandemic. She took her findings from the influenza pandemic of 1918.
“But in fact, social distancing-successfully practiced by some cities during the influenza pandemic of 1918, is our current best defense against the cascading effects of COVID-19.Only through stringent social distancing can we currently hope to temper the proliferation of this novel virus and lower death rates from both COVID-19 and other unrelated illnesses,” said Williams.
The best way to implement effective social distancing is through lock down. People by nature, are always rebellious, given the laxity of practising social distancing, they will not implement it even in developed countries.
In reference to the United Kingdom, it was noted that Brittons continue to defy the order of lockdown by going out to recreational parks.
According to a UK online publication, Britons still flout the lockdown with police having to resort to using loud hailers to tell sunbathers to go home whilst families who had lost their loved ones to coronavirus begged the public to take the shutdown seriously.
Whatever challenges posed by the lockdown in the country, Zimbabweans must applaud His Excellency for this move to save lives. Constructive criticism borne out of trying to improve existing systems put in place by Government to contain COVID-19 will always be welcomed. Let us not be fond of criticising everything done by Government for the sake of criticising. We may have political differences but politics aside, coronavirus needs concerted efforts from all Zimbabweans to win this fight.
Today marks the ninth day of Zimbabwe lockdown in an effort to stop the spread of the coronavirus. Ten people has been infected including one death. Most of the infections were imported through travelling from outside countries.
Let’s all be safe and practise health guidelines proffered by government and the World Health Organisation.
