Grace Chekai
Government detractors have upped their ante during this COVID-19 pandemic, in a bid to discredit the Zimbabwean Government, which is seized with trying to save lives in the face of the deadly corona virus.
The Second Republic has been working flat out to ensure normalcy prevails after, 2020, a year which saw several lockdowns almost ground many economic activities to a halt. Government detractors have been unrelenting in their criticism of Government’s response to the pandemic despite that the country fared way much better than other countries in the way they handled COVID-19.
Surprisingly, after criticism of the Chinese vaccines roll-out in the country, the two-faced critics left many perplexed as the likes of Hopewell Chin`ono and Jacob Ngarivhume found themselves being vaccinated by the Chinese vaccine Sinopharm, which they berated on social media platforms, discouraging the populace from getting the jab.
Tweeting on his Twitter handle soon after the arrival of the Sinopharm vaccine from China, Chin`ono posted, “Hanzi ne ZANU PF tokubayayi chete chinhu chavo cheku China. Lawyer what does the constitution say about forcing a person to take medication or vaccines they don`t want to take, especially when they question the vaccine`s efficacy and tests?!”
This tweet clearly suggested that Chin`ono was against the Chinese COVID-19 vaccine jab.
In a volte-face move that left many Zimbabwean confused Chin`ono later posted, “Today I was COVID-19 vaccinated in Harare. Journalists are in the priority category in Zimbabwe.
“I received the Sinopharm vaccine. The staff was extremely courteous and professional. Vaccines are the only defense available to avoid getting seriously ill if you contract the Corona Virus.”
How many people listened to Chin’ono first proclamation on the Chinese vaccines? Going by his more than 185 000 followers on Twitter and other social media sites, its anyone’s guess the number of people being taken for a ride by these cashivits. The most unfortunate part is these anti-government antics have impinged Government efforts to turn around the economy, by their anti-Government, anti-Zimbabwe and anti-people sentiments.
This is more-so when countries like United States of America and European Union countries base their opinion of the country on these detractors’ utterances and cooked up reports, reports which they then use to maintain sanctions on the country.
When schools opened this year after massive interruption to the school calendar in 2020, due to COVID-19 pandemic, Government detractors were at it again on social media discouraging teachers to go to work, so as to have a repeat of the crippling strike carried out last year.
Amalgamated Rural Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (ARTUZ), an organization which claims that it stands for teacher`s plights in rural areas is one of the unions that does not want to see an improvement in our education sector.
Last year most pupils in rural areas failed dismally in their exams. Of course the COVID-19 contributed to their failure, but it was worsened by this union which is always discouraging teachers not to attend lessons to justify to their western paymasters that they are getting their monies worth with all the noises it engages in.
What is clear from all this is that Government detractors are self-centred individuals, whom Zimbabweans should not be listening to, if they want their country to succeed. As Zimbabweans we need to work together with our Government in building better a nation. Government detractors are there to destroy the positive developments, the Government has achieved in building a Zimbabwe we all want, but only if we let them.
