President Emmerson Mnangagwa on Sunday took his huge motorcade of heavily armed security details around Harare’s high density suburbs as he took time to check on the compliance to the national lockdown.

Mnangagwa’s tour started in Mabvuku and Tafara. He then proceeded to Kuwadzana before moving to New Marimba, Mufakose, Glen View, Budiriro, Highfield, Glen Norah and Chitungwiza.

He did not leave his vehicle because of the need to maintain social distance and did not address anyone in the residential areas though scores of residents had to come out of their homes into the streets to get sight of the huge motorcade.

The tour revealed that people generally took heed of the lockdown.

Most market stalls were unoccupied and people fetching water from community boreholes did so in an orderly manner, with police and municipal police helping to keep order at the boreholes.

President Mnangagwa commended the people for their discipline.

“We have been to Mabvuku, Tafara, Kuwadzana, Glen View, Budiriro, Highfield, Chitungwiza and so on; I am so amazed by the discipline our people have. Right through, people were in their homes. Those who were out, like in Mabvuku where I saw some people fetching water but with total discipline, were well organised. I am so happy and I think that people actually appreciate the reason why the Government has imposed this lockdown.

“I really appreciate that they heeded the call by Government to keep the social distance.”

Perhaps unaware of the hard hands of the police in enforcing compliance, Mnangagwa applauded Zimbabweans for “exercising self-discipline.”

“In some other countries, police beat up people for them to disperse and I admire and praise our people for the discipline. For the three hours we drove around, I saw very few policemen but people are complying, which is good and I praise our people for the discipline they have shown.

Police have detained hundreds of people for contravening regulations imposed for the 21-day lockdown in Zimbabwe — with a journalist facing up to a year in jail.

The Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) had been enforcing the lockdown which has seen nearly 2 000 people being arrested countrywide for defying the stay-at-home order.

Police and soldiers are now jointly manning roadblocks and conducting patrols in suburbs to ensure that the public complies with the lockdown measures.

“This is also my first lockdown experience and I wanted a direct experience by going around seeing how our people are reacting to the lockdown and what I saw is amazing. I think if this discipline is kept, I am hopeful it will mitigate against the spread of the pandemic.”