By Taruberekera Masara| The spike in Covid 19 infections across the globe has far reaching implications to Zimbabwe’s well being cross sectorial, economically, socially, politically, culturally in that respect.
Covid 19 not just a health crisis. This pandemic has outflanking devastating effects.Its battering effects prickles hard especially cognitive of the fact that it hit at a time when HIV AIDS and tuberculosis epidemics are also weighing heavily on the country’s largely fragile healthcare system.
This is not withstanding the record drought in years that ravaged southern Africa last year. Its crisis on top of crisis.Zimbabwe just like many developing countries has no government run social safety nets.
That in times of need its people turn to friends, relatives, neighbours and the donor community for help.This is particularly hard, considering that the pandemic is globally widespread and everyone else is battling its ravages.
United Nations Development Programme reported that the socioeconomic hit on income poor countries as a result of the Covid 19 will be devastating to the extent that recovery may take many years.
The report suggested that half of the jobs Africa holds maybe lost.This paints a gloomy picture to the socioeconomic recovery of Zimbabwe aftermath of the Covid 19 lockdown.
Before lockdown we had crippling unemployment, stressed economy, increasingly distressed industry and a citizenry that survived way below the poverty datum line.Our education system, health delivery systems are overstretched and fragile.
As we wind down quarantine clock what is the government doing to jump start the nation. The government reported that it set aside ZW600millions stimulus package to help small businesses, vendors, elderly and need people.
The grand question is, is it enough?With unemployment statistics of over 90% and a looming recession the budget might not provide enough buffer to catapult the lives of the people.Again it is not clear how the government will navigate its way to arrest food crisis.
According to the World Food Program 60% of Zimbabwe’s population is facing hunger already. The government went into lockdown without a sovereign fund to fill gaps created by emergency response to the Covid crisis this has an effect on the already strained budget.
It paramount to note that the medical services and products are in high demand directly activating price leadership and speculative tendencies, since we rely on imports of these critical resources the burden might weigh in with crippling effects to an already ailing economy.
Covid 19 disaster has far reaching effects which requires the government to come up with creative and shrewd economic development and resuscitation strategies to spur the nation into life after the quarantine clock rundown.
Discussions pertaining to that must begin now as we countdown the clock.There is need for a government led engagement on recovery strategy. This enhance a shared vision on programming afterwards.Recovery must be people informed, people responsive, people driven and people centred.
Maybe its time for self introspection by government on its disaster management and recovery policies. Now that Zimbabwe has successively seen disasters this must be reminder enough.
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