This year we celebrate Workers Day under difficult circumstances when the whole world is under lockdown trying to fight and eliminate covid 19 pandemic. As most workers are locked in their homes, the frontline workers in essential services are battling it all in a risky environment trying to save lives. We salute them for the sterling work that they are doing.

We celebrate this day when most of these workers are being made to work without Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs) and working under difficult conditions. We are concerned as the Assembly of Women by the number of Women that are dying in the diaspora due to this covid 19. So far we have lost more than 40 workers of which the majority are women. We mourn with the families and friends of our beloved mothers and sister’s who died whilst trying to save lives.

We are celebrating this day today with tears on our cheeks as women are walloping in abject poverty in their homes as they cannot make ends meet. Most women are informal traders and they have been locked down in their homes without anything to eat. They also face rejection by the government as their stalls have been demolished whilst they are busy complying with the lockdown regulations. The Assembly of Women denounces this barbaric act by the government and we are glad that the courts have stopped these demolitions.

Women under lockdown are faced with a myriad of problems which include hunger, water problems, electricity, no internet facilities for the children to do their school work, no access to health facilities including contraception, harassment by state securities who are beating them when they try and go out to source mealie meal which is a basic commodity. We are deeply concerned by the quietness of the government on these harassments.

Cases of gender based violence are on the increase due to the lockdown as husbands and wives were not used to this kind of a setup where they spend a lot of time together and again with nothing to eat.

On the other hand the government did not set any safety nets for the victims as it was not prepared for this pandemic. We urge the government to quickly look into this serious issue and protect the victims as we have already lost 3 souls due to GBV.

We would like to thank our friends in the diaspora for coming up with programmes of buying food packs and PPEs in support of the President Nelson Chamisa’s Zimlock Programme. The President has managed to donate PPEs to 3 hospitals so far and food packs to the old and vulnerable people around the country.

We continue to conscientize each other on the washing of hands, on social distancing staying at home so that we protect ourselves on this deadly pandemic. Lastly we urge the government to look after its people during this lockdown and provide them with basic needs before they die of hunger.

Happy International Workers Day to you all.

Barbara Tanyanyiwa
Spokesperson
MDC A. Assembly of Women