Own Correspondent|President Mnangagwa has urged Zimbabweans to remain peaceful during this time of Covid-19 and avoid endangering the lives of other citizens through illegal demonstrations to score cheap political scores.

He said Covid-19 was real and no one was immune to the virus.

The President made these remarks at the burial of national hero Absolom Sikhosana at the National Heroes Acre yesterday.

“I wish once again to draw the attention to the nation to the invisible enemy that has visited us in the form of coronavirus, also known as Covid-19,” he said.

“It is a real threat to us all and no one is safe or immune from it. Let us keep adhering to the World Health Organisation guidelines for preventing its spread. I want to end my remarks by reminding us to remain united and to keep the peace. We must never endanger the lives of our people through illegal, reckless and unwarranted demonstrations for political grandstanding. We are one people, one nation, one Zimbabwe.”

President Mnangagwa’s remarks come in the wake of a demonstration staged by MDC-Alliance members in Warren Park, Harare, last week which led to the abduction of three female leaders of the youth wing of the opposition party.

The three women, all leaders of the Movement for Democratic Change’s youth movement, were arrested at a roadblock guarded by police and soldiers after the protest against the state’s failure to provide for the poor during the country’s Covid-19 lockdown.

They then disappeared until they were found on a roadside on Friday morning two days after the abduction 60 miles away from the capital by a local man, badly injured and traumatised.

Reports indicate that masked assailants bundled the three women into an unmarked Toyota Wish and drove them away.

Mnangagwa did not speak about the abductions in his address.