By Fadzayi Mahere

All of the great leaders have had one characteristic in common: it is the willingness to confront unequivocally the major anxiety of their people in their time. This is the essence of ethical leadership.

I woke up to go to the bathroom unaware of the major anxiety that awaited me. After a week of forcibly not having a watch and being able to tell the time, I checked my phone to check what time it was. It was 04.39. There was also a message from the doctor who had taken my swab and conducted the Covid test the day before. “Hi”, the message read. The time stamp was 04.08. It felt ominous and it was.

“Hello. Do I have Covid?” I asked. “Unfortunately, you do” he replied.

I cursed out of confusion, frustration and, above all, guilt. I had hugged my mother many times after court. I had fist-bumped my father. My slightly ageing parents had driven me from prison. I had been in contact with my siblings, lawyers and friends. I remembered the inmate who had picked up one of my used masks and begged to use it. I was angry, irrationally so. The statistics were no longer random figures published by government. What could I expect from this illness? The science seemed ambiguous and the advice, logically construed, made it feel like a DNA lottery.

I had spent a week in a different type of isolation – unsettled, unable to move freely. But now, I was confronted by a different kind of prison, characterised by tall walls of mental and physical pain. The green garb of the virus enveloped my body.

After days of my body and mind mustering up all the immunization I could to fight this strange invader, my body began to heal. Yet my mind raced.

What the country is lacking is leadership in this time of crisis and major collective anxiety. There is a lack of policy co-ordination typified most recently by the muddled Vaccine Roll-Out policy. One day, the Minister of Finance tells us that Treasury has set aside US$100 million to fund the national vaccine roll-out. Less than a week later, the same Minister approaches the public with a begging bowl and Government bank and mobile money details, seeking donations to fund the same roll-out that he had told us was already funded. Amidst this policy confusion, those that are meant to lead us say boldly that the nation is ready for the vaccination is ready to be rolled out.

There is no gainsaying that sound communication and co-ordination among government officials is critical to navigating the nation in these uncertain times. Logistics in the management of data, emerging threats and expert-led solutions, particularly on the looming vaccine question, are all essential to assuring an effective response in this high stress environment. This is not a time for rhetoric. This is not the time to be jailing innocent young people who are speaking out for a better Zimbabwe with a view to insure their future. This is not the time to criminalise an opposition that is meant to check and balance abuse of state power for the good of the people. This is not the time to further expand the trust gap. This is not the time to seek opportunities to loot the nation’s already depleted resources. This is not the time to imprison journalists who are telling a story at odds with the propaganda.This is not the time to declare war against the masses who know their Jewel’s potential. This is not the time to divide the people through victimisation and brutality.

It is a time to display ethical leadership, to listen and to unite the people. What those who are meant to be in charge may not realise is that behind the mask is a patient in fear and anxious about whether they will make it through the virus. Behind the mask is a healthcare worker full of mission and keen to guide patient care but in desperate need of an ecosystem and healthcare infrastructure that functions. Behind the mask is a patient suffering from the disease but unable to afford a Covid test, Covid treatment or even a meal to put on the table. Behind the mask is poverty, an informal trader who is beaten and jailed for trying to eke out a living. Behind the mask is a population weighed down by a comatose economy, a bad governance crisis and an already tense, polarised and highly charged national mood.

At the end of the day, I am only a citizen with hopes and aspirations for a better Zimbabwe, for a Zimbabwe where taxpayer money is channelled to basic services such as health and education for all, for a Zimbabwe where the people for a Zimbabwe where my passion and intellect is not wasted due to a government that is not accountable or desirous to operate in accordance with the basic requirements of ethical leadership. On the other side of the virus, there is an opportunity to awaken.

We need new leaders.