MDC president, Nelson Chamisa has called for the immediate deployment of the army and police to help enforce strategies prescribed by government in the fight against the coronavirus within communities.

Chamisa made the plea while addressing journalists in Harare this week at the MDC Morgan Richard Tsvangirai House, his party’s main headquarters.

“We need to have a radical shift in our police force and military. Their civilian obligation must be turned into an active mode so that they begin to do what they know best,” he said.

“The fact that when you look outside the window you see people going about their normal business, that shows we are not doing enough to educate the people, it shows we are not doing enough also to press the button of emergency and drive the country into a mode of extraordinary.

“You have seen political parties being buried in South Africa, and national interest becoming the common denominator,” said Chamisa.

He said in rural communities, the people were not aware of the coronavirus, putting their daily lives at risk.

“In the rural areas people do not even know about it. They actually think it some animal that is being talked about, almost like some fairy-tale.”

In January last year, the deployment of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces to quell disturbances following wildcat demonstrations after President Emmerson Mnangagwa had increased, resulted in soldiers using force.

Over a dozen of people were killed while more were injured as the army used force against the citizens.

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