Own Correspondent|Police and members of the army on Sunday completely cleared the streets of Norton, Chegutu, Kadoma and Kwekwe Central Business Districts ahead of President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s so called surprise tour of the cities.
Residents from the cities who spoke to ZimEye.com indicated that there was a sudden heavy presence of police and the army on Saturday evening into Sunday morning clearing everyone from the CBD and areas that Mnangagwa eventually toured on Sunday.
Mnangagwa said the eeriness and quietness of alleys and streets in all the cities and suburbs they visited was impressive.
“Last week we toured Harare, but I then told myself that the majority of the country’s leadership is resident in Harare so I should also check what is happening in other cities and towns because people would ask questions as to why I only toured Harare.
“Today (yesterday) I visited Chegutu, Kadoma and Kwekwe to have a feel of what is happening and I was quite impressed with the level of compliance in all the cities,” said the President.
He said the First Family decided to take many by surprise to get a true reflection of what is on the ground in terms of compliance with lockdown measures.
“I am happy that our people are observing the lockdown measures. Everywhere we visited, people were in their homes; business centres were deserted especially in Chegutu and Kwekwe cities, where the streets were virtually empty.
Mnangagwa claimed he did not announce his visit which ZimEye published way ahead of his tour of the cities.
Mnangagwa Takes His Large Motorcade To Tour Norton, Chegutu, and Kwekwe
“We deliberately did not announce our tour. We did not give notice, we just said let’s take this route and we believe what we saw is a true reflection of the situation and I am very happy,” said the President.
The President’s tour took place as one more person tested positive for Covid-19, bringing to 14 the total number of confirmed cases in the country, with three deaths.
Government has since tested 547 people for the virus, with 528 coming out negative.
Harare recorded seven confirmed cases of Covid-19, which is the highest number, followed by Mashonaland East with four. Bulawayo and Matabeleland North recorded two and one, respectively.