By A Correspondent- A public health official has said the use of Ivermectin to treat COVID-19 patients will be done in controlled environments to avoid indiscriminate prescription and dispensing of the medicine.

Chief Coordinator of the national response to the COVID-19 pandemic in the Office of the President and Cabinet, Dr Agnes Mahomva, was speaking on Friday following the approval by the government of the use of the drug for “investigational” COVID-19 treatment.

Healthcare workers had lobbied for the use of the anti-parasitic drug saying the fusion of Ivermectin and nanosilver was effective in caring for patients.

Dr Mahomva asserted that the used of Ivermectin, that is the kind for humans, to treat COVID-19, will be closely monitored to protect patients from unethical and unsafe doses as well as counterfeit products, including veterinary Ivermectin.

She said:

Let me take this opportunity to remind you all, including our doctors, that all medicines, whether they are new or old, routine or investigational, must be registered with the Medicines Control Authority of Zimbabwe (MCAZ) before they can be used or prescribed.

At the beginning of the month, MCAZ in its circular 5 of 2021 advised medical doctors and other healthcare workers against the use of unapproved veterinary Ivermectin for prevention of COVID-19 in humans.

In a more recent communication, MCAZ provided detailed guidance indicating that investigational medicines for COVID-19 such as Ivermectin, that is the kind for humans, are to be used under controlled and structured environments with specific settings and strict monitoring to avoid wanton and indiscriminate prescription and dispensing of such medicines.

-statemedia

By A Correspondent- Police in Buhera recently nabbed five suspected cattle rustlers who had stolen 19 herds of cattle from Makonya Village under Chief Nyashanu.

The five suspects appeared before Murambinda Magistrate Tapiwa Kuhudzai on allegations of stock theft on Wednesday and were all remanded in custody.

The state alleges that on the night of January 11 and 12 2021, Samson Mashingaidze, Trust Tabarira and Stanford Zivengwa stole 12 cattle from John Makonya’s pen, four from Netsai Gadzira and three from Muswe Majoni.

Makonya and Gadzira are both from Makonya Village while Majoni resides near Manhuru Township, under Chief Nyashanu.

The suspects intended to sell the beasts at Sari Abattoir in Harare and share the proceeds.

After rounding up the beasts, the group drove the cattle to Mashingaidze’s home where Jani Mumanyi and Blessing Mutumani were waiting with a vehicle to take them to Harare.

However, the suspects received a tip-off that police were coming for them and they ran away before loading the cattle in the truck.

Three of the suspects drove the cattle to a field near Manhuru Township where they left them tied to a tree.

Police recovered all the 19 cattle valued at $470 000.

-Masvingo-Mirror

Tinashe Sambiri|MDC Alliance leader, President Nelson Chamisa, on Thursday implored the nation to unite in the fight against the deadly COVID-19 pandemic.

Although President Chamisa pointed out government’s glaring shortcomings in dealing with the deadly pandemic, he emphasized that the virus should be viewed as a national catastrophe.

Read full statement below:

FIGHTING COVID-19 TO BUILD A HEALTHY NATION – AN ALTERNATIVE RESPONSE TO COVID-19

Fellow Zimbabweans,

I come to you in circumstances of extreme national emergency.

We have an extraordinary situation in our country. We are facing an extremely challenging national outlook.

The COVID 19 pandemic is wrecking havoc in every family, every village, every suburb and every community. Remember, every COVID 19 statistic is a human being. 

Every other day, we are losing another friend, another workmate, another relative, another leader and another Zimbabwean.

Just as of yesterday, Zimbabwe recorded 1075 deaths. May their souls rest in peace. Our figure for those who have tested positive to date is over the 30000 mark.

My condolences to all those who lost their loved ones and my commiserations for those who are not feeling well. We continue to pray that they get well soon!

Let us observe a minute of silence in honor of our dear departed.

COVID-19 poses an existential threat to our existence. It may threaten our national security and collective public safety if not handled with astuteness and statesmanship.

It can’t be business as usual. A catastrophe is staring us in the face. We must take extraordinary action before the situation is out of control. We can correct this only if we get our act together as a people.
 
On the 30th of January 2020, the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the corona virus disease (Covid19) outbreak a public health emergency of international concern under the International Health Regulations of 2005.

Zimbabwe reported its first official Covid19 case on the 20th of March 2020. Since then, a lot has happened and been done.

We appreciate the various initiatives by different stakeholders and government.

The response of the Ministry of Health in particular and the Government in general is noted and appreciated.
 
Various initiatives have been instituted to ameliorate the situation. In this regard, we salute our nurses, doctors who have been outstanding as a battalion of patriots and national heroes and heroines.

For your courage and ingenuity our country will remain in debt to you and your families.

We wish to also thank our Environmental health professionals who are doing contact tracing. Our port health officers, lab scientists running the tests, general hands cleaning the wards and housing covid patients, among many other Health care workers who risk their lives to save our nation.

We also honor our police, military, (soldiers) prison and intelligence services including all those offering essential services in various sectors.

We salute our information and communication practitioners, the media, our journalists for the great work in spreading the information on COVID 19 and keeping the nation informed on this deadly pandemic.

We wish to thank the international community. The United Nations, European Union, United States of America, United Kingdom and China among many others.

Allow me to thank our neighboring countries in particular South Africa and Botswana for bearing the burden of carrying our citizens in the Diaspora.

We also wish to thank our wonderful citizens in the diaspora. For all the knowledge contributed and the remittances that have kept families going under the extreme severity yet necessary lockdown regulations. We note in particular the ventilors contributed by our citizens in Australia.

We thank those who have been donating Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs) in hospitals. Particularly in Bulawayo, Matebeleland South, Kwekwe, Chitungwiza, Hwange to mention a few.

I am happy that this positive effort is not being politicized and I hope we can continue with the unison spirit as a people.

I also thank you, the individual citizens who have been exceptional in creative ways to help citizens. The Ekusileni project is a case on point.

We thank you for the selfless service and sacrifices.

Let me also thank the people at home. Let me thank you all my fellow countrymen, the great Zimbabwean people. You have done us proud. Although the virus is bad, l know that given the state of our health care system things could have been worse.

You the people of Zimbabwe have acted as our national reserve guard force against the pandemic. You have made sure you mask up and have continued to remind each other to mask-up and to do so properly.

We thank you all, the peace loving and hardworking citizens of Zimbabwe, for your love, care and amity.

We also thank Our God, The Almighty, for the providence and preservation.

 
 Although the approach of central government has been deficient in several key areas, we choose not to play politics with this serious issue. We have steered clear of finding fault and blame gaming suffice to help improve on and complement the strategy of government.

The objective underlying this proposed plan is to offer an alternative policy framework to the manner in which the Government has approached the COVID19 response thus far.

We posit this policy mix and alternative plan to shed light on how citizens, development partners and the regional community can work together in driving a more coordinated response to save lives, protect livelihoods and prevent our economy from collapsing.
 
In addition to tapping from international best practice and global experience and relying on the best scientific evidence, we suggest a uniquely Zimbabwean response that is customized and tailored to the circumstances, competencies and conteext of our great nation.
 
COVID-19 EMERGING ISSUES ZIMBABWE



1. CAPACITY OF HEALTH INSTITUTIONS.
   
With COVID19 cases almost tripling in the last 6 weeks, our hospitals are  overwhelmed and failing to cope with the number of COVID19 infected patients requiring hospital admissions. We know that 10-15% of all cases will progress to severe illness and approximately 5% of cases will become critically ill.

The average daily cases over the past 2 weeks in Zimbabwe are around 700 cases. This means that between 70 and 105 people per day may progress to severe disease which may require hospitalisation.

These numbers are too high for our health infrastructure to cope and as a result our capacity to handle severe cases of COVID-19 seem to be surpassed by the pandemic resulting in suboptimal and in some instances non-existent emergency services for people with severe COVID-19. Parirenyatwa needs to increase COVID-19 response infrastructure immediately.

This may be one of the reasons for the high death rates that we have been witnessing over the past weeks. There is need to urgently increase the bed capacity in public hospitals so that patients with COVID-19 have access to oxygen therapy, as well ventilators for those who are critically ill. These services need to be decentralized and become available in all provinces. The situation is not good at all. Access to a bed and oxygen therapy must be more readily available across the country.




2. LOCKDOWN.

   Whilst the lockdown was a welcome move to try and minimize the rate of spread of infections, there is need to effectively implement the lockdown. Studies have shown it is better to implement a short but effective lockdown rather than a prolonged lockdown as compliance with lockdown regulations goes down with a prolonged lockdown.

The unavailability of social safety nets for the vulnerable, considering our heavily informal economy, means that people will be forced to breach lockdown regulations if search of food, water and money to cater for their families. This again reduces the effectiveness of the lockdown. We must be careful not to flatten the economy in our bid flatten the curve. We face the risk of a lockdown induced poverty. 

It is desirable and advisable to adopt other approaches to a lockdown. We could consider a partial lockdown or a spatial lockdown or  a staggered lockdown. Lockdowns are not meant to be permanent solutions, there is need to create a lockdown exit strategy.

WE REITERATE THAT, CONTRARY TO THE WHOLESALE, UNSTRUCTURED AND  PANIC INDUCED SHUTDOWN WE WOULD PURSUE AN ALTERNATIVE PATH THAT SAVES LIVES AND PROTECTS LIVELIHOODS, PREVENTING OUR ECONOMY FROM COLLAPSING AND SAVING OUR PEOPLE FROM HUNGER.



3. TESTING AND SCREENING.
Our neighbours South Africa have reported a new variant of the SARS-COV-2 virus, being named B.1.351. This strain has been shown to be more transmissible than the original covid19 virus. With people coming into Zimbabwe for the festive season using our porous borders as well as reports of invalid and fake COVID-19 certificates, there is likelihood that this strain may have been imported into the country.

Health professionals are reporting difference in clinical presentations between the first wave and the current wave of infections, as well as a high rate of false negative results on Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) tests. This is an indicator that we might be dealing with a different strain of covid19 virus. There is need for us to conduct tests (or through the help of other countries like neighbouring South Africa if we cannot conduct the genetic testing of the virus) to ascertain what type of virus we are dealing with.

We also welcome the availability of the COVID-19 Rapid Antigen Tests, which have been shown to be more reliable in detecting COVID-19 than the Antibody tests. These tests are much cheaper than the Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests. We need to increase availability of these tests across the country so that we can detect as much people as possible, isolate those positive, and conduct contact tracing. This will slow down the rate of infections.

Leadership is now required. We immediately demand the reduction of the cost of our health services. In fact we must make it free for COVID-19 patients who are in serious condition. We must decentralize testing and roll out free testing to rural areas at growth points and townships including at all clinics and hospitals.




4. HEALTH WORKERS WELFARE AND CAPACITY.
   
Our health workers have been on the frontline fighting this pandemic. However, in order for them to effectively do their job they need to be capacitated with the necessary tools of trade. According to the Health Services Board, over 1500 health workers have already been infected with COVID-19, and 7 deaths recorded.

The intermittent and chronic shortage of Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs) is one of the reasons why we have this huge number of health workers getting infected. Recently nurses at Sally Mugabe hospital were protesting over the shortage of PPE. The situation is similar in other hospitals across the country. PPE should be readily available in order to at least offer protection to our frontline workers. Shortage of health workers is a major reason why we have limited bed capacity for covid19 patients.

We therefore cannot afford to continue losing health workers either through deaths or through absenteeism from work when infected health workers undergo their mandatory isolation periods.

We need adequate Remuneration as an incentive including a risk allowance for all our health care workers.



5. CONTINUOS CARE FOR OTHER HEALTH CONDITIONS.
   
Whilst the attention and focus is on combating the COVID19 pandemic, there is need to continue providing care for other health conditions so as to avoidable morbidity and mortality from other illnesses. Recently Parirenyatwa Hospital announced that they are scaling down Chemotherapy services at their radiotherapy centre.

This severely compromises access to care for cancer patients as there are only 2 institutions in the public sector offering such services in the whole country. Measures need to be put in place to make sure that services for chronic conditions such as HIV, Diabetes, Hypertension, mental illness as well as access to reproductive health and maternal and child health continue during the pandemic.

We have experienced above normal rains and floods this year, and with the malaria season approaching, there is a likelihood of an increase in malaria cases. People should continue to access services in order to avoid deaths from malaria.

6. SUPER SPREADERS.

Funerals and congested places like prisons have become serious super spreaders.
Our prisons have become covid superspreder, hot spots and zones.

7. COVID-19 VACCINE ROLL OUT PLAN.
   
Many countries in Europe, America and Asia have already begun vaccinating their populations.

In Africa, though vaccinations have not begun, many countries including South Africa and Kenya have already placed orders for vaccines. Whilst the country is set to benefit vaccines from the World Health Organization (WHO) backed COVAX scheme, as well as from arrangements from the African Union (AU), these vaccines will not be enough for attainment of herd immunity (which is estimated at approximately 60%). There is need for the government to set aside funds for the procurement of additional support.

More importantly, it is necessary for Africa to invest into Research and Development to provide solutions for our local people. We are a continent with great capacity to deal with any disease. We need to invest more in studying the mutating virus, so that we avail the best solution which is safe for our people.

Zimbabwe needs to:
• Avail funds for the development, manufacturing and procurement of COVID-19 solutions.
• Avail funds for treatment of the communities.
• Start the process of identifying at risk populations who are supposed to receive the treatment first.
For an treatment plan, priority must be given to the elderly, the vulnerable, people living with disabilities, widows, orphans and our frontline workers.

WHAT IS THE WAY FORWARD?

Our national strategy must be predicated upon the following;

1.Broad based inclusive national task force. 
2.Elaborate testing, screening and isolation plan.
3.Capacitating health institutions and frontline workers.
4.Zonal Spatial lockdown targeting epicenters.
5.Resourcing strategy through domestic resource mobilization and global appeals.

6. Unleashing 4th industrial revolution and the internet of things.
    
   The following are immediate:
    
7. There is need for a deliberate approach to involve all the players, political, labour, Government, academics, churches, citizens, CSOs, private sector – a United Team Zimbabwe approach;
8. Establish a National Covid Advisory Group of Experts and let science take the lead;
9. Invite World Health Organisation (WHO) and other experts for an assessment and evaluation of current National response.
10. Contrary to the current situation where citizens are on lockdown with no testing taking place, Government must roll out national testing by contacting a door to door testing approach.
11. In the same vein, as we continue to fight corona virus,  the following measures must be considered:
    a. Provision of personal protective equipment for our frontline staff such as nurses, doctors, janitors, administrative staff, police, soldiers and state employees;
    b. Provision of at least US$2000 risk allowance and tax exemption for all health professionals, security servicemen/women and government workers on duty. We want to emphases that, in view of the disparities in the exchange rates, this must be paid in hard cash, that is, in USD;
    c. Provision of sanitisers and masks for all;
    d. Provision of radio and TV lessons dedicated for the education of the masses about corona virus;
    e. In view of rampant corruption which have become a permanent feature under the Second Republic, will call upon Government to ensure transparency and accountability in the handling of corona virus issues by Government.
12. With input from (1), come up with safety nets for the citizens during and after lockdown and come up with elaborate measures aimed at containing the virus. Among the cushioning measures Government should consider should include:
    a. Rolling out of humanitarian support to vulnerable people. This may include provision of cash handouts and the subsidized basic goods such as mealie meal, water, internet, electricity and fuel for our vulnerable and most at risk populations; or provide specialized support to the elderly people, persons with disability amongst others;
    b. Creation of new model for informal sector trading where basic of commodities in undertaken that seeks to achieve decongestion and decentralization. The aim will be ensure sustained livelihoods.
13. In line with stakeholders, Government must develop information tool kit for the citizens with a view to create awareness on the progress made towards containing the virus. This information tool kit must be extensively disseminated through various media channels/platforms and campaigns in hotspot areas.
14. The information tool kit must provide specific details such as number of people tested per day, accurate statistical figures on the outcomes of the tests with hope that this information can provide evidence to show how the country is coping with the disease and possible indication of how the lockdown will last as opposed to being reactive. For Zimbabwe, because of our context where we have over 5.7 million people in the informal sector, it is important that we get out of the lockdown quickly to save lives from hunger. Hence, the importance of reasonable statistical evidence on testing and the level of prevalence of the pandemic cannot be overemphasised.
15. In view of the need to save lives from hunger and the corona virus and also saving the economy from total collapse, we need to come out of lockdown and seal our borders save for trade and come up with an organised strategy of returning back to work with inputs from (1);
16. There is need for a post lockdown strategy that articulates how various sectors of the economy will be resuscitated and developed using a phased approach. There is need for a clear strategy on how the economy will be rescued and be brought back to life, how people will return back to work, how children will go back to school – This may take the form of a spatial and tier approach to lockdown – A back to normal life roadmap –.
17. In the interim, Government must look at Look at the education sector and what can be done to ensure students don’t lose much learning time. Alternative teaching methods must be fully explored and scaled up using platforms such as TV and radio whilst the cost of data must be subsidized for students.

There is need to explore the use of TV, the role Zimbabwe Broadcasting Cooperation (ZBC) can play in providing both radio and television lessons. Radio lessons will help even those in remote areas because of its wide coverage.

Teachers and teachers’ associations should be engaged on how best they can teach their students during this pandemic.

12. Civil servants who can work from home should be allowed to do so and decongest the work place. Civil servants must be given access to data and availed digital gadgets and services. 
We must encourage and enforce fumigation of these work places.
13. There is need to marshal resources for the countries Covid response. This may include budget recasting and budget virementing.
    a. Cut down government expenditure especially on non essential items like luxury vehicles for government officials and civil service.
    b. Channeling the touted surplus towards the Covid response.

14 . We must empty remand prisons expect for very very serious offenses
Give amnesty to most prisoners except those on very very serious charges.
We need a plan to decongest them or strict regimes of testing, screening and isolation and regular disinfecting.

15. We must allow churches to open for controlled number of people provided there is social distancing, masking and other COVID-19 protocols.
16. There is need to ensure we pay attention to our economy and ensure it survives the tide of the Covid pandemic. From policy perspective, the following are necessary:

a. In order to improve competitiveness of our exporters and eliminate exchange rate losses, Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) must allow banks to take full control of foreign exchange trading with a view to guarantee an efficient price discovery where the informal rate converges with the formal rate or where the disparities between the two rates are minimised to levels below 10%.

b. Furthermore, whilst we understand the importance of sharing foreign currency as a scarce resource for national development purposes, the recently announced export retention of 40% in a period which is characterised by COVID-19 pandemic, drought of stimulus package and over 30% disparities between the formal exchange rate and the parallel market rate, is both regressive and inconsiderate. In view of this, we call upon the RBZ to reduce export retention to 20% – thus allowing exporters to retain 80% of our export earnings.

c. Government failure to offer real stimulus package to save businesses is a cause for great concern. It must be appreciated that both the ZWL$18 billion package for large business and ZWL$600 million for SMEs are a drop in the ocean.

This is so considering that the economy requires funding in the region of US$5 billion.

In line with (1), we call upon Government to come up with a reasonable package to save businesses small and large.

d. Government should consider a number of fiscal measures aimed at reducing tax burden for businesses and individuals where appropriate. The following must be considered:
i. Immediate removal of the 2% tax to spur business growth;
ii. Rationalization of tax where sectors such as tourism and mining with 22 and 15 tax heads, respectively should see some of the tax heads being removed.

In the long term there is need for a post Covid reconstruction and recovery programme. This takes inputs from (1);


More importantly, must depoliticize Covid and understand that it kills anyone and everyone

Since the effects of COVID-19 are non-partisan, I want to implore each and every Zimbabwean to take this opportunity to be each others keeper.

We know the inadequacies of our system and the struggles of collective well-being; however, now is the time to look to each other to ensure that we fight COVID-19 through our collective Ubuntu. Our brothers and sisters are dying, we must wash our hands, mask-up and keep our distance. No one is coming to save us, it’s time we work together to stop the spread

Unity is key in the face of COVID-19. All of us must put aside their political differences and work together in the fight against COVID-19. It’s not the time to score political points but to work together. Those who like to trade insults and grand standing its not the time our people are dying.

I appeal to the international community to save the country’s health sector and the pple of Zimbabwe. NB. The sector was struggling before the pandemic and Covid has obviously led to it being overwhelmed and it needs support. We appeal to the international community ,donors ,business tycoons, Zimbabweans in the diaspora who can assist.

Fellow countrymen we must wither the covid 19 storm.

Our best medical brains should be allowed to lead in the fight against this global pandemic.The same team managed to reduce the HIV prevalence rate likewise they will manage to contain this pandemic if we listen and allow the experts to guide us.

I encourage the nation to follow the guidelines and protocols of reducing the spread of the pandemic.

To Our Bishops, Pastors, the church body and Intercessors and believers we encourage to continue to stand in the gap to pray for our nation. We must stand in prayer with those who have been affected by the pandemic. May the Holy Spirit comfort all the families who lost their loved ones.


I enjoin citizens to be vigilant and resilient. Together we waged and won struggle s in the past including the hard won liberation struggle. Together we will win and wither the covid storm.
Together we have all the answers to all our problems.

We are one People but politics and politicians make us to be different people.

It is a patriotic duty to tell anyone to mask up and to not engage in super spreader events.

Fellow Zimbabweans, there is no problem we can’t solve when we are one and United.

From ZAMBEZI TO LIMPOPO,
One people, One vision, One Future!

Always for Better and greater Zimbabwe!

A NEW GREAT ZIMBABWE IS POSSIBLE!

GOD BLESS YOU.
GOD BLESS ZIMBABWE.

Tinashe Sambiri|MDC Alliance leader, President Nelson Chamisa has described Zimbabwe as the largest prison on earth.

Responding to questions from @budichanyau and @daddyhope on Twitter President Chamisa said:

“Ndakatosungwa izvozvi.Zimbabwe is the largest prison on earth.I hope that gives you enough comfort…”

See tweet below:

We live in a terrible country, where the poor are left to die without a chance to survive.

All teachers, nurses, doctors, bank workers, drivers, domestic workers, carpenters, builders, soldiers, police officers etc can not afford that.

We thank God you were saved https://t.co/ZKohdmNkvw

— ZCTU – Zimbabwe (@ZctuZimbabwe) January 30, 2021

By A Correspondent- Midlands Minister of State for Provincial Affairs and Devolution, Senator Larry Mavhima has said he used both traditional and modern medicines as remedies for COVID-19.

Senator Mavhima survived the novel coronavirus and now says people must have regular medical check-ups.

He said:

At first, I was in denial. I could not even imagine the aspect of visiting a hospital. That I could be diagnosed with the virus was beyond my imagination. It took the intervention of my family to say I was no longer myself. They said I was weak and that is when I had to seek medical attention, he said.

It was quite a difficult moment for me. My doctors subscribed some antibiotics which I used to boost my immune system and get rid of some mucus that was building inside my lungs. I was also advised to do kunatira  (steaming) with eucalyptus leaves and all sorts of concoctions. I would also drink tea and use Zumbani until I eventually tested negative, explained Mavhima.

The Minister of State for Provincial Affairs and Devolution who is also the Chairperson of the Midlands COVID-19 Taskforce is now a COVID-19 ambassador.

He warned members of the public against flouting lockdown rules, saying they are for the good of the nation.

Senator Mavhima went into self-isolation in November after testing positive for the coronavirus.-statemedia

THREE suspected armed robbers have been nabbed on allegations of shooting and injuring a Granary couple before getting away with money and mobile phones all valued at US$20 000.

Givemore Musurudzwa, Ravrage Chigagure and Brendon Gwenzi appeared at the Harare Magistrates’ Courts yesterday where they are facing armed robbery charges.

They were not asked to plead to the allegations and were remanded in custody and advised to apply for bail at the High Court.

Prosecutors allege that on November 4 last year, the trio was allegedly seen following one of the complainants from his business premises in Mbare after he had received a huge amount of money after sales.

Musurudzwa, Chigagure, Gwenzi and their three accomplices, who are still at large, went to the complainants’ house in Granary, Harare, shot at the door and force-opened it with a hammer to gain entry.

They were armed with a pistol and a rifle and broke into the complainants’ bedroom and shot the wife on the leg and shot the husband on the right thigh before demanding money.

Allegations are that they were given a wallet with US$2 600 which they said was not enough.

It is alleged that the husband was again shot on the left thigh before the robbers ransacked the house and found another US$5 000 which was hidden under the bed and several mobile phones.

The robbers allegedly shot the husband again in the legs and threatened to kill the couple’s son before they left the house.

While in the yard, they also slashed the husband’s vehicle wheels before disappearing into the night.-dailynews

By A Correspondent- A 78 year old Bindura man is in hot soup after he allegedly raped his 36 year old daughter at midnight.

The man (name withheld)  from Nekati village, Bindura appeared before Bindura magistrate Ethel Chichera facing rape charges.

He was remanded in custody to March 3.

The state led by Vincent Marunya alleged that on December 9 around midnight, the father entered into the kitchen hut before he undressed and ordered his daughter to be silent.

He covered her mouth with his hands before lifting her skirt.

He raped his daughter once and threatened her not to tell anyone.

The daughter told her mother who tried to downplay the case by begging the daughter to forgive her father.

The daughter however reported the matter to Chief Masembura’s village court who advised her to report the matter to the police.

On January 25 she filed a police report leading to the arrest of her father.

AN opposition legislator is suing government at the High Court over its failure to actualise a law that forces public officials, including President Emmerson Mnangagwa and ministers, to disclose their assets, saying leaders have been implicated in high-level corruption that has bled the country to economic ruin and poverty.

In his 239-page application, main opposition MDC Alliance Harare North Member of the National Assembly Allan Markham (pictured) presented, among other documents, a United Nations 2002 report on the plunder of natural resources in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), in which Mnangagwa and the late Foreign Affairs minister Sibusiso Moyo, among other officials, are implicated in looting.

Markham also listed other corruption scandals, dealings and reports linking public officials to plunder, including in the areas of fuel; foreign exchange in particular the United States dollar; command agriculture, the country’s commodities in particular gold, chrome, platinum and diamonds; various forms of subsidies given in the economy; procurement, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe’s quasi-fiscal activities and through government entities.

He said the lack of legislative frameworks to promote good governance and curtail corruption would jeopardise public officials’ accountability and transparency.

Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs minister Ziyambi Ziyambi and Attorney-General Prince Machaya are the first and second respondents in the matter.

Makharm, represented by prominent lawyer Tendai Biti, wants an order compelling the government to actualise section 198 of the constitution, which requires public officials to make regular disclosures of their assists.

Almost eight years after the adoption of the constitution in May 2013, the government is yet to compete the aligning of laws to the supreme charter.  

Section 198 states that: “An act of Parliament must provide measures to enforce the provisions of this chapter, including measures – (a) requiring public officers to make regular disclosures of their assets; (b) establishing codes of conduct to be observed by the public officers; (c) specifying the standards of good corporate governance to be observed by government, controlled entities and other commercial entities owned or wholly controlled by the state; (d) providing for the disciplining of persons who contravene the provisions of this chapter or of any code of conduct or standard referred to in paragraph (b)”.

In the UN report Markham attached to his court papers, a panel of international experts concluded that Zimbabwean officials looted minerals in the DRC.

“Although troops of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces (ZDF) have been a major guarantor of the security of the government of the DRC against regional rivals, its senior officers have enriched themselves from the country’s mineral assets under the pretext of arrangements set up to repay Zimbabwe for military services,” the UN report said.

“The key strategist for the Zimbabwe branch of the elite network is the speaker of the parliament of Zimbabwe and former National Security minister Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa. Mr Mnangagwa has won strong support from senior military and intelligence officers for an aggressive policy in the DRC.

“Other prominent Zimbabwean members of the network include Brigadier-General Sibusiso Busi Moyo, who is director-general of Cosleg (a Congo-Zimbabwe joint stock company). Brigadier Moyo advised both Tremalt and Oryx Natural Resources, which represented covert Zimbabwe military financial interests in negotiations with state mining companies of the DRC.”

The report also mentions former Defence minister Sydney Sekeramayi, the late General Vitalis Zvinavashe and the late Lands minister Perrence Shiri as well as Billy Rautenbach and John Bredenkamp as playing critical roles in the looting.

https://googleads.g.doubleclick.net/pagead/ads?guci=2.2.0.0.2.2.0.0&client=ca-pub-1808990247913755&output=html&h=280&slotname=7632241627&adk=2580078309&adf=1513479931&pi=t.ma~as.7632241627&w=728&fwrn=4&fwrnh=100&lmt=1612030450&rafmt=1&psa=1&format=728×280&url=https%3A%2F%2Fbulawayo24.com%2Findex-id-news-sc-national-byo-198665.html&flash=0&fwr=0&fwrattr=true&rpe=1&resp_fmts=3&wgl=1&adsid=ChAIgKTUgAYQmvmmm8DypeVHEkwAzVWZ3Gg9Bwd0GJLlbB33mu_HfdCL111RYzn9cebQ1CalYwT3ORjXgfCY-qMGKEQZ53mJcIY7ngUsTgygxWz59E-C8_Q_6E-lgR2v&dt=1612030449212&bpp=2&bdt=320&idt=349&shv=r20210127&cbv=r20190131&ptt=9&saldr=aa&abxe=1&cookie=ID%3Dc7a2d6fb8046bba9-2288e10849a60029%3AT%3D1602666670%3ART%3D1602666670%3AS%3DALNI_MYDl2l0R_5shKEao2jtHjZOudA–g&prev_fmts=0x0%2C1083x280%2C160x600%2C728x280%2C336x280%2C336x280&nras=1&correlator=8524890081278&frm=20&pv=1&ga_vid=911282896.1565193427&ga_sid=1612030153&ga_hid=525641575&ga_fc=1&u_tz=120&u_his=4&u_java=0&u_h=720&u_w=1280&u_ah=680&u_aw=1280&u_cd=24&u_nplug=3&u_nmime=4&adx=165&ady=2756&biw=1263&bih=521&scr_x=0&scr_y=709&eid=21068084%2C21068769%2C21068893&oid=3&pvsid=2428901489873915&pem=474&ref=https%3A%2F%2Fbulawayo24.com%2Findex-id-news-sc-national-byo-198669.html&rx=0&eae=0&fc=1920&brdim=0%2C0%2C0%2C0%2C1280%2C0%2C1280%2C680%2C1280%2C521&vis=1&rsz=o%7Co%7CeEbr%7C&abl=NS&pfx=0&fu=8320&bc=31&ifi=4&uci=a!4&btvi=4&fsb=1&xpc=Y9rooOkFAH&p=https%3A//bulawayo24.com&dtd=1730“A forum has been established between established between Tremalt and ZDF to plan strategy in the DRC and ‘look at the interests of the Zimbabweans’. Meeting monthly the forum’s main members are Zvinavashe, Moyo, air commodore Mike Karakadzai, Bredenkamp, the managing director of KMC, Colin Blythe-Woodand the director of KMC Gary Webster,” it said.

“In one example, on 13 March 2000, Oryx officials in Kinshasa loaded an aircraft belonging to Bredenkamp with eight crates of Congolese francs for Shipment to Harare. The panel also has documentation substantiating information that an Oryx employee regularly transported parcels of (US$500 000 at a time) that were withdrawn from the Oryx account at Hambros Bank, London, to Kinsasha without declaring them to the Congolese authorities; at Kinsasha,   the money was changed into Congolese francs and further transported to Harare and the eastern DRC. Oryx employees said they were asked to pay Mnangagwa a commission on these transactions which contravened Zimbabwe law.”

A number of the players named in the report such Zvinavashe, Moyo and Bredenkamp have since died.

Markham said the levels of corruption are dire and one of the reasons why the situation is out of hand is because there are no adequate legislative tools for combating corruption or tools that keep those in positions of authority in state institutions fully accountable, hence the need to actualise section 198 of the constitution “for it serves this particular purpose and more particularly subsection (1) a) of the same”.

He said he had been exposed to the rot that exists within government institutions through his parliamentary duties as a member of the Public Accounts portfolio committee and as a human rights activist.

“… I seek a declaratory to the effect that the respondents have failed to fulfill their constitutional mandate and actualise the same,” Markham said.

“In turn, I proceed to seek mandamus (a writ), against the respondents to fulfill their constitutional  obligation in terms of section 198 of the Constitution  of Zimbabwe, which compels them to actualise  and formulate a legislative text that provides measures of good governance, chief among them, requiring public officials to make regular disclosures of their assets.”

In their responses filed at the High Court on 31 December 2020, Ziyambi and Machaya said they had no constitutional obligation to actualise section 198.

“I aver that the responsibility to ‘prepare’ and ‘initiate’ national legislation lies squarely with ‘cabinet’ in terms of section 110 of the constitution which deals with executive functions of the President and Cabinet. In this application neither the Cabinet of Zimbabwe nor even the government of Zimbabwe itself has been cited as respondents,” Ziyambi said.

“As our constitution was silent on the specifics of implementation it took some time to realise the effect of the possible delays in the implementation of the constitution.”

In his response, Machaya said: “I respectfully aver that, in the light of my functions as set out in the said section 114 of the constitution this honourable court should see it fit not to order any relief against me in this matter. I am under no obligation to enact the law, which is the subject of this application.”

Ziyambi had however revealed in response that Machaya chairs an inter-ministerial committee that oversees issues pertaining to the implementation of the constitution.

Zimbabwe has unexplained wealth regulations under the Money Laundering and Proceeds of Crime Act of 2013. Only one person – Russell Mwenye, a former Parirenyatwa Hospital stores manager – has been convicted for corruption, leading to his property being seized and jailed under that law.

-News

By A Correspondent- One person died on the spot when the Skyline – Chimanimani highway gave into shaking caused by incessant rains just as a vehicle was passing.

The road collapse happened just after Charter Bridge.

Late November last year, President Emmerson Mnangagwa officially commissioned the Skyline – Chimanimani highway following a post Cyclone Idai disaster reconstruction work by a local contractor.

The highway, which has since survived recent tropical storms, however collapsed after Charter Bridge, resulting in the death of a person who was driving to Chimanimani.

Witnesses described what they believed happened and how the car wreckage was retrieved.

Meanwhile, Manicaland Provincial Roads Engineer Atherton Zindoga attributed the collapse to the incessant rains being received in the district and dismissed speculations of poor workmanship by the contractor.

“There was an upstream river which changed its course of flow and forced its way underneath the road surface resulting in the collapse. The contractor did not work on this section because it was not affected what they just did was surfacing,” he explained.

Engineer Zindoga conveyed his condolences to the deceased’s family.

“Our heartfelt condolences to the deceased’s family. As a ministry we are going to lobby for resources to monitor and inspect our roads so that if preventable, such incidents should not happen again and claim lives,” said Zindoga.

Meanwhile, completion of yet another road still under construction in the province, the Jopa-Kopa highway   has been delayed as a result of the incessant rains which are now causing landslides and diverting the flow of a number of rivers.

-zbc

Sad Day for the media in Zimbabwe as two veteran broadcasters @PatrickNyamhunga and @CharlesKawadza die. pic.twitter.com/cPkWgXNE4J

— ZimEye (@ZimEye) January 30, 2021

Opposition MDC Alliance’s Secretary for Health & Child Welfare, Dr H Madzorera, has said the extension of the lockdown is a welcome move. He also observed that the government was not doing enough to curb the transmission of the coronavirus as indicated by the continued surge in new cases and deaths.

We present his statement in full below:.

Kit up our front-line healthcare workers with adequate Personal Protective Equipment that instills confidence.

Last week, the MDC Alliance published its first Weekly Health Alert focusing on the Super Spreaders. This initiative will see the party through its Health Department led by Dr. Henry Madzorera in conjunction with the Communications Department dialoguing with you, fellow citizens on COVID-19 related issues.

This week we are looking at the Lockdown, it’s extension and what needs to be done now. Together we will defeat COVID-19.THE LOCKDOWN: WHERE TO NOW?Following the comprehensive policy statement given by the People’s President, Advocate Nelson Chamisa on Thursday, we just want to re-emphasize the already dealt with issue of the lockdown, especially seeing that it has now been extended by a further two weeks at level 4.

On Saturday 02/01/21 the Minister of Health & Childcare Rtd General Constantino Guveya Nyikadzino Chiwenga announced a strict lockdown and curfew for 30 days to curb the sudden upsurge in COVID-19 cases caused by the festive season’s inward migration of Zimbabweans, mainly from neighboring countries.In the week preceding the lockdown, the country had experienced 1342 new cases and 29 deaths.

This was alarmingly high. Now, in spite of the lockdown, cumulative cases have increased from 14491 since January 2nd, 2021, to 32646 on Thursday the 28th of January 2021, an increase of 18155. In the same period, deaths have increased from 377 to 1160, an increase of 783, all in 26 days!

This is the definition of a catastrophe.In themselves, these numbers do not mean the lockdown is not working, but they do mean we have a few serious things that we must do and there are tough decisions that government must make to flatten this curve. Whatever measures the government shall take must consider the welfare of the people, and the health of both the formal and informal sectors of the economy.

Government must be alive to the fact that emergencies such as we are in are fertile ground for thieves and rogue elements in both society and government to flourish.What is the lockdown expected to achieve?The idea of the lockdown is to arrest transmission of the virus from person to person.

This is achieved by identifying those who have the virus through testing, screening and isolating them till they are no longer shedding the virus. Keeping the people in their homes means we are reducing the population at risk from any unidentified positive case.

Provision of high quality, time sensitive healthcare services must be maintained during the lockdown, both for COVID-19 patients and for other routine infectious and chronic non-communicable diseases.

The pandemic has had the unfortunate effect of neglect of all the other usual conditions, and more people could easily die of these routine conditions than of COVID-19 sooner than later.

The lockdown is also expected to protect the elderly and those with other co-morbidities. Government must monitor and report on certain key indicators to determine if we are making progress. Percentage of population tested and proportion that is positive, together with total number of deaths are good measures of progress. We must have a way of measuring the “happiness index” of our people particularly regarding our health care delivery system during this pandemic.

HOW HAVE WE FARED SO FAR?

Testing and isolation has been our major deficiency in this pandemic. We don’t compare at all to our neighbors and the international community. This is the major intervention that will flatten our curve.

We do hope the two week extension of level 4 lockdown will be accompanied by serious testing and isolation, particularly in the known hot spots, and that any future lockdowns will be targeted, not blanket lockdowns.There have been absolutely no social safety nets for particular vulnerable groups like informal sector workers, the elderly and the poor.

Ailing companies have not received any bailouts with consequent high levels of job losses. Super spreader events have been allowed to flourish. One notable super spreader is the crowded Zupco buses. Government must with immediate effect liberalise the transport system to reduce congestion in buses.

Monopolies of that nature create avenues of corruption for beaurocrats and politicians, and other rogue elements in society. Government has failed to establish COVID-19 treatment and admission facilities in most cities. People needing basic care are dying at home because of lack of such care, including simple oxygen supplementation.

This is an urgent matter.

WAY FORWARD?

1. Make the best use of this two week extension. Intensify testing and isolation. Gather decent prevalence and incidence data and monitor progress scientifically. Consider targeted localized lockdowns in next phase, informed by data.

2. Set up free testing centres easily accessible to all citizens, in urban and rural areas.

3. Open up space for inclusive national dialogue and response.

4. Fulfill government’s promise and obligation to give food and sustenance to vulnerable populations.

5. Deal with corruption and recover all ill-gotten wealth that belongs to the people.

6. Deal with all super spreaders, particularly Zupco buses and prisons. Give people their rights & freedoms, guarantee security of persons, and show goodwill to all humanity. We are ALL in the same cooking pot, and we need each other now more than ever.

7. Re-think government expenditure and divert funds to the fight against COVID-19.

8. Upgrade the health delivery system, including water and sanitation hygiene.

9. Kit up our frontline healthcare workers with adequate Personal Protective Equipment that instills confidence.

10. Urgently work on a vaccination policy and rollout plan. Inform citizens to instill hope.

Dr H Madzorera
Secretary for Health & Child Welfare,
MDC-Alliance

VIDEOS LOADING BELOW….

Tinashe Sambiri|MDC Alliance leader, President Nelson Chamisa, on Thursday implored the nation to unite in the fight against the deadly COVID-19 pandemic.

Although President Chamisa pointed out government’s glaring shortcomings in dealing with the deadly pandemic, he emphasized that the virus should be viewed as a national catastrophe.

Read full statement below:

FIGHTING COVID-19 TO BUILD A HEALTHY NATION – AN ALTERNATIVE RESPONSE TO COVID-19

Fellow Zimbabweans,

I come to you in circumstances of extreme national emergency.

We have an extraordinary situation in our country. We are facing an extremely challenging national outlook.

The COVID 19 pandemic is wrecking havoc in every family, every village, every suburb and every community. Remember, every COVID 19 statistic is a human being. 

Every other day, we are losing another friend, another workmate, another relative, another leader and another Zimbabwean.

Just as of yesterday, Zimbabwe recorded 1075 deaths. May their souls rest in peace. Our figure for those who have tested positive to date is over the 30000 mark.

My condolences to all those who lost their loved ones and my commiserations for those who are not feeling well. We continue to pray that they get well soon!

Let us observe a minute of silence in honor of our dear departed.

COVID-19 poses an existential threat to our existence. It may threaten our national security and collective public safety if not handled with astuteness and statesmanship.

It can’t be business as usual. A catastrophe is staring us in the face. We must take extraordinary action before the situation is out of control. We can correct this only if we get our act together as a people.
 
On the 30th of January 2020, the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the corona virus disease (Covid19) outbreak a public health emergency of international concern under the International Health Regulations of 2005.

Zimbabwe reported its first official Covid19 case on the 20th of March 2020. Since then, a lot has happened and been done.

We appreciate the various initiatives by different stakeholders and government.

The response of the Ministry of Health in particular and the Government in general is noted and appreciated.
 
Various initiatives have been instituted to ameliorate the situation. In this regard, we salute our nurses, doctors who have been outstanding as a battalion of patriots and national heroes and heroines.

For your courage and ingenuity our country will remain in debt to you and your families.

We wish to also thank our Environmental health professionals who are doing contact tracing. Our port health officers, lab scientists running the tests, general hands cleaning the wards and housing covid patients, among many other Health care workers who risk their lives to save our nation.

We also honor our police, military, (soldiers) prison and intelligence services including all those offering essential services in various sectors.

We salute our information and communication practitioners, the media, our journalists for the great work in spreading the information on COVID 19 and keeping the nation informed on this deadly pandemic.

We wish to thank the international community. The United Nations, European Union, United States of America, United Kingdom and China among many others.

Allow me to thank our neighboring countries in particular South Africa and Botswana for bearing the burden of carrying our citizens in the Diaspora.

We also wish to thank our wonderful citizens in the diaspora. For all the knowledge contributed and the remittances that have kept families going under the extreme severity yet necessary lockdown regulations. We note in particular the ventilors contributed by our citizens in Australia.

We thank those who have been donating Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs) in hospitals. Particularly in Bulawayo, Matebeleland South, Kwekwe, Chitungwiza, Hwange to mention a few.

I am happy that this positive effort is not being politicized and I hope we can continue with the unison spirit as a people.

I also thank you, the individual citizens who have been exceptional in creative ways to help citizens. The Ekusileni project is a case on point.

We thank you for the selfless service and sacrifices.

Let me also thank the people at home. Let me thank you all my fellow countrymen, the great Zimbabwean people. You have done us proud. Although the virus is bad, l know that given the state of our health care system things could have been worse.

You the people of Zimbabwe have acted as our national reserve guard force against the pandemic. You have made sure you mask up and have continued to remind each other to mask-up and to do so properly.

We thank you all, the peace loving and hardworking citizens of Zimbabwe, for your love, care and amity.

We also thank Our God, The Almighty, for the providence and preservation.

 
 Although the approach of central government has been deficient in several key areas, we choose not to play politics with this serious issue. We have steered clear of finding fault and blame gaming suffice to help improve on and complement the strategy of government.

The objective underlying this proposed plan is to offer an alternative policy framework to the manner in which the Government has approached the COVID19 response thus far.

We posit this policy mix and alternative plan to shed light on how citizens, development partners and the regional community can work together in driving a more coordinated response to save lives, protect livelihoods and prevent our economy from collapsing.
 
In addition to tapping from international best practice and global experience and relying on the best scientific evidence, we suggest a uniquely Zimbabwean response that is customized and tailored to the circumstances, competencies and conteext of our great nation.
 
COVID-19 EMERGING ISSUES ZIMBABWE



1. CAPACITY OF HEALTH INSTITUTIONS.
   
With COVID19 cases almost tripling in the last 6 weeks, our hospitals are  overwhelmed and failing to cope with the number of COVID19 infected patients requiring hospital admissions. We know that 10-15% of all cases will progress to severe illness and approximately 5% of cases will become critically ill.

The average daily cases over the past 2 weeks in Zimbabwe are around 700 cases. This means that between 70 and 105 people per day may progress to severe disease which may require hospitalisation.

These numbers are too high for our health infrastructure to cope and as a result our capacity to handle severe cases of COVID-19 seem to be surpassed by the pandemic resulting in suboptimal and in some instances non-existent emergency services for people with severe COVID-19. Parirenyatwa needs to increase COVID-19 response infrastructure immediately.

This may be one of the reasons for the high death rates that we have been witnessing over the past weeks. There is need to urgently increase the bed capacity in public hospitals so that patients with COVID-19 have access to oxygen therapy, as well ventilators for those who are critically ill. These services need to be decentralized and become available in all provinces. The situation is not good at all. Access to a bed and oxygen therapy must be more readily available across the country.




2. LOCKDOWN.

   Whilst the lockdown was a welcome move to try and minimize the rate of spread of infections, there is need to effectively implement the lockdown. Studies have shown it is better to implement a short but effective lockdown rather than a prolonged lockdown as compliance with lockdown regulations goes down with a prolonged lockdown.

The unavailability of social safety nets for the vulnerable, considering our heavily informal economy, means that people will be forced to breach lockdown regulations if search of food, water and money to cater for their families. This again reduces the effectiveness of the lockdown. We must be careful not to flatten the economy in our bid flatten the curve. We face the risk of a lockdown induced poverty. 

It is desirable and advisable to adopt other approaches to a lockdown. We could consider a partial lockdown or a spatial lockdown or  a staggered lockdown. Lockdowns are not meant to be permanent solutions, there is need to create a lockdown exit strategy.

WE REITERATE THAT, CONTRARY TO THE WHOLESALE, UNSTRUCTURED AND  PANIC INDUCED SHUTDOWN WE WOULD PURSUE AN ALTERNATIVE PATH THAT SAVES LIVES AND PROTECTS LIVELIHOODS, PREVENTING OUR ECONOMY FROM COLLAPSING AND SAVING OUR PEOPLE FROM HUNGER.



3. TESTING AND SCREENING.
Our neighbours South Africa have reported a new variant of the SARS-COV-2 virus, being named B.1.351. This strain has been shown to be more transmissible than the original covid19 virus. With people coming into Zimbabwe for the festive season using our porous borders as well as reports of invalid and fake COVID-19 certificates, there is likelihood that this strain may have been imported into the country.

Health professionals are reporting difference in clinical presentations between the first wave and the current wave of infections, as well as a high rate of false negative results on Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) tests. This is an indicator that we might be dealing with a different strain of covid19 virus. There is need for us to conduct tests (or through the help of other countries like neighbouring South Africa if we cannot conduct the genetic testing of the virus) to ascertain what type of virus we are dealing with.

We also welcome the availability of the COVID-19 Rapid Antigen Tests, which have been shown to be more reliable in detecting COVID-19 than the Antibody tests. These tests are much cheaper than the Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests. We need to increase availability of these tests across the country so that we can detect as much people as possible, isolate those positive, and conduct contact tracing. This will slow down the rate of infections.

Leadership is now required. We immediately demand the reduction of the cost of our health services. In fact we must make it free for COVID-19 patients who are in serious condition. We must decentralize testing and roll out free testing to rural areas at growth points and townships including at all clinics and hospitals.




4. HEALTH WORKERS WELFARE AND CAPACITY.
   
Our health workers have been on the frontline fighting this pandemic. However, in order for them to effectively do their job they need to be capacitated with the necessary tools of trade. According to the Health Services Board, over 1500 health workers have already been infected with COVID-19, and 7 deaths recorded.

The intermittent and chronic shortage of Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs) is one of the reasons why we have this huge number of health workers getting infected. Recently nurses at Sally Mugabe hospital were protesting over the shortage of PPE. The situation is similar in other hospitals across the country. PPE should be readily available in order to at least offer protection to our frontline workers. Shortage of health workers is a major reason why we have limited bed capacity for covid19 patients.

We therefore cannot afford to continue losing health workers either through deaths or through absenteeism from work when infected health workers undergo their mandatory isolation periods.

We need adequate Remuneration as an incentive including a risk allowance for all our health care workers.



5. CONTINUOS CARE FOR OTHER HEALTH CONDITIONS.
   
Whilst the attention and focus is on combating the COVID19 pandemic, there is need to continue providing care for other health conditions so as to avoidable morbidity and mortality from other illnesses. Recently Parirenyatwa Hospital announced that they are scaling down Chemotherapy services at their radiotherapy centre.

This severely compromises access to care for cancer patients as there are only 2 institutions in the public sector offering such services in the whole country. Measures need to be put in place to make sure that services for chronic conditions such as HIV, Diabetes, Hypertension, mental illness as well as access to reproductive health and maternal and child health continue during the pandemic.

We have experienced above normal rains and floods this year, and with the malaria season approaching, there is a likelihood of an increase in malaria cases. People should continue to access services in order to avoid deaths from malaria.

6. SUPER SPREADERS.

Funerals and congested places like prisons have become serious super spreaders.
Our prisons have become covid superspreder, hot spots and zones.

7. COVID-19 VACCINE ROLL OUT PLAN.
   
Many countries in Europe, America and Asia have already begun vaccinating their populations.

In Africa, though vaccinations have not begun, many countries including South Africa and Kenya have already placed orders for vaccines. Whilst the country is set to benefit vaccines from the World Health Organization (WHO) backed COVAX scheme, as well as from arrangements from the African Union (AU), these vaccines will not be enough for attainment of herd immunity (which is estimated at approximately 60%). There is need for the government to set aside funds for the procurement of additional support.

More importantly, it is necessary for Africa to invest into Research and Development to provide solutions for our local people. We are a continent with great capacity to deal with any disease. We need to invest more in studying the mutating virus, so that we avail the best solution which is safe for our people.

Zimbabwe needs to:
• Avail funds for the development, manufacturing and procurement of COVID-19 solutions.
• Avail funds for treatment of the communities.
• Start the process of identifying at risk populations who are supposed to receive the treatment first.
For an treatment plan, priority must be given to the elderly, the vulnerable, people living with disabilities, widows, orphans and our frontline workers.

WHAT IS THE WAY FORWARD?

Our national strategy must be predicated upon the following;

1.Broad based inclusive national task force. 
2.Elaborate testing, screening and isolation plan.
3.Capacitating health institutions and frontline workers.
4.Zonal Spatial lockdown targeting epicenters.
5.Resourcing strategy through domestic resource mobilization and global appeals.

6. Unleashing 4th industrial revolution and the internet of things.
    
   The following are immediate:
    
7. There is need for a deliberate approach to involve all the players, political, labour, Government, academics, churches, citizens, CSOs, private sector – a United Team Zimbabwe approach;
8. Establish a National Covid Advisory Group of Experts and let science take the lead;
9. Invite World Health Organisation (WHO) and other experts for an assessment and evaluation of current National response.
10. Contrary to the current situation where citizens are on lockdown with no testing taking place, Government must roll out national testing by contacting a door to door testing approach.
11. In the same vein, as we continue to fight corona virus,  the following measures must be considered:
    a. Provision of personal protective equipment for our frontline staff such as nurses, doctors, janitors, administrative staff, police, soldiers and state employees;
    b. Provision of at least US$2000 risk allowance and tax exemption for all health professionals, security servicemen/women and government workers on duty. We want to emphases that, in view of the disparities in the exchange rates, this must be paid in hard cash, that is, in USD;
    c. Provision of sanitisers and masks for all;
    d. Provision of radio and TV lessons dedicated for the education of the masses about corona virus;
    e. In view of rampant corruption which have become a permanent feature under the Second Republic, will call upon Government to ensure transparency and accountability in the handling of corona virus issues by Government.
12. With input from (1), come up with safety nets for the citizens during and after lockdown and come up with elaborate measures aimed at containing the virus. Among the cushioning measures Government should consider should include:
    a. Rolling out of humanitarian support to vulnerable people. This may include provision of cash handouts and the subsidized basic goods such as mealie meal, water, internet, electricity and fuel for our vulnerable and most at risk populations; or provide specialized support to the elderly people, persons with disability amongst others;
    b. Creation of new model for informal sector trading where basic of commodities in undertaken that seeks to achieve decongestion and decentralization. The aim will be ensure sustained livelihoods.
13. In line with stakeholders, Government must develop information tool kit for the citizens with a view to create awareness on the progress made towards containing the virus. This information tool kit must be extensively disseminated through various media channels/platforms and campaigns in hotspot areas.
14. The information tool kit must provide specific details such as number of people tested per day, accurate statistical figures on the outcomes of the tests with hope that this information can provide evidence to show how the country is coping with the disease and possible indication of how the lockdown will last as opposed to being reactive. For Zimbabwe, because of our context where we have over 5.7 million people in the informal sector, it is important that we get out of the lockdown quickly to save lives from hunger. Hence, the importance of reasonable statistical evidence on testing and the level of prevalence of the pandemic cannot be overemphasised.
15. In view of the need to save lives from hunger and the corona virus and also saving the economy from total collapse, we need to come out of lockdown and seal our borders save for trade and come up with an organised strategy of returning back to work with inputs from (1);
16. There is need for a post lockdown strategy that articulates how various sectors of the economy will be resuscitated and developed using a phased approach. There is need for a clear strategy on how the economy will be rescued and be brought back to life, how people will return back to work, how children will go back to school – This may take the form of a spatial and tier approach to lockdown – A back to normal life roadmap –.
17. In the interim, Government must look at Look at the education sector and what can be done to ensure students don’t lose much learning time. Alternative teaching methods must be fully explored and scaled up using platforms such as TV and radio whilst the cost of data must be subsidized for students.

There is need to explore the use of TV, the role Zimbabwe Broadcasting Cooperation (ZBC) can play in providing both radio and television lessons. Radio lessons will help even those in remote areas because of its wide coverage.

Teachers and teachers’ associations should be engaged on how best they can teach their students during this pandemic.

12. Civil servants who can work from home should be allowed to do so and decongest the work place. Civil servants must be given access to data and availed digital gadgets and services. 
We must encourage and enforce fumigation of these work places.
13. There is need to marshal resources for the countries Covid response. This may include budget recasting and budget virementing.
    a. Cut down government expenditure especially on non essential items like luxury vehicles for government officials and civil service.
    b. Channeling the touted surplus towards the Covid response.

14 . We must empty remand prisons expect for very very serious offenses
Give amnesty to most prisoners except those on very very serious charges.
We need a plan to decongest them or strict regimes of testing, screening and isolation and regular disinfecting.

15. We must allow churches to open for controlled number of people provided there is social distancing, masking and other COVID-19 protocols.
16. There is need to ensure we pay attention to our economy and ensure it survives the tide of the Covid pandemic. From policy perspective, the following are necessary:

a. In order to improve competitiveness of our exporters and eliminate exchange rate losses, Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) must allow banks to take full control of foreign exchange trading with a view to guarantee an efficient price discovery where the informal rate converges with the formal rate or where the disparities between the two rates are minimised to levels below 10%.

b. Furthermore, whilst we understand the importance of sharing foreign currency as a scarce resource for national development purposes, the recently announced export retention of 40% in a period which is characterised by COVID-19 pandemic, drought of stimulus package and over 30% disparities between the formal exchange rate and the parallel market rate, is both regressive and inconsiderate. In view of this, we call upon the RBZ to reduce export retention to 20% – thus allowing exporters to retain 80% of our export earnings.

c. Government failure to offer real stimulus package to save businesses is a cause for great concern. It must be appreciated that both the ZWL$18 billion package for large business and ZWL$600 million for SMEs are a drop in the ocean.

This is so considering that the economy requires funding in the region of US$5 billion.

In line with (1), we call upon Government to come up with a reasonable package to save businesses small and large.

d. Government should consider a number of fiscal measures aimed at reducing tax burden for businesses and individuals where appropriate. The following must be considered:
i. Immediate removal of the 2% tax to spur business growth;
ii. Rationalization of tax where sectors such as tourism and mining with 22 and 15 tax heads, respectively should see some of the tax heads being removed.

In the long term there is need for a post Covid reconstruction and recovery programme. This takes inputs from (1);


More importantly, must depoliticize Covid and understand that it kills anyone and everyone

Since the effects of COVID-19 are non-partisan, I want to implore each and every Zimbabwean to take this opportunity to be each others keeper.

We know the inadequacies of our system and the struggles of collective well-being; however, now is the time to look to each other to ensure that we fight COVID-19 through our collective Ubuntu. Our brothers and sisters are dying, we must wash our hands, mask-up and keep our distance. No one is coming to save us, it’s time we work together to stop the spread

Unity is key in the face of COVID-19. All of us must put aside their political differences and work together in the fight against COVID-19. It’s not the time to score political points but to work together. Those who like to trade insults and grand standing its not the time our people are dying.

I appeal to the international community to save the country’s health sector and the pple of Zimbabwe. NB. The sector was struggling before the pandemic and Covid has obviously led to it being overwhelmed and it needs support. We appeal to the international community ,donors ,business tycoons, Zimbabweans in the diaspora who can assist.

Fellow countrymen we must wither the covid 19 storm.

Our best medical brains should be allowed to lead in the fight against this global pandemic.The same team managed to reduce the HIV prevalence rate likewise they will manage to contain this pandemic if we listen and allow the experts to guide us.

I encourage the nation to follow the guidelines and protocols of reducing the spread of the pandemic.

To Our Bishops, Pastors, the church body and Intercessors and believers we encourage to continue to stand in the gap to pray for our nation. We must stand in prayer with those who have been affected by the pandemic. May the Holy Spirit comfort all the families who lost their loved ones.


I enjoin citizens to be vigilant and resilient. Together we waged and won struggle s in the past including the hard won liberation struggle. Together we will win and wither the covid storm.
Together we have all the answers to all our problems.

We are one People but politics and politicians make us to be different people.

It is a patriotic duty to tell anyone to mask up and to not engage in super spreader events.

Fellow Zimbabweans, there is no problem we can’t solve when we are one and United.

From ZAMBEZI TO LIMPOPO,
One people, One vision, One Future!

Always for Better and greater Zimbabwe!

A NEW GREAT ZIMBABWE IS POSSIBLE!

GOD BLESS YOU.
GOD BLESS ZIMBABWE.

Statement by the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) on the bailing of Beitbridge couple arrested for allegedly sharing on social media a message falsely claiming that President Emmerson Mnangagwa had succumbed to corona. ZLHR RESCUES COUPLE JAILED OVER MNANGAGWA’S FALSE DEATH REPORT

A Beitbridge couple has been released from prison after Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) members arrested and charged the duo with publishing or communicating falsehoods by sharing a message on a WhatsApp group stating that President Emmerson Mnangagwa had died after being administered a vaccine to treat him of coronavirus.

The couple, Vongai Nomatter Chiminya aged 20 years and Devine Panashe Maregere also aged 20 years, were on Friday 29 January 2021 ordered to pay RTGS$15 000 bail each by Beitbridge Magistrate Toendepi Zhou and ordered not to post any material on social media to do with government business.

Prosecutors told Magistrate Zhou that the couple on Tuesday 26 January 2021 unlawfully and intentionally forwarded an audio message to each other and later on, on a WhatsApp group alleging that President Mnangagwa had died on Monday 25 January 2021 as a result of a COVID-19 vaccination, which was administered to him at his ruling ZANU PF party headquarters.

Chiminya, prosecutors alleged, first received the audio message on her mobile phone number after it had been shared on a WhatsApp group titled “Ruwadzano Rwemadzimai” by a person only identified as Molly, who used a South African registered sim card.

Chiminya reportedly forwarded the message to her husband, who later on circulated the same message on a WhatsApp group titled “Agents and Runners, Beitbridge”.

Prosecutors said Chiminya, who is unemployed and Maregere, who is employed as a “runner” at Express Best Clearing Company, had no lawful right to act in the manner which they allegedly did.

After arresting the couple, ZRP members confiscated their mobile phone handsets, which will be used as exhibits during their trial.

The couple returns to court on 5 March 2021.

ENDS

Tinashe Sambiri|MDC Alliance leader, President Nelson Chamisa, on Thursday implored the nation to unite in the fight against the deadly COVID-19 pandemic.

Although President Chamisa pointed out government’s glaring shortcomings in dealing with the deadly pandemic, he emphasized that the virus should be viewed as a national catastrophe.

Read full statement below:

FIGHTING COVID-19 TO BUILD A HEALTHY NATION – AN ALTERNATIVE RESPONSE TO COVID-19

Fellow Zimbabweans,

I come to you in circumstances of extreme national emergency.

We have an extraordinary situation in our country. We are facing an extremely challenging national outlook.

The COVID 19 pandemic is wrecking havoc in every family, every village, every suburb and every community. Remember, every COVID 19 statistic is a human being. 

Every other day, we are losing another friend, another workmate, another relative, another leader and another Zimbabwean.

Just as of yesterday, Zimbabwe recorded 1075 deaths. May their souls rest in peace. Our figure for those who have tested positive to date is over the 30000 mark.

My condolences to all those who lost their loved ones and my commiserations for those who are not feeling well. We continue to pray that they get well soon!

Let us observe a minute of silence in honor of our dear departed.

COVID-19 poses an existential threat to our existence. It may threaten our national security and collective public safety if not handled with astuteness and statesmanship.

It can’t be business as usual. A catastrophe is staring us in the face. We must take extraordinary action before the situation is out of control. We can correct this only if we get our act together as a people.
 
On the 30th of January 2020, the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the corona virus disease (Covid19) outbreak a public health emergency of international concern under the International Health Regulations of 2005.

Zimbabwe reported its first official Covid19 case on the 20th of March 2020. Since then, a lot has happened and been done.

We appreciate the various initiatives by different stakeholders and government.

The response of the Ministry of Health in particular and the Government in general is noted and appreciated.
 
Various initiatives have been instituted to ameliorate the situation. In this regard, we salute our nurses, doctors who have been outstanding as a battalion of patriots and national heroes and heroines.

For your courage and ingenuity our country will remain in debt to you and your families.

We wish to also thank our Environmental health professionals who are doing contact tracing. Our port health officers, lab scientists running the tests, general hands cleaning the wards and housing covid patients, among many other Health care workers who risk their lives to save our nation.

We also honor our police, military, (soldiers) prison and intelligence services including all those offering essential services in various sectors.

We salute our information and communication practitioners, the media, our journalists for the great work in spreading the information on COVID 19 and keeping the nation informed on this deadly pandemic.

We wish to thank the international community. The United Nations, European Union, United States of America, United Kingdom and China among many others.

Allow me to thank our neighboring countries in particular South Africa and Botswana for bearing the burden of carrying our citizens in the Diaspora.

We also wish to thank our wonderful citizens in the diaspora. For all the knowledge contributed and the remittances that have kept families going under the extreme severity yet necessary lockdown regulations. We note in particular the ventilors contributed by our citizens in Australia.

We thank those who have been donating Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs) in hospitals. Particularly in Bulawayo, Matebeleland South, Kwekwe, Chitungwiza, Hwange to mention a few.

I am happy that this positive effort is not being politicized and I hope we can continue with the unison spirit as a people.

I also thank you, the individual citizens who have been exceptional in creative ways to help citizens. The Ekusileni project is a case on point.

We thank you for the selfless service and sacrifices.

Let me also thank the people at home. Let me thank you all my fellow countrymen, the great Zimbabwean people. You have done us proud. Although the virus is bad, l know that given the state of our health care system things could have been worse.

You the people of Zimbabwe have acted as our national reserve guard force against the pandemic. You have made sure you mask up and have continued to remind each other to mask-up and to do so properly.

We thank you all, the peace loving and hardworking citizens of Zimbabwe, for your love, care and amity.

We also thank Our God, The Almighty, for the providence and preservation.

 
 Although the approach of central government has been deficient in several key areas, we choose not to play politics with this serious issue. We have steered clear of finding fault and blame gaming suffice to help improve on and complement the strategy of government.

The objective underlying this proposed plan is to offer an alternative policy framework to the manner in which the Government has approached the COVID19 response thus far.

We posit this policy mix and alternative plan to shed light on how citizens, development partners and the regional community can work together in driving a more coordinated response to save lives, protect livelihoods and prevent our economy from collapsing.
 
In addition to tapping from international best practice and global experience and relying on the best scientific evidence, we suggest a uniquely Zimbabwean response that is customized and tailored to the circumstances, competencies and conteext of our great nation.
 
COVID-19 EMERGING ISSUES ZIMBABWE



1. CAPACITY OF HEALTH INSTITUTIONS.
   
With COVID19 cases almost tripling in the last 6 weeks, our hospitals are  overwhelmed and failing to cope with the number of COVID19 infected patients requiring hospital admissions. We know that 10-15% of all cases will progress to severe illness and approximately 5% of cases will become critically ill.

The average daily cases over the past 2 weeks in Zimbabwe are around 700 cases. This means that between 70 and 105 people per day may progress to severe disease which may require hospitalisation.

These numbers are too high for our health infrastructure to cope and as a result our capacity to handle severe cases of COVID-19 seem to be surpassed by the pandemic resulting in suboptimal and in some instances non-existent emergency services for people with severe COVID-19. Parirenyatwa needs to increase COVID-19 response infrastructure immediately.

This may be one of the reasons for the high death rates that we have been witnessing over the past weeks. There is need to urgently increase the bed capacity in public hospitals so that patients with COVID-19 have access to oxygen therapy, as well ventilators for those who are critically ill. These services need to be decentralized and become available in all provinces. The situation is not good at all. Access to a bed and oxygen therapy must be more readily available across the country.




2. LOCKDOWN.

   Whilst the lockdown was a welcome move to try and minimize the rate of spread of infections, there is need to effectively implement the lockdown. Studies have shown it is better to implement a short but effective lockdown rather than a prolonged lockdown as compliance with lockdown regulations goes down with a prolonged lockdown.

The unavailability of social safety nets for the vulnerable, considering our heavily informal economy, means that people will be forced to breach lockdown regulations if search of food, water and money to cater for their families. This again reduces the effectiveness of the lockdown. We must be careful not to flatten the economy in our bid flatten the curve. We face the risk of a lockdown induced poverty. 

It is desirable and advisable to adopt other approaches to a lockdown. We could consider a partial lockdown or a spatial lockdown or  a staggered lockdown. Lockdowns are not meant to be permanent solutions, there is need to create a lockdown exit strategy.

WE REITERATE THAT, CONTRARY TO THE WHOLESALE, UNSTRUCTURED AND  PANIC INDUCED SHUTDOWN WE WOULD PURSUE AN ALTERNATIVE PATH THAT SAVES LIVES AND PROTECTS LIVELIHOODS, PREVENTING OUR ECONOMY FROM COLLAPSING AND SAVING OUR PEOPLE FROM HUNGER.



3. TESTING AND SCREENING.
Our neighbours South Africa have reported a new variant of the SARS-COV-2 virus, being named B.1.351. This strain has been shown to be more transmissible than the original covid19 virus. With people coming into Zimbabwe for the festive season using our porous borders as well as reports of invalid and fake COVID-19 certificates, there is likelihood that this strain may have been imported into the country.

Health professionals are reporting difference in clinical presentations between the first wave and the current wave of infections, as well as a high rate of false negative results on Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) tests. This is an indicator that we might be dealing with a different strain of covid19 virus. There is need for us to conduct tests (or through the help of other countries like neighbouring South Africa if we cannot conduct the genetic testing of the virus) to ascertain what type of virus we are dealing with.

We also welcome the availability of the COVID-19 Rapid Antigen Tests, which have been shown to be more reliable in detecting COVID-19 than the Antibody tests. These tests are much cheaper than the Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests. We need to increase availability of these tests across the country so that we can detect as much people as possible, isolate those positive, and conduct contact tracing. This will slow down the rate of infections.

Leadership is now required. We immediately demand the reduction of the cost of our health services. In fact we must make it free for COVID-19 patients who are in serious condition. We must decentralize testing and roll out free testing to rural areas at growth points and townships including at all clinics and hospitals.




4. HEALTH WORKERS WELFARE AND CAPACITY.
   
Our health workers have been on the frontline fighting this pandemic. However, in order for them to effectively do their job they need to be capacitated with the necessary tools of trade. According to the Health Services Board, over 1500 health workers have already been infected with COVID-19, and 7 deaths recorded.

The intermittent and chronic shortage of Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs) is one of the reasons why we have this huge number of health workers getting infected. Recently nurses at Sally Mugabe hospital were protesting over the shortage of PPE. The situation is similar in other hospitals across the country. PPE should be readily available in order to at least offer protection to our frontline workers. Shortage of health workers is a major reason why we have limited bed capacity for covid19 patients.

We therefore cannot afford to continue losing health workers either through deaths or through absenteeism from work when infected health workers undergo their mandatory isolation periods.

We need adequate Remuneration as an incentive including a risk allowance for all our health care workers.



5. CONTINUOS CARE FOR OTHER HEALTH CONDITIONS.
   
Whilst the attention and focus is on combating the COVID19 pandemic, there is need to continue providing care for other health conditions so as to avoidable morbidity and mortality from other illnesses. Recently Parirenyatwa Hospital announced that they are scaling down Chemotherapy services at their radiotherapy centre.

This severely compromises access to care for cancer patients as there are only 2 institutions in the public sector offering such services in the whole country. Measures need to be put in place to make sure that services for chronic conditions such as HIV, Diabetes, Hypertension, mental illness as well as access to reproductive health and maternal and child health continue during the pandemic.

We have experienced above normal rains and floods this year, and with the malaria season approaching, there is a likelihood of an increase in malaria cases. People should continue to access services in order to avoid deaths from malaria.

6. SUPER SPREADERS.

Funerals and congested places like prisons have become serious super spreaders.
Our prisons have become covid superspreder, hot spots and zones.

7. COVID-19 VACCINE ROLL OUT PLAN.
   
Many countries in Europe, America and Asia have already begun vaccinating their populations.

In Africa, though vaccinations have not begun, many countries including South Africa and Kenya have already placed orders for vaccines. Whilst the country is set to benefit vaccines from the World Health Organization (WHO) backed COVAX scheme, as well as from arrangements from the African Union (AU), these vaccines will not be enough for attainment of herd immunity (which is estimated at approximately 60%). There is need for the government to set aside funds for the procurement of additional support.

More importantly, it is necessary for Africa to invest into Research and Development to provide solutions for our local people. We are a continent with great capacity to deal with any disease. We need to invest more in studying the mutating virus, so that we avail the best solution which is safe for our people.

Zimbabwe needs to:
• Avail funds for the development, manufacturing and procurement of COVID-19 solutions.
• Avail funds for treatment of the communities.
• Start the process of identifying at risk populations who are supposed to receive the treatment first.
For an treatment plan, priority must be given to the elderly, the vulnerable, people living with disabilities, widows, orphans and our frontline workers.

WHAT IS THE WAY FORWARD?

Our national strategy must be predicated upon the following;

1.Broad based inclusive national task force. 
2.Elaborate testing, screening and isolation plan.
3.Capacitating health institutions and frontline workers.
4.Zonal Spatial lockdown targeting epicenters.
5.Resourcing strategy through domestic resource mobilization and global appeals.

6. Unleashing 4th industrial revolution and the internet of things.
    
   The following are immediate:
    
7. There is need for a deliberate approach to involve all the players, political, labour, Government, academics, churches, citizens, CSOs, private sector – a United Team Zimbabwe approach;
8. Establish a National Covid Advisory Group of Experts and let science take the lead;
9. Invite World Health Organisation (WHO) and other experts for an assessment and evaluation of current National response.
10. Contrary to the current situation where citizens are on lockdown with no testing taking place, Government must roll out national testing by contacting a door to door testing approach.
11. In the same vein, as we continue to fight corona virus,  the following measures must be considered:
    a. Provision of personal protective equipment for our frontline staff such as nurses, doctors, janitors, administrative staff, police, soldiers and state employees;
    b. Provision of at least US$2000 risk allowance and tax exemption for all health professionals, security servicemen/women and government workers on duty. We want to emphases that, in view of the disparities in the exchange rates, this must be paid in hard cash, that is, in USD;
    c. Provision of sanitisers and masks for all;
    d. Provision of radio and TV lessons dedicated for the education of the masses about corona virus;
    e. In view of rampant corruption which have become a permanent feature under the Second Republic, will call upon Government to ensure transparency and accountability in the handling of corona virus issues by Government.
12. With input from (1), come up with safety nets for the citizens during and after lockdown and come up with elaborate measures aimed at containing the virus. Among the cushioning measures Government should consider should include:
    a. Rolling out of humanitarian support to vulnerable people. This may include provision of cash handouts and the subsidized basic goods such as mealie meal, water, internet, electricity and fuel for our vulnerable and most at risk populations; or provide specialized support to the elderly people, persons with disability amongst others;
    b. Creation of new model for informal sector trading where basic of commodities in undertaken that seeks to achieve decongestion and decentralization. The aim will be ensure sustained livelihoods.
13. In line with stakeholders, Government must develop information tool kit for the citizens with a view to create awareness on the progress made towards containing the virus. This information tool kit must be extensively disseminated through various media channels/platforms and campaigns in hotspot areas.
14. The information tool kit must provide specific details such as number of people tested per day, accurate statistical figures on the outcomes of the tests with hope that this information can provide evidence to show how the country is coping with the disease and possible indication of how the lockdown will last as opposed to being reactive. For Zimbabwe, because of our context where we have over 5.7 million people in the informal sector, it is important that we get out of the lockdown quickly to save lives from hunger. Hence, the importance of reasonable statistical evidence on testing and the level of prevalence of the pandemic cannot be overemphasised.
15. In view of the need to save lives from hunger and the corona virus and also saving the economy from total collapse, we need to come out of lockdown and seal our borders save for trade and come up with an organised strategy of returning back to work with inputs from (1);
16. There is need for a post lockdown strategy that articulates how various sectors of the economy will be resuscitated and developed using a phased approach. There is need for a clear strategy on how the economy will be rescued and be brought back to life, how people will return back to work, how children will go back to school – This may take the form of a spatial and tier approach to lockdown – A back to normal life roadmap –.
17. In the interim, Government must look at Look at the education sector and what can be done to ensure students don’t lose much learning time. Alternative teaching methods must be fully explored and scaled up using platforms such as TV and radio whilst the cost of data must be subsidized for students.

There is need to explore the use of TV, the role Zimbabwe Broadcasting Cooperation (ZBC) can play in providing both radio and television lessons. Radio lessons will help even those in remote areas because of its wide coverage.

Teachers and teachers’ associations should be engaged on how best they can teach their students during this pandemic.

12. Civil servants who can work from home should be allowed to do so and decongest the work place. Civil servants must be given access to data and availed digital gadgets and services. 
We must encourage and enforce fumigation of these work places.
13. There is need to marshal resources for the countries Covid response. This may include budget recasting and budget virementing.
    a. Cut down government expenditure especially on non essential items like luxury vehicles for government officials and civil service.
    b. Channeling the touted surplus towards the Covid response.

14 . We must empty remand prisons expect for very very serious offenses
Give amnesty to most prisoners except those on very very serious charges.
We need a plan to decongest them or strict regimes of testing, screening and isolation and regular disinfecting.

15. We must allow churches to open for controlled number of people provided there is social distancing, masking and other COVID-19 protocols.
16. There is need to ensure we pay attention to our economy and ensure it survives the tide of the Covid pandemic. From policy perspective, the following are necessary:

a. In order to improve competitiveness of our exporters and eliminate exchange rate losses, Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) must allow banks to take full control of foreign exchange trading with a view to guarantee an efficient price discovery where the informal rate converges with the formal rate or where the disparities between the two rates are minimised to levels below 10%.

b. Furthermore, whilst we understand the importance of sharing foreign currency as a scarce resource for national development purposes, the recently announced export retention of 40% in a period which is characterised by COVID-19 pandemic, drought of stimulus package and over 30% disparities between the formal exchange rate and the parallel market rate, is both regressive and inconsiderate. In view of this, we call upon the RBZ to reduce export retention to 20% – thus allowing exporters to retain 80% of our export earnings.

c. Government failure to offer real stimulus package to save businesses is a cause for great concern. It must be appreciated that both the ZWL$18 billion package for large business and ZWL$600 million for SMEs are a drop in the ocean.

This is so considering that the economy requires funding in the region of US$5 billion.

In line with (1), we call upon Government to come up with a reasonable package to save businesses small and large.

d. Government should consider a number of fiscal measures aimed at reducing tax burden for businesses and individuals where appropriate. The following must be considered:
i. Immediate removal of the 2% tax to spur business growth;
ii. Rationalization of tax where sectors such as tourism and mining with 22 and 15 tax heads, respectively should see some of the tax heads being removed.

In the long term there is need for a post Covid reconstruction and recovery programme. This takes inputs from (1);


More importantly, must depoliticize Covid and understand that it kills anyone and everyone

Since the effects of COVID-19 are non-partisan, I want to implore each and every Zimbabwean to take this opportunity to be each others keeper.

We know the inadequacies of our system and the struggles of collective well-being; however, now is the time to look to each other to ensure that we fight COVID-19 through our collective Ubuntu. Our brothers and sisters are dying, we must wash our hands, mask-up and keep our distance. No one is coming to save us, it’s time we work together to stop the spread

Unity is key in the face of COVID-19. All of us must put aside their political differences and work together in the fight against COVID-19. It’s not the time to score political points but to work together. Those who like to trade insults and grand standing its not the time our people are dying.

I appeal to the international community to save the country’s health sector and the pple of Zimbabwe. NB. The sector was struggling before the pandemic and Covid has obviously led to it being overwhelmed and it needs support. We appeal to the international community ,donors ,business tycoons, Zimbabweans in the diaspora who can assist.

Fellow countrymen we must wither the covid 19 storm.

Our best medical brains should be allowed to lead in the fight against this global pandemic.The same team managed to reduce the HIV prevalence rate likewise they will manage to contain this pandemic if we listen and allow the experts to guide us.

I encourage the nation to follow the guidelines and protocols of reducing the spread of the pandemic.

To Our Bishops, Pastors, the church body and Intercessors and believers we encourage to continue to stand in the gap to pray for our nation. We must stand in prayer with those who have been affected by the pandemic. May the Holy Spirit comfort all the families who lost their loved ones.


I enjoin citizens to be vigilant and resilient. Together we waged and won struggle s in the past including the hard won liberation struggle. Together we will win and wither the covid storm.
Together we have all the answers to all our problems.

We are one People but politics and politicians make us to be different people.

It is a patriotic duty to tell anyone to mask up and to not engage in super spreader events.

Fellow Zimbabweans, there is no problem we can’t solve when we are one and United.

From ZAMBEZI TO LIMPOPO,
One people, One vision, One Future!

Always for Better and greater Zimbabwe!

A NEW GREAT ZIMBABWE IS POSSIBLE!

GOD BLESS YOU.
GOD BLESS ZIMBABWE.

watch the live video loading below…..

https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/ZimEye/video/461359511917037/

Cde Luke Phibeon Masamvu has died‼️

He was 64.

A dark cloud has befallen ZANU PF Manicaland Province again, after losing two Central Committee members a fortnight ago, Cde Gwaradzimba & Cde Malianga who were both declared National Heroes, the Party has lost another stalwart.
1/ pic.twitter.com/DpyZ4Mdqha

— ?? ZANU PF PATRIOTS ?? (@zanupf_patriots) January 30, 2021

Good move BUT, next time they should let people perform their businesses while masking, sanitizing and social distancing. Zimbos need revenue to survive, gvt needs to pay salaries, closing business means no salaries for private and public sector. "Better to die while surviving"

— Don Chigumba (@Donchigumba) January 29, 2021

By A Correspondent- A search party has been launched in Makhakavhule area where two men drowned when their inflatable boat capsized in uMzingwane River this morning.

Two others managed to swim to the banks and the villagers are now searching for two others downstream.

The area is located 25 km west of Beitbridge town.

“Searches are now underway. The river started swelling midweek covering the bridge which links us with the town. The two men were part of four people who wanted to rescue a cow from the river when the boat overturned two metres into the waters,” said a witness Mr. Wellington Mudyawabikwa.

The uMzingwane River is downstream of the overflowing Zhovhe Dam which supplies Beitbridge town with water. 

By A Correspondent- Chegutu district Civil Protection Unit yesterday evening rescued one person and retrieved three bodies of the artisanal miners who were trapped under Elvington Mine’s disused shaft on Thursday.

The rescued miner, who sustained injuries on one of his legs, was rushed to Chegutu District Hospital where he is said to be in a stable condition while the three bodies were also taken to the same hospital’s mortuary.

Government chief mining engineer, Mr Michael Munodawafa, yesterday confirmed the breakthrough after retrieving two bodies and one survivor.

“We have managed to retrieve two bodies this (yesterday) evening and one survivor. The survivor was trapped by the leg and is in hospital,” he said.

Acting Chegutu district development coordinator’s Ms Auxillia Matambanadzo said the third body was retrieved later yesterday evening.

“We managed to retrieve all the trapped artisanal miners. Three bodies were taken to the mortuary and the survivor was taken to Chegutu District Hospital. Operations have since been stopped,”  she said.

Artisanal miners take turns to rescue the trapped miners yesterday afternoon

While the CPU had requested assistance from Zimplats and Pickstone Mines, inspectors and engineers from the Mines and Minerals Development Ministry however, opted for manual retrieval of the trapped miners as the ground was shaky, making it difficult for machinery to be used.

The rescue operation was manually conducted by other artisanal miners with guidance from the Ministry of Mines.

Meanwhile, provincial Civil Protection Unit chairperson, Mr Josphat Jaji discouraged artisanal miners from entering disused mines, particularly during this rain season as it posed a great danger to their lives.-statemedia

By A Correspondent- One person died on the spot when Chimanimani highway, known as the Skyline, collapsed as a vehicle was passing.

The collapse which happened just after Charter Bridge is being attributed to incessant rains.

More details follow….

By A Correspondent- Marry Chiwenga, the estranged wife of Vice President and Health and Child Care Minister Constantino Chiwenga has poured her heart out via social media after she was denied access to her three minor children for more than a year and also having been blocked to travel outside the country for medical attention. 

She wrote:

How does it work when you are denied 110% access to your biological children, children that are below 10 years old, how does the justice system fail to recognize the rights of minors they claim to protect?

I have been denied access to my children by my estranged husband, yes, estranged, he is still my husband and I am still his wife.

The idea of holding onto my children, my personal property like clothes and the division of our assets is so that he can hold onto me.

He does not believe in his own claims and allegations, knowing the fabrication of it all is much closer to home than the eye can see.

14 months I have not seen my children that are aged 10, 9 and 7, neither have I spoken to them, he has been shuttling from one international hospital to another yet he has denied me the same opportunity, KARMA WILL LOCATE HIM.

When abuse of power and authority, and the use of heavily armed military personnel are used to fight one defenceless WIFE with no skill or defence training of some sort, you wonder if the C.I.C is agreeable to this, my human rights as a mother has been infringed upon, how can you have a justice system so careless to the extent of protecting a public officer to continue to commit a crime…

I cannot fight him, I can never win, he has tools which my mind can only process but bearing in mind that David had nothing… DANIEL 2 vs 1-30. I miss my children so much it hurts…

By A Correspondent- One person died on the spot when Chimanimani highway, known as the Skyline, collapsed as a vehicle was passing.

The collapse which happened just after Charter Bridge is being attributed to incessant rains

By A Correspondent- Zimbabwe’s ambassador to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Jerry Ndlovu has died.

The former general manager of the Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation (ZMDC) and former director of airports and business development at Civil Aviation Authority of Zimbabwe died on Saturday morning at a private hospital in Harare.

The Zimbabwean Embassy in Ankara, Turkey said in a statement via Twitter:

The Embassy wishes to announce the sad and untimely passing on of Zimbabwe`s Ambassador to the UAE, HE. J.N. Ndlovu. We commiserate with the Ndlovu family and the nation at large at this difficult time. May his soul rest in eternal peace.

Ambassador Ndlovu becomes the latest high-ranking Zimbabwean government official to succumb to the respiratory illness in 2021 following the deaths of cabinet ministers, Sibusiso Busi Moyo and Joel Biggie Matiza, as well as a minister for provincial affairs and devolution, Ellen Gwaradzimba.

By A Correspondent- Former Mutasa North Legislator Luke Masamvu (ZANU PF) has died.

He was 64.

Masamvu died in Harare last night after suffering from COVID-19 related complications.

Masamvu was also a well-known businessman in Marondera, Bindura and Manicaland.

In a statement via Facebook, Deputy Minister of Youth, Sport, Art and Recreation, Tinoda Machakaire expressed his sadness over the death of Masamvu.

He wrote:

I was really saddened to learn of the untimely passing on of the Former Hon MP for Hauna and Businessman CDE LP Masamvu.

I am praying for the family at this trying time. Losing a loved father is not easy at all. The wound never heals. My prayer for the family is that they find the strength to keep going.

May his soul rest in eternal peace.

COVID is deadly. Remember to #stayhome and #maskup

By A Correspondent- Zimbabwe had a negative trade balance of US$39 million in December 2020, the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency (Zimstat) has revealed.

In a statement on Friday, Zimstat said the total value of the country’s exports in December 2020 was US$488.3 million.

This was a 7.6% decrease from the value of total exports in November 2020, which was about US$528.4 million.

Zimstat said:

The value of total exports in December 2020 was US$488.3 million. This was a decrease of 7.6% from the value of total exports in November 2020, which was about US$528.4 million.

During the same period, imports increased slightly by 3.4% to US$527.2 million from US$509.8 million in November 2020.

While a positive trade balance was maintained for the four months in a row, at the end of 2019, the trade balance for December 2020 was a deficit of US$39 million

By A Correspondent- A motorist knocked down a police officer who was among a security team manning a security checkpoint in Harare recently and fled from the scene.

National police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi in a statement said that the incident occurred on Tuesday along Kirkman Road in Harare.

The suspect, who was driving a pink Honda Fit registration numbers ACU 0175, was pursued to Westlea where he dumped the vehicle and fled on foot.

Said Asst Insp Nyathi:

The ZRP is warning drivers against failing to stop at Police Check Points and failing to cooperate with Police Officers on the roads.

On 26/01/21, a motorist driving a pink Honda Fit registration numbers ACU 0175 approached a Police Roadblock along Kirkman Road, Harare and hit a Police Officer on the security checkpoint.

After the accident, the driver did not stop and was pursued up-to Westlea, where he dumped the motor vehicle and fled. Investigations are in progress.

In November last year, a policeman doing traffic enforcement duties near Fourth Street bus terminus died after he was run over by a truck.

The policeman was trying to arrest the driver for picking up a passenger at an undesignated place.

–Pindula

By A Correspondent- Chitungwiza Municipality was on Saturday expected to hold an emergency meeting to address flooding in some parts of the sprawling town caused by a torrential downpour on Friday.

Reports indicate that some commercial buildings and houses in areas such as Zengeza 4, Chikwanha, Units L, K and N were inundated with floodwater rising to window level.

The floods have left scores of residents stranded with public infrastructure extensively damaged.

A motorist reportedly escaped unhurt after his car was swept away while trying to cross the flooded Duri stream.

Nyatsime suburb was also cut off from as the bridge linking it to the rest of the town was submerged.

Chitungwiza Town Council spokesperson Lovemore Meya last night confirmed that an emergency was pencilled for this Saturday.

He said:

We called for a meeting to map a way forward following the damage caused by the heavy rains this afternoon and the meeting is scheduled for tomorrow (today).

When there are natural disasters like these, we call a meeting and map a way forward as well as deploy resources to address the situation.

Chitungwiza has been invaded by land barons who have taken advantage of desperate home-seekers and parcelled out housing stands on wetlands.

Over 11 000 houses that were built on illegally allocated land could be razed to the ground by the council.-statemedia

By A Correspondent- The police are investigating the murder of an illegal gold panner who was allegedly stabbed to death by his colleagues while sharing their proceeds.

Said the ZRP:

The ZRP is investigating a case of murder which occurred at Muzinda Shopping Centre, Hatcliffe, Harare, on 28/01/21 at about 1240 hrs.

The victim was struck by a brick and stabbed by a home-made knife on the back after a dispute over the sharing of proceeds from illegal mining escapades in Mazowe.

Meanwhile, a manhunt has been launched on the two suspects only known as Geshem Nyamhingura and Bobbie.

By A Correspondent- The Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) has expressed concern over an increase of cases of drowning across the country despite repeated warnings to members of the public against crossing flooded rivers.

This follows the drowning of a health worker at Chambara River in Mwenezi and the drowning of three boys in Gwayi River while on a fishing expedition on Wednesday.

In a statement, the ZRP said the health worker from Mwenezi and his colleague drowned after their vehicle, a Toyota Land Cruiser, was stuck in the mud at Chambara River.

The incident occurred on Thursday when the victim and his colleague remained in the vehicle overnight waiting for daybreak so that they could find a way to extricate their vehicle from the quag.

However, following heavy rains during the night, water levels rose whilst the two were stuck in the vehicle and upon trying to escape, the victim was swept away.

Tinashe Sambiri|MDC Alliance vice president Hon Tendai Biti has accused Mr Emmerson Mnangagwa of protecting corrupt individuals.

Hon Biti argued Mr Mnangagwa should not cry for the removal of sanctions while he is deeply reluctant to implement key reforms.

According to Hon Biti, Zanu PF bigwigs are the real sanctions that must be removed.

Hon Biti made the remarks in an interview with a daily publication.

Said Hon Biti:” Emmerson Mnangagwa and his cronies are not concerned about the welfare of the people of Zimbabwe.

Zanu PF is an impediment to economic growth.Zanu PF should not hide behind sanctions- they know what is causing the social and economic problems in the country.

Mr Emmerson Mnangagwa is protecting the archbishops of corruption and looting.How can we move forward as a nation?

Zanu PF is unique in terms of stealing State Resources.”

2nd Edition.

30 January 2021.

Last week, the MDC Alliance published its first Weekly Health Alert focusing on the Super Spreaders. This initiative will see the party through its Health Department led by Dr Henry Madzorera in conjunction with the Communications department dialoguing with you, fellow citizens on COVID-19 related issues. This week we are looking at the Lockdown, it’s extension and what needs to be done now. Together we will defeat COVID-19.

THE LOCKDOWN: WHERE TO NOW?

Following the comprehensive policy statement given by the People’s President, Advocate Nelson Chamisa on Thursday, we just want to re-emphasize the already dealt with issue of the lockdown, especially seeing that it has now been extended by a further two weeks at level 4.
On Saturday 02/01/21 the minister of health & childcare Rtd General Constantino Guveya Nyikadzino Chiwenga announced a strict lockdown and curfew for 30 days to curb the sudden upsurge in COVID-19 cases caused by the festive season’s inward migration of Zimbabweans, mainly from neighboring countries. In the week preceding the lockdown, the country had experienced 1342 new cases and 29 deaths. This was alarmingly high. Now, in spite of the lockdown, cumulative cases have increased from 14491 since January 2nd, 2021, to 32646 on Thursday the 28th of January 2021, an increase of 18155. In the same period, deaths have increased from 377 to 1160, an increase of 783, all in 26 days! This is the definition of a catastrophe.
In themselves, these numbers do not mean the lockdown is not working, but they do mean we have a few serious things that we must do and there are tough decisions that government must make to flatten this curve. Whatever measures the government shall take must consider the welfare of the people, and the health of both the formal and informal sectors of the economy. Government must be alive to the fact that emergencies such as we are in are fertile ground for thieves and rogue elements in both society and government to flourish.

What is the lockdown expected to achieve?
The idea of the lockdown is to arrest transmission of the virus from person to person. This is achieved by identifying those who have the virus through testing, screening and isolating them till they are no longer shedding the virus. Keeping the people in their homes means we are reducing the population at risk from any unidentified positive case. Provision of high quality, time sensitive healthcare services must be maintained during the lockdown, both for COVID-19 patients and for other routine infectious and chronic non-communicable diseases. The epidemic has had the unfortunate effect of neglect of all the other usual conditions, and more people could easily die of these routine conditions than of COVID-19 sooner than later. The lockdown is also expected to protect the elderly and those with other co-morbidities. Government must monitor and report on certain key indicators to determine if we are making progress. Percentage of population tested and proportion that is positive, together with total number of deaths are good measures of progress. We must have a way of measuring the “happiness index” of our people particularly regarding our health care delivery system during this pandemic.

HOW HAVE WE FARED SO FAR?

Testing and isolation has been our major deficiency in this pandemic. We don’t compare at all to our neighbors and the international community. This is the major intervention that will flatten our curve. We do hope the two week extension of level 4 lockdown will be accompanied by serious testing and isolation, particularly in the known hot spots, and that any future lockdowns will be targeted, not blanket lockdowns.
There have been absolutely no social safety nets for particular vulnerable groups like informal sector workers, the elderly and the poor. Ailing companies have not received any bailouts with consequent high levels of job losses. Super spreader events have been allowed to flourish. One notable super spreader is the crowded Zupco buses. Government must with immediate effect liberalise the transport system to reduce congestion in the buses. Monopolies of that nature create avenues of corruption for beaurocrats and politicians, and other rogue elements in society. Government has failed to establish COVID-19 treatment and admission facilities in most cities. People needing basic care are dying at home because of lack of such care, including simple oxygen supplementation. This is an urgent matter.

WAY FORWARD?

1. Make the best use of this two week extension. Intensify testing and isolation. Gather decent prevalence and incidence data and monitor progress scientifically. Consider targeted localized lockdowns in next phase, informed by data.
2. Set up free testing centres easily accessible to all citizens, in urban and rural areas.
3. Open up space for inclusive national dialogue and response.
4. Fulfill government’s promise and obligation to give food and sustenance to vulnerable populations .
5. Deal with corruption and recover all ill gotten wealth that belongs to the people.
6. Deal with all super spreaders, particularly Zupco buses and prisons. Give people their rights & freedoms, guarantee security of persons, and show goodwill to all humanity. We are ALL in the same cooking pot, and we need each other now more than ever.
7. Re-think government expenditure and divert funds to the fight against COVID-19.
8. Upgrade the health delivery system, including water and sanitation hygiene.
9. Kit up our frontline healthcare workers with adequate Personal Protective Equipment that instills confidence.
10. Urgently work on a vaccination policy and rollout plan. Inform citizens to instill hope.

Dr H Madzorera
Secretary for Health & Childwelfare, MDC-Alliance