The Zimbabwe Medical Association would like to inform the nation that the COVID-19 is upon us.

It
is imperative that we set aside political, ethnic and racial prejudices and collaborate to ensure that
we conquer this pandemic.

a) To the Government:
The profession applauds the efforts being exerted by government to ensure that the country
effectively tackles this pandemic.

However, more needs to be done to ensure no loss of lives
Availing of PPE: There is need for the government to immediately ensure that Personal
Protective clothing (PPE) is availed to all frontline personnel.

Availability of drugs: Experiences in other countries indicate that Chloroquine and Lopinavir
are essential drugs in the treatment of the disease. Government needs to ensure that these
drugs are availed to all designated COVID-19 care centres.

During this difficult period it
might be difficult to import these drugs. The profession calls on government to urgently
licence local manufacturers to produce these drugs for the local market (VARICHEM, CAPS ,
DATLABS need to be capacitated to enable them to produce these drugs locally)
There is also need to ensure that Oxygen is readily available at all designated care centres
Designated Care centres:

We recommend that either Parirenyatwa Hospital or Harare Hospital in Harare and either UBH or Mpilo Hospitals be designated COVOD-19 Care Centres.

It is our considered opinion that these centres need minimal refurbishment to ensure that
basic ICU equipment is functional. The other central hospitals to remain open for other
medical emergencies which are not COVID-19 related.

Make public places Safe: There is need for government to ensure that there is minimal
movement, non-essential public spaces closed and all borders sealed for visitors. There is
need for a minimum 14 day lockdown. This recommendation ought to be implemented
sooner rather than later.

Doctors are willing to help all provided appropriate Protective personnel Equipment is
availed and appropriate support i.e food , communication rest room etc..are provided as
they will also be quarantined once they get into contact with patients

b) To the Corporate World
Never before has corporate responsibility been need to safeguard humanity. Our
recommendation is the establishment of a Corporate Social Responsibility Committee with
ZiMA that will determine how and where to channel resources to clinically and appropriately
respond to the needs of COVID-19 patients and medical personnel.

We recommend considering a shut down and running on skeleton staff for essential
services.

Those that produce alcohol and ethanol products are urged to immediately mass produce
hand sanitizers for mass distribution in every suburb at cost recovery basis.

The pandemic offers opportunities for local corporates to produce goods to substitute
imports
c) To the private health funders and medical Aid societies
None of us has ever experienced such a pandemic.

We immediately call for health insurers
to urgently consider practice of tele-medicine.

We recommend that funders ensure adequate personnel to authorise procedures during
these trying times.

d) To health facilities
PRECAUTION, PRECAUTION, PRECAUTION
Rationalization of available equipment to COVID response Medical facilities e.g lending key
equipment such as ventilators, drip stands and oxygen tanks to designated COVID -19
facilities.
Put in place SOPs for COVID-19 risk assessment.

e) To health practitioners
Healthcare workers are encouraged to stay safe by ensuring that they assess risk factors
before treating patients or entering into facilities
Ensure that there is adequate PPE in both private practices
Continue to give routine care safely in order to preserve lives for those with pre-existing
conditions.

Protect yourselves and your immediate family members
The profession needs to work on case management protocols
There is need to mitigate further spread by stopping all elective cases and discharging non
critical patients.

f) To the general public
PRECAUTION, PRECAUTION, PRECAUTION: We urge the public to take COVID-19 threat
extremely seriously before it is too late.

Those with immuno-suppression, HIV, Cancer, Diabetes, Hypertension, Arthritis, who have
been using Ibuprofen, Cardio vascular conditions etc and those above the age of 50 are
advised to immediately go into self-isolation.
Mental health and health anxiety.

Get correct information from authentic sources
Avoid social media overload
Get therapy for worming mental disorders
Avoid unnecessary travel
Wash hands with soap under clean running water often
Avoid congregating as much as possible.

Stay at home until you need hospitalization.
DR. S.M. CHIRISA
ZIMA SECRETARY GENERAL

Farai Dziva|MDC deputy president Tendai Biti has urged Emmerson Mnangagwa’ s government to be frank with matters pertaining to Coronavirus.

“Zimbabwe is not ready for #COVID19 & when this point is made this is not politics .#Zororo s death was avoidable & statement released by the family is proof of criminal negligence. #Wilkins does not have #ventilators , it does not even have plugs . No other facility is ready,” tweeted Biti.

“The hospital does not even have water & clearly staff appear scared. The Gvt should mobilize international help particularly from #China. It must also come clean on number of infections & deaths. Vic Falls & Hwange appear to be in eye of the storm Disease requires leadership.

The next 7 days are critical for Zimbabwe to break momentum & avoid curve peaking . A lockdown for two weeks as called for by Advocate
@nelsonchamisa
was only way foward.

The country is going through a lot already without #COVID . Same was an opportunity of unity & leadership.”

MDC president Nelson Chamisa has blasted his nemesis, President Emmerson Mnangagwa for his lackadaisical approach at handling the coronavirus, saying he should consider locking down the country’s borders to avoid the spread of the deadly virus.

Chamisa also challenged Mnangagwa to go into self-isolation after his trip to Namibia last Friday to attend the inauguration of Namibian President Hage Geingob.

Botswana leader Mokgweetsi Masisi, has, after his Namibian trip, started a 14-day self-isolation which will include testing for COVID-19.

Masisi will work from home over the period that he will also be quarantined from his family.

Namibia has three confirmed cases and Botswana has no case, while Zimbabwe has two confirmed cases, one of which has resulted in the death of journalist Zororo Makamba.

In an interview yesterday, Chamisa’s spokesperson, Nkululeko Sibanda said the country should close all entry points before people die like flies, as the government is ill-equipped to fight COVID-19. He said Mnangagwa’s trip to Namibia was not necessary and the money used to fund it could have been used to improve the country’s ailing health facilities designated to handle COVID-19 cases.

“Over night, we had three cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Zimbabwe. Remember, that our ports of entry are still dangerously supervised,” Sibanda said.

“The other day, a bus at Beitbridge Border Post was allowed to cross the country at will, while a suspected case was quarantined. I am terrified at the lack of urgency by government.”

He expressed fear that the coronavirus would spread like veld fire at queues for fuel and Zupco buses.
“We need to lock up this country. Distance working is now essential. We have too many flash points,” he said.

“He (ED) must as a gesture of seriousness and as a precaution to protect our people and country, follow the steps taken by other leaders,” Sibanda said.

“It is really saddening that he travelled to Namibia when the country is facing such a terrible national crisis. There is virtually no equipment in hospitals designated to handle the COVID-19 pandemic.

We have less than 100 beds in the country (meant for coronavirus patients). We have about 30 or so in Harare, and a slightly lower number in Bulawayo,” he said.

“I believe that we should call these people to question. The money that they used to fly out to Namibia for something that is non-essential could have been put to better use.

The Namibians can inaugurate their own President under full understanding of the fact that the rest of the world is busy dealing with COVID-19.”

Zimbabwe is facing a grim prospect of failing to control the spread of COVID-19 after it emerged that the country’s health professionals were yet to receive the requisite training and protective clothing to handle the pandemic which has so far globally recorded over 15 000 deaths and 358 823 confirmed cases as of yesterday.
— NewsDay

Two schoolchildren were yesterday morning ran over by a car at a pick-up point in Harare.

National police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi confirmed the accident.

“I can confirm that two schoolchildren who reside in Rydale Ridge were hit and killed on the spot yesterday morning while waiting for transport to school.

“The sad thing about this accident is that the accused Given Tapiwa Makeredza (19) is a new driver who got his driving licence on 31 January, 2020. He had one passenger in his car.

“The deceased Mufudzi Nyadzayo (12), a Grade Seven pupil at Kuwadzana 8 Primary School and Samuel Magorimbo (11), a Grade Six pupil at Kuwadzana 6 Primary School were waiting for transport to school off the road. Their next of kin have been informed,” he said.

“The driver lost control of the car resulting in him hitting the children who suffered head and fractured legs and died on the spot. They were taken to Harare hospital where they were certified dead.”

Ass Comm Nyathi urged motorists to be responsible on the road, as they were bound to come across pedestrians and schoolchildren.

“This is a very sad scenario and we strongly urge motorists especially new drivers to be driving under the guidance of seasoned drivers, as they still have a lot to learn.

They do not have road exposure, no experience and full composure.
“They should not drive alone in crowded areas, residential areas and schools, as they are bound to encounter schoolchildren who also still need assistance,” he added.

The driver is being charged with culpable homicide.-State media

At least three civil servants have been tested for coronavirus after coming into contact with Zororo Makamba, who died from the disease on Monday.

Two aides of deputy cabinet secretary and presidential spokesman George Charamba – his driver and personal assistant – as well as the personal assistant of finance minister Mthuli Ncube have been placed on 21-day quarantine.

Makamba returned from New York on March 9, and eventually tested positive for coronavirus on March 20 leading to his hospitalisation.

Before he was admitted to the Wilkins Hospital in Harare, Makamba – who should have been on self-isolation as per government policy – met dozens of people, visited at least two bars, government offices and a gym.

The 30-year-old broadcaster was behind a series of online explainer videos reportedly commissioned by the information ministry, and paid for by the finance ministry.

Charamba on Tuesday said that Makamba had twice been to his office, but on both occasions he had been out. He had, however, come into contact with his personal assistant and driver during the visits.

“When we learnt of Zororo’s condition we called in the health people on Sunday and my two staff members were tested and ordered to self-isolate at home. The tests were negative, but we are not taking any chances and so they will be re-tested before they return to work at the end of the 21-day period,” Charamba said.

Makamba is also understood to have interacted with Ncube’s PA.

Charamba said while Ncube had considered self-isolating, he had been advised to attend Cabinet by President Emmerson Mnangagwa on Tuesday.

“I understand his PA has also tested negative, but I don’t have the full details on who met Zororo over there. I just heard the permanent secretary George Guvamatanga speaking about the matter to the ZBC. They have taken measures,” Charamba added.

For the first time ever, Cabinet met under a tent at State House on Tuesday – away from the Cabinet boardroom at Munhumutapa Building.

Charamba explained: “This is part of leadership compliance with social distancing in the fight against COVID-19. Members of Cabinet sat at least a meter apart in a well-ventilated venue, as recommended by health experts.

“Last night, the president urged businesses to creatively find ways of making their work stations compliant. Cabinet continues to show the way until the pandemic is defeated.”

Zimbabwe has only declared two positive coronavirus cases since the disease’s outbreak in China late last year. By 3PM on Tuesday, the coronavirus had killed 17,250 with 396,236 reported infections worldwide.

Zimbabwe today received a consignment of commodities to help strengthen and intensify surveillance on the coronavirus from the Jack Ma and Alibaba Foundation.

It also reported that the number of confirmed cases had risen to three.

The Ministry of Health said that the National Microbiology Reference Laboratory had tested 15 specimens, the majority of whom had been in contact with Zororo Makamba, and one male tested positive.

Makamba died yesterday after being admitted to Wilkins Hospital where he tested positive for the coronavirus.

He was buried today under supervision by the Ministry of Health.

The consignment Zimbabwe received included 20 000 laboratory diagnostic test kits, 100 000 medical face masks and 1 000 protective suits ad face shields.

The US Embassy has issued a statement informing US citizens in Zimbabwe who wish to go back home but are stuck due to the constant cancellation of flights that they are arranging repatriation flights to the US for them.

This development was posted on the US Embassy In Zimbabwe website and it reads:

In response to the increasingly limited commercial options for departing Zimbabwe due to the global impact of COVID-19, the U.S. Embassy is coordinating two flights with a commercial airline to depart Zimbabwe on March 27, 2020, with one flying to Chicago, Illinois and the other to Dulles, Virginia (near Washington DC).

A number of seats on these flights will be available to private U.S. citizens.

Actions to Take:

• If you are planning on returning to the United States but have been unable to obtain space on a commercial flight, please contact [email protected] with the names of your immediate family members who wish to travel. Please provide contact information including phone, what’s app, and e-mail, and to which city you would prefer to fly.
• On the evening of March 24, 2020, the Embassy will learn how many seats are available on the flights and will contact the corresponding number of U.S. citizens and their immediate families in the order they appear on the list.
• If you are contacted, you will have 24 hours to contact the airline and pay for your seats.
• The Embassy will continue this process of contacting those on the list until all seats are sold out.
• Ensure that your travel documents are valid. If you need to arrange an emergency passport or notarial service, please schedule an appointment.

Zimbabwe is considering giving land back to white commercial farmers effectively reversing a two-decade old controversial policy to reclaim land from the descendants of European settlers and others.

An estimated 4,000 farmers were evicted during a much-criticized Land Reform Program that was implemented in 2000 under late president Robert Mugabe who was removed from office in November 2017 after nearly 40 years in power.

After the harsh land grab, Zimbabwe’s economy nosedived with currency crises, bouts of hyperinflation and shortages of basic commodities causing much suffering for many Zimbabweans.

This year Zimbabwe’s government budgeted an additional of Z$380 million ($21 million) up top of a previously allocated $18 million for farmer compensation but the country, which is experiencing one of its worst economic downturns and a food shortage crisis, is struggling to pay the white commercial farmers.

As part of the compensation campaign the government is now proposing to offer land to about 200 farmers who were foreign nationals of countries that had ratified Bilateral Investment Protection Agreements with Zimbabwe.

The countries that are under this provision include Switzerland, Denmark, South Africa, Germany, the Netherlands and Britain.

But white Zimbabwean farmers are still in separate negotiations with the government. Former farmers are demanding up to $7 billion in compensation, according to previous reports.

“The object of these regulations is to provide for the disposal of land to persons entitled to compensation for acquisition of previously compulsorily acquired agricultural land,” said Lands minister Perrance Shiri in a government gazette published on Friday, last week.

Ben Purcel Gilpin, Commercial Farmers Union director, said the use of land as compensation would offer “some relief” to some of their farmers. “The government is currently seeking ways to deal with the compensation issue for all classes of affected farmers. We hope that progress will be made and a conducive investment environment is achieved where skilled farmers can produce effectively with secure and justifiable rights for the good of the whole nation,” he told Quartz Africa.

Around 300 white commercial farmers have been compensated since the acquisitions started, says Gilpin, and to date around 3,500 white commercial farmers are awaiting compensation.

The Ministry of Health and Child Care has confirmed that a third Coronavirus case has been confirmed in the country. According to a tweet by the Ministry of Information, the patient was infected by the late Zororo Makamba.

24/03/2020#COVID19ZIM UPDATE
Confirmed cases – 3
Gender- All male
Deceased – 1
Number of his contacs tested today – 19
Positives from those – 1 pic.twitter.com/3BrdLmCdRY

— Ministry of Information, Publicity & Broadcasting (@InfoMinZW) March 24, 2020

In light of the gravity of the COVID-19 outbreak, His Excellency the President has activated the Ad Hoc Inter-Ministerial Task Force in line with a decision made by Cabinet at its Seventh Meeting held on Tuesday, 17th March 2020.

Here is a full list of the members of the COVID-19 Taskforce:

1. Chairperson: Minister Of Health and Child Care Dr Obadiah Moyo
2. Deputy Chairperson: Local Government and Public Works Minister July Moyo.
3. Mthuli Ncube of Finance,
4. Oppah Muchinguri of Defence and War Veterans Affairs,
5. Sibusiso Moyo of Foreign Affairs,
6. Kazembe Kazembe of Home Affairs,
7. Cain Mathema of Primary and Secondary Education,
8. Biggie Matiza of Transport and Infrastructure Development,
9. Nqobizitha Mangaliso Ndlovu of Environment,
10. Monica Mutsvangwa of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services
11. Professor Amon Murwira of Higher and Tertiary Education.

The following terms of reference will guide the Task Force’s operations:

a) to monitor the situation and manage the response to the COVID-19 outbreak and identify any gaps for corrective action;

b) to raise the general awareness of the public on the pandemic;

c) to mobilise domestic and international financial resources to adequately respond to the outbreak;

d) to engage private sector associations that include captains of industry and business, religious leaders, local authorities Traditional Leaders, and Zimbabweans in the diaspora for support in the implementation of identified initiatives;

e) to rally all stakeholders towards the successful fight of the pandemic. These include among others, the Zimbabwe Medical Association, its affiliates and all stakeholders in the medical and health fields; and

f) to regularly update His Excellency the President, Cabinet, and the nation on the country’s state of preparedness and response to the COVID-19 outbreak.

As Chairman of the Task Force, Honourable O. Moyo is required to make use of the Civil Protection Unit which has the requisite geographical spread and representation for maximum, effective, collective response and action as displayed in the management of the Cyclone Idai Disaster.

The Task Force is already seized with the operationalisation of the National COVID-19 Response Strategy and will keep the Nation updated on the same.

Watch video downloading below:

Post Cabinet Briefing 24 March 2020 https://t.co/f0BYCknDrD

— Ministry of Information, Publicity & Broadcasting (@InfoMinZW) March 24, 2020

A Zimbabwean student at St. Andrews University in USA has died of coronavirus COVID-19, according to a family spokesperson, Takudzwa Mandaza.

Mandaza said his 19 year-old young sister, Mellisa Jackquiline, died yesterday.

He said the family is devastated by the death of Mellisa, whose mother lives in Michigan, USA.

Mandaza could not say when Mellisa will be laid to rest.

“Her dad passed on a while back and she was in Michigan with her mum and other siblings studying at St. Andrews University …She was asthmatic and she tested positive for the coronavirus and passed away yesterday in hospital,” said Mandaza.

He added that he will remember her cousin for her brilliance in her studies and her love for books as she was a bookworm like himself.

She is believed to be the second Zimbabwean to die of coronavirus COVID-19 following the death in Harare on Monday of Zororo Makamba, the son of former radio broadcaster and Telecel shareholder, James Makamba.

The Ministry of Health indicated that Zororo recently visited New York, which is recording high numbers of coronavirus COVID-19.

Before Zororo’s death, there were two people in Zimbabwe that tested positive for coronavirus.

The disease has killed thousands of people in China, Italy and other nations.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa has announced a raft of measures that include sealing off the country’s borders in an effort to control the spread of the infectious disease.-voa

Own Correspondent|Zimbabwean human rights defender and founder of Female Prisoners Support Trust Rita Nyampinga who was recently recognised as one of 12 International Woman of Courage (IWOC) Award winners for 2020 by the United States of America government has come out trailblazing at how the elite in Zimbabwe have been ignoring the decaying public health system until it was exposed when Zororo Makamba died of Coronavirus complications at Wilkins Hospital on Monday.

Commenting on facebook where pictures of the extremely dilapidated room at Wilkins Hospital where Zororo was admitted, Nyamupinga said that it was time the elite in the country understood the conditions that ordinary Zimbabweans are faced with everyday when they seek medical attention.

Below is the comment Nyamupinga posted:

“The problem is that the elite never thought Covid-19 was coming. Our health infrastructure is intact but the elite thought it’s only the poor who needed these services.

Yesterday the world curved in and exposed the elite to conditions the Zimbawean Majority are exposed to everyday.

We walk into those cold corridors with tears on our cheeks day in and day out. It’s a wake up call to all sundry that COVID-19 can humble you and be equal.

They have the money but God has the time where he wants to show you the reality of life. It’s our prayer that this shall come to pass.

Imagine the thousands who perished in 2008 Budiriro and Glen View cholera did the elite visit them in the makeshift tents. Such is life.

Zororo RIP and maybe your family will donate the ventilator to the hospital. MHDSRIEP.

Dr Nkululeko Sibanda the spokesperson of Nelson Chamisa the leader of the opposition MDC has said that the government must be held accountable over the money that was used for President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s trip to Namibia.

President Mnangagwa travelled to Namibia for the inauguration of Namibia President, Hage Geingob on Saturday, 21 March 2020. Sibanda said:

“He (ED) must as a gesture of seriousness and as a precaution to protect our people and country, follow the steps taken by other leaders,” Sibanda said.

“It is really saddening that he travelled to Namibia when the country is facing such a terrible national crisis. There is virtually no equipment in hospitals designated to handle the COVID-19 pandemic.

We have less than 100 beds in the country (meant for coronavirus patients). We have about 30 or so in Harare, and a slightly lower number in Bulawayo,” he said.

Sibanda added that Mnangagwa should not have gone there and the people of Namibia could have understood the situation.

“I believe that we should call these people to question. The money that they used to fly out to Namibia for something that is non-essential could have been put to better use. The Namibians can inaugurate their own President under full understanding of the fact that the rest of the world is busy dealing with COVID-19.”

Post Cabinet Briefing 24 March 2020 https://t.co/f0BYCknDrD

— Ministry of Information, Publicity & Broadcasting (@InfoMinZW) March 24, 2020

Reports just received indicate that President Emmerson Mnangagwa has vacated his Munhumutapa government offices in central Harare which were visited by Coronavirus victim the late Zororo Makamba a few days before his death.

Presidential spokesperson, George Charamba confirmed that Mnangagwa has been working from the state house since Monday as a precautionary measure.

Makamba was admitted to Wilkins Infectious Diseases Hospital last Friday where he was confirmed dead Monday from the coronavirus.

“I must confirm that the late Zororo Makamba paid a visit to both the Ministry of Finance and also the Office of the President and Cabinet (OPC),” said Charamba.

He said at the OPC offices, Makamba met three staff members who have since been placed under the mandatory 21-day quarantine.

“In the course of his meeting, he came in contact with three staff members from our office. Those people have since been placed under 21-day quarantine apart from the measures that the medical team has recommended. On Sunday our offices were fumigated ensuring that there is decontamination,” said Charamba.

Own Correspondent|Cambridge International has cancelled its examinations in May and June.

This includes Cambridge IGCSE, Cambridge O Level, Cambridge International AS & A Level, Cambridge AICE Diploma and Cambridge Pre-U, it said in a statement on its website.

“In recent days, many more countries have decided to extend school closures into May and June, making it impossible for many of our schools to hold examinations, ” it said on Monday.

Cambridge International also said that it will be providing regular updates for schools beginning Thursday (March 26).

At the same time, International Baccalaureate examinations for the May 2020 session have also been cancelled.

The organisation announced that the decision to cancel the exams was based on considerable advice from stakeholders across the globe, including schools, students, universities and official bodies.

“The May 2020 examinations will no longer be held, as we believe it to be the most responsible and ethical way forward.

It added that International Baccalaureate students, their wellbeing and progression in future stages of life have been at the forefront of its thinking, as it responds to the Covid-19 pandemic.

“As an organisation, it is critical for the International Baccalaureate to ensure that the options it provides its global community of International Baccalaureate World Schools are based on compassion and fairness for the difficult circumstances that its students and educators are experiencing, ” it said.

The Zimbabwe Medical association {ZIMA) has released the following statement urging the government to capacitate local pharmaceutical manufacturers and avail professional protective clothing for the COVID-19 frontline personnel.

Below is ZIMA’s full statement:

Preamble
The Zimbabwe Medical Association would like to inform the nation that the COVID-19 is upon us. It is imperative that we set aside political, ethnic and racial prejudices and collaborate to ensure that we conquer this pandemic.
a) To the Government:
The profession applauds the efforts being exerted by government to ensure that the country effectively tackles this pandemic. However, more needs to be done to ensure no loss of lives
Availing of PPE: There is need for the government to immediately ensure that Personal Protective clothing (PPE) is availed to all frontline personnel.

Availability of drugs: Experiences in other countries indicate that Chloroquine and Lopinavir are essential drugs in the treatment of the disease. Government needs to ensure that these drugs are availed to all designated COVID-19 care centres. During this difficult period it
might be difficult to import these drugs. The profession calls on government to urgently licence local manufacturers to produce these drugs for the local market (VARICHEM, CAPS , DATLABS need to be capacitated to enable them to produce these drugs locally)

There is also need to ensure that Oxygen is readily available at all designated care centres
Designated Care centres: We recommend that either Parirenyatwa Hospital or Harare Hospital in Harare and either UBH or Mpilo Hospitals be designated COVOD-19 Care Centres.

It is our considered opinion that these centres need minimal refurbishment to ensure that basic ICU equipment is functional. The other central hospitals to remain open for other medical emergencies which are not COVID-19 related.

Make public places Safe: There is need for government to ensure that there is minimal movement, non-essential public spaces closed and all borders sealed for visitors. There is need for a minimum 14 day lockdown. This recommendation ought to be implemented sooner rather than later.

Doctors are willing to help all provided appropriate Protective personnel Equipment is availed and appropriate support i.e food , communication rest room etc..are provided as they will also be quarantined once they get into contact with patients

b) To the Corporate World
Never before has corporate responsibility been need to safeguard humanity. Our
recommendation is the establishment of a Corporate Social Responsibility Committee with ZiMA that will determine how and where to channel resources to clinically and appropriately respond to the needs of COVID-19 patients and medical personnel.

We recommend considering a shut down and running on skeleton staff for essential
services. Those that produce alcohol and ethanol products are urged to immediately mass produce
hand sanitizers for mass distribution in every suburb at cost recovery basis.
The pandemic offers opportunities for local corporates to produce goods to substitute
imports

c) To the private health funders and medical Aid societies
None of us has ever experienced such a pandemic. We immediately call for health insurers
to urgently consider practice of tele-medicine.
We recommend that funders ensure adequate personnel to authorise procedures during
these trying times.

d) To health facilities
PRECAUTION, PRECAUTION, PRECAUTION
Rationalization of available equipment to COVID response Medical facilities e.g lending key
equipment such as ventilators, drip stands and oxygen tanks to designated COVID -19
facilities.
Put in place SOPs for COVID-19 risk assessment.

e) To health practitioners
Healthcare workers are encouraged to stay safe by ensuring that they assess risk factors
before treating patients or entering into facilities

• Ensure that there is adequate PPE in both private practices
• Continue to give routine care safely in order to preserve lives for those with pre-existing
  conditions.
• Protect yourselves and your immediate family members

The profession needs to work on case management protocols
There is need to mitigate further spread by stopping all elective cases and discharging non
critical patients.

f) To the general public
PRECAUTION, PRECAUTION, PRECAUTION: We urge the public to take COVID-19 threat
extremely seriously before it is too late.
Those with immuno-suppression, HIV, Cancer, Diabetes, Hypertension, Arthritis, who have
been using Ibuprofen, Cardio vascular conditions etc and those above the age of 50 are
advised to immediately go into self-isolation.
Mental health and health anxiety

•  Get correct information from authentic sources
•  Avoid social media overload
• Get therapy for worming mental disorders
• Avoid unnecessary travel
• Wash hands with soap under clean running water often
• Avoid congregating as much as possible.
• Stay at home until you need hospitalization.

DR. S.M. CHIRISA
ZIMA SECRETARY GENERAL

Own Correspondent|After all the noise by Health Minister Obadiah Moyo that Zimbabwe was ready to deal with the Coronavirus, the country has dismally failed on the first test which saw popular broadcaster Zororo Makamba being the country’s first victim of the virus.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa himself was dragged into the issue but could not offer any assistance at all.

If someone of a stable financial background like Zororo from the Makamba family could not be helped what will happen to the ordinary Zimbabwean who will be affected by the virus do?

Below is a full statement made by the late Zororo Makamba’s family after he became the first Zimbabwean to succumb to coronavirus at Wilkins Hospital in Harare Monday.

Zororo was the son of business mogul and Zanu PF politician James Makamba. Family spokesperson Tawanda Makamba, elder brother to Zororo, produced the statement.

Zororo was in New York for 20 days and when he came back he had a slight flue, a cold. He then went to his general practitioner and they checked him for coronavirus symptoms and they said he didn’t have them at the time.

He was just told that he had a cough and a flue because in New York it’s cold and here it’s hot, so they then treated him for flue and he came back home.

On Friday last week he started developing a fever and his doctor recommended that he had to be admitted. This is because Zororo had a tumour removed from just under his left lung last year in November and he was under an 18-month recovery time-frame.

His immune system was already compromised, so the doctor was very keen that he gets into the hospital and receives proper medication to help him get over the flue and fever.

He was further advised to go to Wilkins Hospital to test for the coronavirus. He arrived at Wilkins Hospital by 10 am and samples were collected from him and we were told that the results would be in after 6 hours.

After 6 hours there were no results and his general practitioner called to find out why the results had not been availed yet. The hospitals officials then told the GPA that they had not run the tests yet they were waiting for samples from provincial hospitals to run them all at once.

The doctor got frustrated and started questioning why they had not run the tests given that Zororo’s condition was deteriorating. After some time they then decided to run the test and in the meantime we took him home and he needed oxygen.

His GPA phoned around and an ambulance came home to deliver the oxygen and then we got the positive results for coronavirus at about 1:30 or 2:00am the following day.

They told us that now that they had confirmed that he had the virus he had to be taken to the Wilkins Hospital for treatment.

We then inquired if we could him bring immediately and we were told that the hospital was not ready to receive coronavirus patients.

So in the morning we waited and waited and they were still not ready to admit him. He ended up being admitted around 10am and 11am.

His doctor made it clear earlier on that he had to be on a ventilator because he could not breathe. However, when we got at Wilkins Hospital there was no ventilator, no medication and even the oxygen would run out and they had to get it from the City of Harare.

After that we ran around to find a ventilator for him and we managed to get a portable ventilator from a family friend who had a relative who used the ventilator before he died.

In terms of medicine you need to breathe, they didn’t have it there, we had to go and buy it in South Africa. We ended up finding some today (yesterday) just as he was passing away at a local pharmacy, yet the hospital was telling us it was not locally available.

We then brought the ventilator on Sunday by 2pm and when we got here, because the portable ventilator had an American plug, they told us to get an adapter because they only had round sockets at the hospital. I then rushed to buy an adapter and came back and they never used it and when I asked why they were not using the ventilator they said they had no sockets in his room.

So they didn’t have medication, ventilators and we brought them a ventilator and they didn’t have sockets in his room. I told them that I had an extension cord and pleaded with them to use the cord, but they refused.

They forced us to come here, but failed to deliver on their promise. When Zororo had his operation, he had it at Health Point Clinic. I contacted the people at Health Point and asked if they were willing to take Zororo in and they said yes and that they had already set up a facility to accommodate him.

We then appealed to Health minister Obadiah Moyo that since you are not prepared at Wilkins Hospital can we take him to Health Point and he refused.

Minister Moyo said we could not take him there and that needed to be treated at Wilkins. We were puzzled and wondered how he could say that Zororo should be treated at Wilkins when they don’t even have plugs in his room to connect the ventilator.

He promised us all sorts of things that this morning (yesterday) they would definitely be a ventilator and equipment but nothing materialised. If you go inside there you will see that they are not prepared to handle cases this side.

The minister at some point also suggested that we could take him to a trauma centre in Borrowdale. When it was now time for us to go to Borrowdale trauma they refused us to go there.

Instead they got the owner of Borrowdale Trauma Centre to call me and he told me that he could come and set up an ICU at Wilkins for Zororo complete with a ventilator and monitors, but he said that we had to pay US$120 000 for the equipment.

He added that once Zororo finishes using the equipment and recovers we had to donate the equipment to Wilkins Hospital. So basically the hospital wanted us to buy the equipment for them. We don’t have US$120 000 and it is not our responsibility to buy equipment for the government.

On top of that, remember this is a critical patient, nurses would only visit him after two hours because they were afraid of handling his situation. We had to phone from home, calling the nurse station to tell them that Zororo was in distress and that his oxygen was finished because they were not going to check on him.

It even got to a point where they were telling us that we are bothering them but Zororo was struggling in there.
My mother and his fiancé have been parked out here for the past two days and they wouldn’t allow us to come in.

The minister lied to us on many occasions. He lied to us that they were going to bring equipment and doctors but nothing ever materialised.

We reached out to President Emmerson Mnangagwa and First Lady Auxilia Mnangagwa who promised us that Zororo could be transferred to Beatrice and that there was a room for him. Nothing came out of this.

We even appealed to them saying that if they have failed then they should allow us to take him home and treat him ourselves because really what he needed was oxygen.

At the end before he died, he kept telling us that he was alone and scared and the staff was refusing to help him to a point where he got up and tried to walk out and they were trying to restrain him.
So this is how my younger brother ended up dying. I want people to know that the government is lying.

Remember at some point I spoke to the president and he was saying that the report he received about Wilkins from the Health minister is that there is equipment and medicine.

However, right now they don’t even have water at Wilkins. So if you come here to be treated for corona there is absolutely no treatment you will get, you will die.

I am not a healthcare giver but I have respect for nurses and doctors. The doctor we were in contact with here at Wilkins would turn off his phone yet he was the critical contact person, the nurses also refused to help us.

So people need to know that the government is ill-prepared, it is not ready to deal with this virus. Right now we have been outside since 12pm and they have not given us his body, neither have they told us the way forward.

Zororo passed away between 11am and 12pm today (Monday) and the hospital called us to come and look at his body. When we got there, we were, however, told that they had already put his body in a body bag and taken it to the mortuary.

Until now at 5pm we have been waiting for further communication and they have not even given us any of his belongings.

This is such a heart-breaking experience for us and it goes to show the lack of seriousness our government has in dealing with the coronavirus.

Herewith some random thoughts on how to fight the #coronavirus in Zimbabwe forwarded by a retired civil servant! pic.twitter.com/nQuvMXCXG8

— Prof Jonathan Moyo (@ProfJNMoyo) March 24, 2020

By Own Correspondent| Popular traditional healer, Sekuru Banda has called on government to consider indigenous knowledge systems as part of national efforts to combat the spread of the deadly coronavirus.

Zimbabwe is currently battling to contain the outbreak which has so far claimed its first victim in prominent presenter Zororo Makamba.

As part of efforts to contain the disease, President Emmerson Mnangagwa announced a number of measures including the closure of borders, public spaces such as beerhalls, gymnasiums and sports facilities and banning public gatherings of more than 50 people among others.

Speaking at the indigenous knowledge management conference held in Harare yesterday, Sekuru Banda emphasised on the need to work together to create knowledge base around coronavirus.

“If we work together and create a knowledge base around these issues, we can go a long way in fighting this pandemic and others to come. It is my mandate as a traditional healer to sensitise and inspire others to join in the fight against viral pandemics that threaten our being and becoming as humanity. Thus it is fundamental to embrace indigenous knowledge systems in fighting pandemics,” Sekuru Banda added.

Sekuru Banda said it has been scientifically proven that the disease originated from animals before it moved to humans.

“It is widely believed that the disease originated from Wuhan province of China where they have wet markets. In this province, Chinese stock animals from different parts of the world. These animals would have been illegally imported. From statistics, China was operating 28 000 wet markets across the country.

“The conditions in these wet markets are squalid for animal habitation. The firs SARS virus of 2003 originated from these wet markets and so did this coronavirus. Animal rights advocates refer to coronavirus as the pangolin’s revenge,” Sekuru Banda said. 

The pangolin is the most widely, illegally trafficked wild animal. According to Ukrainian philosopher, Slavojzizek, the 2003 SARS virus can be traced to the Chinese wet markets.

Sekuru Banda said if an animal is kept under captivity, its immune system deteriorates; thereby creating a breeding ground for different viruses to thrive within its body.

He cited the fact that wild bats ended up infecting pangolins in the Chinese wet markets hence the birth of coronavirus.

“What was meant for the jungle must remain in the jungle. Coronavirus has given us an important lesson that we should be responsible in our pursuit of profits. The bundling of different species in one area is not only a Chinese problem. It is regrettable that here in Africa people co-habit with wild animals.

“In Zimbabwe other people keep broilers, qualia birds, rabbits or guinea fowl in their houses, In the process, they end up acquiring severe respiratory diseases from these animals. That’s why we have experienced bird and swine flu,” Sekuru Banda said. 

He said the failure to respect the law of nature is a problem that they as traditional leaders have observed.

“As traditional healers, we urge relevant authorities to take appropriate measures to curb such illicit activities. There is need to sensitise people on the root causes of coronavirus so that as a society we debunk conspiracy theories and take responsibility for the problems haunting us.” 

We publish below pictures taken at Charge Office bus terminus in Harare a few hours before President Emmerson Mnangagwa announced new measures to curb coronavirus on Monday 23 2020.

Pictures- Settings at Charge Office terminus in Harare hours before President Emmerson Mnangagwa announced a raft of new measures to curb the spread of #CoronavirusInZimbabwe pic.twitter.com/V5Qi7krY4b

— ZimEye (@ZimEye) March 24, 2020

By Jane Mlambo| The late Zororo Makamba shared pictures of his hospital bed which exposes Wilkins Hospital government lies that it is prepared to deal with coronavirus.

He shared the images below, telling relatives that the hospital did not have water forcing him to rely on bucket toilet to relieve himself.

The family has come out guns blazing against government for being poorly prepared to deal with the pandemic which has so far claimed over 15 000 worldwide.

Below are the pictures….

Madam Speaker Ma’am, Robert Mugabe Airport had 6 750 travelers who went through it and 103 of those travelers are under surveillance.  Victoria Falls had 1 120 and out those 54 were under surveillance.  

In Victoria Falls Road, 291 travelers went through and two of those are under surveillance. Joshua Nqabuko Nkomo 957 and 182 are under surveillance. Then Beitbridge, we had 128 and 31 are under surveillance. Plumtree 151 and six are under surveillance.

On the 13^th March, the National Micro-Biology Laboratory tested 14 suspected cases for COVID -19 and all of them were negative. Their samples were also tested at the WHO regional laboratory in South Africa and they came out as negative.

The global picture, there were 153 517 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 5 735 deaths which is a 3,7% case fatality rate and this is reported from 144 countries. Europe has become the epicentre of the pandemic with more reported cases and deaths than the rest of the world apart from China.

To date, 26 African countries have reported confirmed cases of COVID-19 with four of those countries being SADC Member States, South Africa, Eswathini, Namibia and DRC. Of these, South Africa has reported local spread of COVID-19. The other SADC States have reported imported cases which have largely been imported from Europe.

The country situation, the National Response Mechanism for Surveillance and Early Detection of any possible cases was activated and will remain activated until after the WHO has removed the global health alert. Ministry of Health and Child Care has developed and is implementing the National COVID-19 Preparedness and Response Plan guided by the eight pillars of WHO Strategic Preparedness and Response Plan.

The budget to meet the plan has since been revised to US$25 million from US$5,2 million. The plan will be used to resource, mobilise from Government, international and development partners. The launch of this plan by His Excellency has been scheduled for tomorrow at 8.30 am at State House.

With South Africa reporting local transmission, preparedness measures have been stepped up through intensifying surveillance at national, provincial and district level with special focus on mandatory screening at all our ports of entry throughout the country. Some of the measures include the updating of the response plan providing daily written updates from the borders and also from the Permanent Secretary’s office.

All hospitals have been put on high alert. SOPs have been prepared and we are ready with all those for self-isolation, surveillance, rapid response teams and so on. The scaling up of the risk communication and community engaged through the electronic and print media has also been scaled up and printed materials to be circulated to all rural areas. Training of all health workers with technical support from WHO is being carried out. Work is in progress to strengthen the capacity of identifying more isolation centres besides Wilkins and Thorngrove hospitals.

Last week, we met with the Global Fund Executive Director to discuss funding for the Covid-19 preparedness and response activities. The Global Fund has committed 5% of the US$500 million from the Global Fund grant to Zimbabwe. This works out to US$25 million.

We are also grateful to the UK Ambassador who called in to have a meeting with us. Mrs Melanie Robinson and the United Kingdom has committed additional support to our Government to a total of £1,7 million. The World Health Organisation has also provided technical support to the Ministry’s Preparedness and Response Plan.

We have also had support from China and they have successfully been able to give us money for the renovations of our Wilkins Hospital and they will be moving to Thorngrove Hospital as well.

Confirmatory tests kits have also been procured and we have also received donations of the same from the WHO, Africa CDC, United Kingdom Government and the Chinese Government. Rapid diagnostic test kits have also been procured.

The training of doctors, nurses, laboratory scientists and environmental health officers continues. This also includes the uniformed forces. Identification of additional potential isolation facilities and additional isolation wings to the existing public health institutions is in progress.

Treasury support for strengthening and intensifying surveillance; Treasury has released RTG$20 million. Additionally, Treasury has released a provision of US$250 thousand. This has been set aside …

Part of the preparedness is identification of a company to assist in border control and contact tracing. I was so happy to hear that Parliament is adjourning because definitely like the Hon. Member has indicated, this room is a disastrous area where we can have an easy spread of the virus in seconds…. 

Risk allowances for personnel working at isolation facilities is also being organised; modification of the quarantine and isolation facilities; personal protective equipment including disease control suits and laboratory supplies is what this money from Treasury is going to be used for.

It must be emphasised however, that there is a huge demand and competition for personal protective equipment. All the countries are fighting for this small number of equipment which is available but we continue to explore ways of expediting these and engage local industry to explore possibilities of local production of some of the personal protective equipment including masks, gowns and hand sanitisers.

Cabinet also with immediate effect adopted the following;

1.    Implementation of the social distancing measures, for example suspension of mass gatherings as the Independence Day Celebration and ZITF which were scheduled for Bulawayo. 

2.    Immediate suspension of all gatherings of more than 100 people including church gatherings, weddings, burial ceremonies for a period of 60 days.

3.    Travelers from high risk countries with widespread on going local transmission to be strongly discouraged from travelling to Zimbabwe for the next period of 30 days starting tomorrow.

4.    All airlines to be advised of the restrictions.

5.    Discouraging Zimbabweans from traveling to and through high risk affected countries.

6.    Item surveillance including Covid-19 testing of people arriving from high risk countries.

7.    Non-essential travel to be discouraged by all sectors and individuals.

8.    Continue to institute precautionary measures of personal hygiene like frequent hand washing with soap followed by use of an alcohol base sanitiser. 

9.    Avoidance of unnecessary hand shaking or unnecessary physical contact with others.

10.                       Ensure hygiene standards are maintained at high levels by shopping centres, public offices and buildings including Parliament.

The declaration of the pandemic was done by His Excellency as a national disaster.  We are also looking at the launching of the plan itself which I said will be held tomorrow.  The plan includes the eight pillars as stated by the World Health Organisation and includes coordination; planning and monitoring; risk communication and community engagement; surveillance, rapid response and case investigation; the points of entry; the national laboratory; infection prevention; control case management; operational support and logistics.

Madam Speaker, this is my report, my update for today.  I thank you.

We publish below the statement by the family of the late 30 year old journalist and son to businessman James who became the first prominent person to succumb to coronavirus, Zororo Makamba.

Below is the full Makamba family statement made to the Daily News on the death of businessman James Makamba’s son, Zororo, who was a broadcaster.

In the report, Health Minister Obadiah Moyo allegedly demanded $120,000 upfront which the family did not have. This led to his untimely death. Efforts to get a comment from the minister at the time of writing were fruitless as his phone was not answered.

His elder brother Tawanda Makamba said:

Zororo was in New York for 20 days and when he came back he had a slight flue, a cold. He then went to his general practitioner and they checked him for coronavirus symptoms and they said he didn’t have them at the time.

He was just told that he had a cough and flu because in New York it’s cold and here it’s hot, so they then treated him for flue and he came back home.

On Friday last week, he started developing a fever and his doctor recommended that he had to be admitted. This is because Zororo had a tumour removed from just under his left lung last year in November and he was under an 18-month recovery time-frame.

His immune system was already compromised, so the doctor was very keen that he gets into the hospital and receives proper medication to help him get over the flu and fever.

He was further advised to go to Wilkins Hospital to test for the coronavirus. He arrived at Wilkins Hospital by 10 am and samples were collected from him and we were told that the results would be in after 6 hours.

After 6 hours there were no results and his general practitioner called to find out why the results had not been availed yet. The hospitals’ officials then told the GPA that they had not run the tests yet they were waiting for samples from provincial hospitals to run them all at once.

The doctor got frustrated and started questioning why they had not run the test given that Zororos’ condition was deteriorating after some time did they decided to run the tests and in the meantime, we took him home and he needed oxygen.

His GPA phoned around and an ambulance came home to deliver the oxygen and then we got the positive results for coronavirus at about 1:30 or 2 a.m. the following day.

They told us that they had confirmed that he had the virus he had to be taken to the Wilkins Hospital for treatment.

We then inquired if we could bring him immediately and we were told that the hospital was not ready to admit him. He ended up being admitted around 10 a.m. and 11 a.m.

His doctor made it clear earlier on that he had to be on a ventilator because he could not breathe.

However, when we got at Wilkins Hospital there was no ventilator, no medication and even the oxygen would run out and they had to get it from the City of Harare.

After that, we ran around to find a ventilator for him and we managed to get a portable ventilator from a family friend who had a relative who used the ventilator before he died.

In terms of medicine you need to breathe, they didn’t have it there, we had to go and buy it in South Africa.! We ended up finding some today (yesterday)just as he was passing away at a local pharmacy, yet the hospital was telling us it was not locally available.

We then brought the ventilator on Sunday by 2 pm and when we got here because the portable ventilator had an American plug, they told us to get an adapter because they only had round sockets at the hospital.

I then rushed to buy an adapter and came back and they never used it and when I asked why they were not using the ventilator they said they had no sockets in his room. So they didn’t have medication, ventilators and we brought them a ventilator and they didn’t have sockets in his room. I told them that I had an extension cord and pleaded with them to use the cord, but they refused.

They forced us to come here but failed to deliver on their promise. When Zororo had his operation, he had it at Health Point Clinic. I contacted the people at Health Point and asked if they were willing to take Zororo in and they said yes and that they had already set up a facility to accommodate him.

We then appealed to Health minister Obadiah Moyo that since you are not prepared at Wilkins Hospital can we take him to Health Point and he refused.

Minister Moyo said we could not take him there and that needed to be treated at Wilkins. We were puzzled and wondered how he could say that Zororo should be treated at Wilkins when they don’t even have plugs in his room to connect the ventilator.

He promised us all sorts of things that this morning (yesterday) they would definitely be a ventilator and equipment but nothing materialised. If you go inside there you will see that they are not prepared to handle cases this side.

The minister at some point also suggested that we could take him to a trauma centre in Borrowdale. When it was now time for us to go to Borrowdale trauma they refused us to go there.

Instead, they got the owner of Borrowdale Trauma Centre to call me and he told me that he could come and set up an ICU at Wilkins for Zororo complete with a ventilator and monitors, but he said that we had to pay US$120 000 for the equipment.

He added that once Zororo finishes using the equipment and recovers we had to donate the equipment to Wilkins Hospital. So basically the hospital wanted us to buy the equipment for them. We don’t have US$120 000 and it is not our responsibility to buy equipment for the government.

On top of that, remember this is a critical patient, nurses would only visit him after two hours because they were afraid of handling his situation.

We had to phone from home, calling the nurse station to tell them that Zororo was in distress and that his oxygen was finished because they were not going to check on him.

It even got to a point where they were telling us that we are bothering them but Zororo was struggling.

On top of that, remember this is a critical patient, nurses would only visit him after two hours because they were afraid of handling his situation.

We had to phone from home, calling the nurse station to tell them that Zororo was in distress and that his oxygen was finished because they were not going to check on him.

It even got to a point where they were telling us that we are bothering them but Zororo was struggling in there. My mother and his fiancé have been parked out here for the past two days and they wouldn’t allow us to come in.

The minister lied to us on many occasions. He lied to us that they were going to bring equipment and doctors but nothing ever materialised.

We reached out to President Emmerson Mnangagwa and First Lady Auxilia Mnangagwa who transferred to Beatrice and that there was a room for him. Nothing came out of this.

We even appealed to them saying that if they have failed then they should allow us to take him home and treat him ourselves because really what he needed was oxygen.

At the end, before he died, he kept telling us that he was alone and scared and the staff was refusing to help him to a point where he got up and tried to walk out and they were trying to restrain him.

So this is how my younger brother ended up dying. I want people to know that the government is lying.

Remember at some point I spoke to the president and he was saying that the report he received about Wilkins from the Health Minister is that there is equipment and medicine.

However, right now they don’t even have water at Wilkins. So if you come here to be treated for corona there is absolutely no treatment you will get, you will die.

Tam not a healthcare giver but I have respect for nurses and doctors. The doctor we were in contact with here at Wilkins would turn off his phone yet he was the critical contact person, the nurses also refused to help us.

So people need to know that the government is ill-prepared, it is not ready to deal with this virus.

Right now we have been outside since 12pm and they have not given us his body, neither have they told us the way forward
.
Zororo passed away between 11am and 12pm today (yesterday) and the hospital called us to come and look at his body.

When we got there, we were, however, told that they had already put his body in a body bag and taken it to the mortuary.

Until now at 5pm we have been waiting for further communication and they have not even given us any of his belongings.

This is such a heart-breaking experience for us and it goes to show the lack of seriousness our government has in dealing with the coronavirus.

Zororo Makamba, the second confirmed case of coronavirus in the country has been buried, a day after he passed on at Wilkins Hospital.

Details of his burial are still scarce but it was in line with procedures recommended for persons who succumb to coronavirus.

Makamba who arrived in the country from New York where he had spent 20 days, he tested negative and went about his normal business including meeting top government officials, friends at local pubs and BancABC where he had a meeting with four staffers.

Opposition party MDC calls for everyone’s effort in fighting Coronavirus:watch video below :

Below is the full Makamba family statement made to the Daily News on the death of businessman James Makamba’s son, Zororo, who was a broadcaster.

In the report, Health Minister Obadiah Moyo allegedly demanded $120,000 upfront which the family did not have. This led to his untimely death. Efforts to get a comment from the minister at the time of writing were fruitless as his phone was not answered.

His elder brother Tawanda Makamba said:

Zororo was in New York for 20 days and when he came back he had a slight flue, a cold. He then went to his general practitioner and they checked him for coronavirus symptoms and they said he didn’t have them at the time.

He was just told that he had a cough and flu because in New York it’s cold and here it’s hot, so they then treated him for flue and he came back home.

On Friday last week, he started developing a fever and his doctor recommended that he had to be admitted. This is because Zororo had a tumour removed from just under his left lung last year in November and he was under an 18-month recovery time-frame.

His immune system was already compromised, so the doctor was very keen that he gets into the hospital and receives proper medication to help him get over the flu and fever.

He was further advised to go to Wilkins Hospital to test for the coronavirus. He arrived at Wilkins Hospital by 10 am and samples were collected from him and we were told that the results would be in after 6 hours.

After 6 hours there were no results and his general practitioner called to find out why the results had not been availed yet. The hospitals’ officials then told the GPA that they had not run the tests yet they were waiting for samples from provincial hospitals to run them all at once.

The doctor got frustrated and started questioning why they had not run the test given that Zororos’ condition was deteriorating after some time did they decided to run the tests and in the meantime, we took him home and he needed oxygen.

His GPA phoned around and an ambulance came home to deliver the oxygen and then we got the positive results for coronavirus at about 1:30 or 2 a.m. the following day.

They told us that they had confirmed that he had the virus he had to be taken to the Wilkins Hospital for treatment.

We then inquired if we could bring him immediately and we were told that the hospital was not ready to admit him. He ended up being admitted around 10 a.m. and 11 a.m.

His doctor made it clear earlier on that he had to be on a ventilator because he could not breathe.

However, when we got at Wilkins Hospital there was no ventilator, no medication and even the oxygen would run out and they had to get it from the City of Harare.

After that, we ran around to find a ventilator for him and we managed to get a portable ventilator from a family friend who had a relative who used the ventilator before he died.

In terms of medicine you need to breathe, they didn’t have it there, we had to go and buy it in South Africa.! We ended up finding some today (yesterday)just as he was passing away at a local pharmacy, yet the hospital was telling us it was not locally available.

We then brought the ventilator on Sunday by 2 pm and when we got here because the portable ventilator had an American plug, they told us to get an adapter because they only had round sockets at the hospital.

I then rushed to buy an adapter and came back and they never used it and when I asked why they were not using the ventilator they said they had no sockets in his room. So they didn’t have medication, ventilators and we brought them a ventilator and they didn’t have sockets in his room. I told them that I had an extension cord and pleaded with them to use the cord, but they refused.

They forced us to come here but failed to deliver on their promise. When Zororo had his operation, he had it at Health Point Clinic. I contacted the people at Health Point and asked if they were willing to take Zororo in and they said yes and that they had already set up a facility to accommodate him.

We then appealed to Health minister Obadiah Moyo that since you are not prepared at Wilkins Hospital can we take him to Health Point and he refused.

Minister Moyo said we could not take him there and that needed to be treated at Wilkins. We were puzzled and wondered how he could say that Zororo should be treated at Wilkins when they don’t even have plugs in his room to connect the ventilator.

He promised us all sorts of things that this morning (yesterday) they would definitely be a ventilator and equipment but nothing materialised. If you go inside there you will see that they are not prepared to handle cases this side.

The minister at some point also suggested that we could take him to a trauma centre in Borrowdale. When it was now time for us to go to Borrowdale trauma they refused us to go there.

Instead, they got the owner of Borrowdale Trauma Centre to call me and he told me that he could come and set up an ICU at Wilkins for Zororo complete with a ventilator and monitors, but he said that we had to pay US$120 000 for the equipment.

He added that once Zororo finishes using the equipment and recovers we had to donate the equipment to Wilkins Hospital. So basically the hospital wanted us to buy the equipment for them. We don’t have US$120 000 and it is not our responsibility to buy equipment for the government.

On top of that, remember this is a critical patient, nurses would only visit him after two hours because
they were afraid of handling his situation.
We had to phone from home, calling the nurse station to tell them that Zororo was in distress and that his oxygen was finished because they were not going to check on him.

It even got to a point where they were telling us that we are bothering them but Zororo was struggling.

On top of that, remember this is a critical patient, nurses would only visit him after two hours because they were afraid of handling his situation.

We had to phone from home, calling the nurse station to tell them that Zororo was in distress and that his oxygen was finished because they were not going to check on him.

It even got to a point where they were telling us that we are bothering them but Zororo was struggling in there. My mother and his fiancé have been parked out here for the past two days and they wouldn’t allow us to come in.

The minister lied to us on many occasions. He lied to us that they were going to bring equipment and doctors but nothing ever materialised.

We reached out to President Emmerson Mnangagwa and First Lady Auxilia Mnangagwa who transferred to Beatrice and that there was a room for him. Nothing came out of this.

We even appealed to them saying that if they have failed then they should allow us to take him home and treat him ourselves because really what he needed was oxygen.

At the end, before he died, he kept telling us that he was alone and scared and the staff was refusing to help him to a point where he got up and tried to walk out and they were trying to restrain him.

So this is how my younger brother ended up dying. I want people to know that the government is lying.

Remember at some point I spoke to the president and he was saying that the report he received about Wilkins from the Health Minister is that there is equipment and medicine.

However, right now they don’t even have water at Wilkins. So if you come here to be treated for corona there is absolutely no treatment you will get, you will die.

Tam not a healthcare giver but I have respect for nurses and doctors. The doctor we were in contact with here at Wilkins would turn off his phone yet he was the critical contact person, the nurses also refused to help us.

So people need to know that the government is ill-prepared, it is not ready to deal with this virus.
Right now we have been outside since 12pm and they have not given us his body, neither have they told us the way forward
.
Zororo passed away between 11am and 12pm today (yesterday) and the hospital called us to come and look at his body.

When we got there, we were, however, told that they had already put his body in a body bag and taken it to the mortuary.

Until now at 5pm we have been waiting for further communication and they have not even given us any of his belongings.

This is such a heart-breaking experience for us and it goes to show the lack of seriousness our government has in dealing with the coronavirus.

MDC president Nelson Chamisa has blasted his nemesis, President Emmerson Mnangagwa for his lackadaisical approach at handling the coronavirus, saying he should consider locking down the country’s borders to avoid the spread of the deadly virus.

Chamisa also challenged Mnangagwa to go into self-isolation after his trip to Namibia last Friday to attend the inauguration of Namibian President Hage Geingob.

Botswana leader Mokgweetsi Masisi, has, after his Namibian trip, started a 14-day self-isolation which will include testing for COVID-19.

Masisi will work from home over the period that he will also be quarantined from his family.

Namibia has three confirmed cases and Botswana has no case, while Zimbabwe has two confirmed cases, one of which has resulted in the death of journalist Zororo Makamba.

In an interview yesterday, Chamisa’s spokesperson, Nkululeko Sibanda said the country should close all entry points before people die like flies, as the government is ill-equipped to fight COVID-19. He said Mnangagwa’s trip to Namibia was not necessary and the money used to fund it could have been used to improve the country’s ailing health facilities designated to handle COVID-19 cases.

“Over night, we had three cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Zimbabwe. Remember, that our ports of entry are still dangerously supervised,” Sibanda said.

“The other day, a bus at Beitbridge Border Post was allowed to cross the country at will, while a suspected case was quarantined. I am terrified at the lack of urgency by government.”

He expressed fear that the coronavirus would spread like veld fire at queues for fuel and Zupco buses.
“We need to lock up this country. Distance working is now essential. We have too many flash points,” he said.

“He (ED) must as a gesture of seriousness and as a precaution to protect our people and country, follow the steps taken by other leaders,” Sibanda said.

“It is really saddening that he travelled to Namibia when the country is facing such a terrible national crisis. There is virtually no equipment in hospitals designated to handle the COVID-19 pandemic.

We have less than 100 beds in the country (meant for coronavirus patients). We have about 30 or so in Harare, and a slightly lower number in Bulawayo,” he said.

“I believe that we should call these people to question. The money that they used to fly out to Namibia for something that is non-essential could have been put to better use.

The Namibians can inaugurate their own President under full understanding of the fact that the rest of the world is busy dealing with COVID-19.”

Zimbabwe is facing a grim prospect of failing to control the spread of COVID-19 after it emerged that the country’s health professionals were yet to receive the requisite training and protective clothing to handle the pandemic which has so far globally recorded over 15 000 deaths and 358 823 confirmed cases as of yesterday.
— NewsDay

Exiled former cabinet minister Professor Jonathan Moyo has told health and child care minister Obadiah Moyo to resign in the wake of failure and fake promises that led to the death of Zororo Makamba who tested positive to coronavirus.

Posting on Twitter, Prof Moyo accused President Emmerson Mnangagwa and his wife for subjecting the Makamba family to heartbreaking ordeal that he says exposes his inept government.

The Makamba family was subjected to a heartbreaking ordeal by Mnangagwa, his wife, his inept govt, Obadiah Moyo, the extortionist Wilkins Hospital & the greedy Borrowdale Trauma Centre. Obadiah Moyo shoul resign. The international community should intervene to save lives in Zim! pic.twitter.com/4HGxWS6XHL

— Prof Jonathan Moyo (@ProfJNMoyo) March 24, 2020

Dear Zimbabwe: After Zororo's death, I feel it's no longer a matter of avoiding frank discussions and questions. Professor @MthuliNcube was in Europe – the new epicentre – shaking hands with everybody. When he came back he hugged & mingled freely. Why was he not quarantined? pic.twitter.com/maUcp7A9hy

— Windhoek Cables Network ???? (@WindhoekCables) March 24, 2020

Could it be that there is someone responsible for protocol in govt deliberatelly allowing this ignorance-based selective treatment in order to expose some top officials to the deadly pandemic? Has the scheming reached these neo levels? If not, why are we being so reckless? Ends**

— Windhoek Cables Network ???? (@WindhoekCables) March 24, 2020

I don't think so. Why? Because selfishness is so prevalent everybody cares about themselves and not the next person. If you die they simply bury, move on and forget. It's now that psychological.

— Windhoek Cables Network ???? (@WindhoekCables) March 24, 2020

It's not a joke anymore. Masisi had to be quarantined for 14 days by Botswana health authorities after attending Geingob's inauguration.

— Windhoek Cables Network ???? (@WindhoekCables) March 24, 2020

Corona is actually looking for the untouchable and it will humble them….watch and see

— Lolo (@kumhungaKunepwa) March 24, 2020

Maybe zanu officials are immune to the virus kungofungawo zvangu

— mattdaka?? (@MagwenziNorman) March 24, 2020

The current bank exchange rates for the ZWL$ today are as follows:

• USD to ZWL$: 25.5344
• ZWL$ to RAND: 0.6916

Data according to the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe

Black Market Rates:

• USD to ZWL$ zimrates.com $45
• USD to ZWL$  zwl365.com $44.50
• USD to ZWL$ bluemari.info $44.50
• USD to BOND: zimrates.com $32.80

More: marketwatch.co.zw

@MoHCCZim Minister of Obadiah Moyo must take responsibility for the demise of Zororo, account to the Makamba family & the nation. We also demand that the Minister comes clean on the state of preparedness & response by the government on COVID-19. @nomara007 @NewsDayZimbabwe pic.twitter.com/DHj6N6BEGD

— ZADHR_DrsHumanRights (@ZadhrDoctors) March 24, 2020

By A Correspondent- Former First Lady Grace Mugabe is now off the hook after a Mazowe miner who was suing her over a land dispute withdrew his application to have her evicted from a disputed farm.

Langton Chapungu in October last year filed a court application seeking Grace’s eviction together with two other individuals identified in court papers only as Tongai and Jemwa.

In a sudden turn of events, Chapungu has withdrawn his court application, giving Grace the leeway to stay at the farm.

“Take note that the undersigned plaintiff hereby withdraws his application for eviction against the defendants (Grace, Tongai and Jemwa) herein,” part of the notice of withdrawal dated March 11, 2020 filed at the High Court and also served on Grace’s lawyers, Hussein and Ranchhod Legal Practitioners, read.

In his founding affidavit, Chapungu had accused the two of illegally mining on his farm, while Grace was said to have been conducting farming activities on the same piece of land.

“The first and second respondents (Tongai and Jemwa) are doing illegal mining activities in my plot and the third respondent (Grace) is also doing her farming activities in that same plot of mine, to an extent that she had even erected some structures at my place,” Chapungu said.

“The defendants have gone further threatening me with unspecified action if I continue disturbing them from their illegal activities in my plot. In spite of the demand to vacate, the defendants have refused and offered flimsy and fabricated reasons to justify their continued illegal stay at my place, leaving me with no option except to approach this honourable court for relief,” the affidavit added.-Online

By A Correspondent- Two schoolchildren were yesterday morning ran over by a car at a pick-up point in Harare. National police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi confirmed the accident.

“I can confirm that two schoolchildren who reside in Rydale Ridge were hit and killed on the spot yesterday morning while waiting for transport to school.

“The sad thing about this accident is that the accused Given Tapiwa Makeredza (19) is a new driver who got his driving licence on 31 January, 2020. He had one passenger in his car.

“The deceased Mufudzi Nyadzayo (12), a Grade Seven pupil at Kuwadzana 8 Primary School and Samuel Magorimbo (11), a Grade Six pupil at Kuwadzana 6 Primary School were waiting for transport to school off the road. Their next of kin have been informed,” he said.

“The driver lost control of the car resulting in him hitting the children who suffered head and fractured legs and died on the spot. They were taken to Harare hospital where they were certified dead.”

Ass Comm Nyathi urged motorists to be responsible on the road, as they were bound to come across pedestrians and schoolchildren.

“This is a very sad scenario and we strongly urge motorists especially new drivers to be driving under the guidance of seasoned drivers, as they still have a lot to learn. They do not have road exposure, no experience and full composure.

“They should not drive alone in crowded areas, residential areas and schools, as they are bound to encounter schoolchildren who also still need assistance,” he added.

The driver is being charged with culpable homicide.-StateMedia

The current bank exchange rates for the ZWL$ today are as follows:

• USD to ZWL$: 25.5344
• ZWL$ to RAND: 0.6916

Data according to the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe

Black Market Rates:

• USD to ZWL$ zimrates.com $45
• USD to ZWL$  zwl365.com $44.50
• USD to ZWL$ bluemari.info $44.50
• USD to BOND: zimrates.com $32.80

More: marketwatch.co.zw

By A Correspondent- Twenty former workers of Water Vlei Farm along Seke Road in Chitungwiza and their families were evicted yesterday after foiled attempts two weeks ago when they attacked the Messenger of Court.

Yesterday, the Messenger of Court accompanied by anti-riot police managed to enforce the eviction order.

When The Herald crew visited the farm, the Messenger of Court was moving the farm workers’ property off the farm.

One of the affected, Richard Matarutse said they had nowhere to go since they had been living on the farm for more than two decades.

“We were served with a notice last month, but we have nowhere to go,” he said.

Another worker, who requested anonymity, said they were not given enough time to look for an alternative place.

“This is not fair. We do not have anywhere to go and we have children who are going to school nearby. We do not even know what to do now and where to go from here,” she said.

Ms Tambudzai Kachepa said the eviction was aboveboard.

“We have been battling to evict these families from the farm over the past five years and they have been ignoring letters written by the executor of my father’s estate. They were all aware of what was coming.

“This farm was bought in 1984 long before the land reform programme and it has title deeds, but the families were claiming that it was State land and they were going nowhere.-Statemedia

President Emmerson Mnangagwa and his wife Auxillia and Health minister have all been exposed for making promises to the Makamba family they battled to keep their son alive.

Zororo Makamba succumbed to coronavirus yesterday becoming the first victim in Zimbabwe.

The family has accused Mnangagwa and his wife of making promises to intervene in their desperate situation to take full control of their son who had been admitted at Wilkins Hospital which they said had no medication, ventilators and even sockets to connect a ventilator they sourced from their own friends.

In an interview with Daily News, Makamba family spokesperson Tawanda Makamba said they reached out to the trio in their desperate bid to save their son but it all came to no avail as he unfortunately succumbed to the disease.

We reached out to President Emmerson Mnangagwa and First Lady Auxilia Mnangagwa who promised us that Zororo could be transferred to Beatrice and that there was a room for him. Nothing came out of this.

“We then appealed to Health minister Obadiah Moyo that since you are not prepared at Wilkins Hospital can we take him to Health Point and he refused.

“Minister Moyo said we could not take him there and that needed to be treated at Wilkins. We were puzzled and wondered how he could say that Zororo should be treated at Wilkins when they don’t even have plugs in his room to connect the ventilator.

“He promised us all sorts of things that this morning (yesterday) they would definitely be a ventilator and equipment but nothing materialised. If you go inside there you will see that they are not prepared to handle cases this side,” said Tawanda Makamba.

By A Correspondent- The Makamba family has fumed over the government’s lack of adequate preparation for coronavirus which it says contributed immensely to the death of the 30-year-old journalist Zororo Makamba.

Family spokesperson Tawanda Makamba, elder brother to Zororo, spoke to Daily News reporter Sindiso Mhlope and below is the verbatim extract.

Zororo was in New York for 20 days and when he came back he had a slight flue, a cold. He then went to his general practitioner and they checked him for coronavirus symptoms and they said he didn’t have them at the time. 

He was just told that he had a cough and a flue because in New York it’s cold and here it’s hot, so they then treated him for flue and he came back home.

On Friday last week, he started developing a fever and his doctor recommended that he had to be admitted. This is because Zororo had a tumour removed from just under his left lung last year in November and he was under an 18-month recovery time-frame. 

His immune system was already compromised, so the doctor was very keen that he gets into the hospital and receives proper medication to help him get over the flu and fever.

He was further advised to go to Wilkins Hospital to test for the coronavirus. He arrived at Wilkins Hospital by 10 am and samples were collected from him and we were told that the results would be in after 6 hours.

After 6 hours there were no results and his general practitioner called to find out why the results had not been availed yet. The hospital’s officials then told the GPA that they had not run the tests yet they were waiting for samples from provincial hospitals to run them all at once.

The doctor got frustrated and started questioning why they had not run the tests given that Zororo’s condition was deteriorating. After some time they then decided to run the test and in the meantime, we took him home and he needed oxygen. 

His GPA phoned around and an ambulance came home to deliver the oxygen and then we got the positive results for coronavirus at about 1:30 or 2:00 am the following day.

They told us that now that they had confirmed that he had the virus he had to be taken to the Wilkins Hospital for treatment. 

We then inquired if we could him bring immediately and we were told that the hospital was not ready to receive coronavirus patients. 

So in the morning we waited and waited and they were still not ready to admit him. He ended up being admitted around 10 am and 11 am.

His doctor made it clear earlier on that he had to be on a ventilator because he could not breathe. However, when we got at Wilkins Hospital there was no ventilator, no medication and even the oxygen would run out and they had to get it from the City of Harare. 

After that, we ran around to find a ventilator for him and we managed to get a portable ventilator from a family friend who had a relative who used the ventilator before he died. 

In terms of medicine you need to breathe, they didn’t have it there, we had to go and buy it in South Africa. We ended up finding some today (yesterday)just as he was passing away at a local pharmacy, yet the hospital was telling us it was not locally available.

We then brought the ventilator on Sunday by 2 pm and when we got here because the portable ventilator had an American plug, they told us to get an adapter because they only had round sockets at the hospital. I then rushed to buy an adapter and came back and they never used it and when I asked why they were not using the ventilator they said they had no sockets in his room. So they didn’t have medication, ventilators and we brought them a ventilator and they didn’t have sockets in his room. I told them that I had an extension cord and pleaded with them to use the cord, but they refused.

They forced us to come here but failed to deliver on their promise. When Zororo had his operation, he had it at Health Point Clinic. I contacted the people at Health Point and asked if they were willing to take Zororo in and they said yes and that they had already set up a facility to accommodate him. 
We then appealed to Health minister Obadiah Moyo that since you are not prepared at Wilkins Hospital can we take him to Health Point and he refused. 

Minister Moyo said we could not take him there and that needed to be treated at Wilkins. We were puzzled and wondered how he could say that Zororo should be treated at Wilkins when they don’t even have plugs in his room to connect the ventilator. 

He promised us all sorts of things that this morning (yesterday) they would definitely be a ventilator and equipment but nothing materialised. If you go inside there you will see that they are not prepared to handle cases this side.

The minister at some point also suggested that we could take him to a trauma centre in Borrowdale. When it was now time for us to go to Borrowdale trauma they refused us to go there. Instead, they got the owner of Borrowdale Trauma Centre to call me and he told me that he could come and set up an ICU at Wilkins for Zororo complete with a ventilator and monitors, but he said that we had to pay US$120 000 for the equipment. 

He added that once Zororo finishes using the equipment and recovers we had to donate the equipment to Wilkins Hospital. So basically the hospital wanted us to buy the equipment for them. We don’t have US$120 000 and it is not our responsibility to buy equipment for the government.

On top of that, remember this is a critical patient, nurses would only visit him after two hours because they were afraid of handling his situation. We had to phone from home, calling the nurse station to tell them that Zororo was in distress and that his oxygen was finished because they were not going to check on him. 

It even got to a point where they were telling us that we are bothering them but Zororo was struggling in there. My mother and his fiancé have been parked out here for the past two days and they wouldn’t allow us to come in. 

The minister lied to us on many occasions. He lied to us that they were going to bring equipment and doctors but nothing ever materialised. We reached out to President Emmerson Mnangagwa and First Lady Auxilia Mnangagwa who promised us that Zororo could be transferred to Beatrice and that there was a room for him. Nothing came out of this.

We even appealed to them saying that if they have failed then they should allow us to take him home and treat him ourselves because really what he needed was oxygen. At the end, before he died, he kept telling us that he was alone and scared and the staff was refusing to help him to a point where he got up and tried to walk out and they were trying to restrain him. So this is how my younger brother ended up dying. I want people to know that the government is lying. 

Remember at some point I spoke to the president and he was saying that the report he received about Wilkins from the Health Minister is that there is equipment and medicine. However, right now they don’t even have water at Wilkins. So if you come here to be treated for corona there is absolutely no treatment you will get, you will die. 

I am not a healthcare giver but I have respect for nurses and doctors. The doctor we were in contact with here at Wilkins would turn off his phone yet he was the critical contact person, the nurses also refused to help us. 

So people need to know that the government is ill-prepared, it is not ready to deal with this virus.
 Right now we have been outside since 12pm and they have not given us his body, neither have they told us the way forward. Zororo passed away between 11 am and 12 pm today (yesterday) and the hospital called us to come and look at his body. When we got there, we were, however, told that they had already put his body in a body bag and taken it to the mortuary. 

Until now at 5 pm we have been waiting for further communication and they have not even given us any of his belongings. This is such a heart-breaking experience for us and it goes to show the lack of seriousness our government has in dealing with the coronavirus.

By A Correspondent- MDC president Nelson Chamisa has blasted his nemesis, President Emmerson Mnangagwa for his lackadaisical approach at handling the coronavirus, saying he should consider locking down the country’s borders to avoid the spread of the deadly virus.

Chamisa also challenged Mnangagwa to go into self-isolation after his trip to Namibia last Friday to attend the inauguration of Namibian President Hage Geingob.

Botswana leader Mokgweetsi Masisi, has, after his Namibian trip, started a 14-day self-isolation which will include testing for COVID-19.

Masisi will work from home over the period that he will also be quarantined from his family.

Namibia has three confirmed cases and Botswana has no case, while Zimbabwe has two confirmed cases, one of which has resulted in the death of journalist Zororo Makamba.

In an interview yesterday, Chamisa’s spokesperson, Nkululeko Sibanda said the country should close all entry points before people die like flies, as the government is ill-equipped to fight COVID-19. He said Mnangagwa’s trip to Namibia was not necessary and the money used to fund it could have been used to improve the country’s ailing health facilities designated to handle COVID-19 cases.

“Over night, we had three cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Zimbabwe. Remember, that our ports of entry are still dangerously supervised,” Sibanda said.

“The other day, a bus at Beitbridge Border Post was allowed to cross the country at will, while a suspected case was quarantined. I am terrified at the lack of urgency by government.”

He expressed fear that the coronavirus would spread like veld fire at queues for fuel and Zupco buses.

By A Correspondent- The trial of Mary Mubaiwa, the estranged wife of Vice President Constantino Chiwenga, on the charge of assaulting the family maid failed to open yesterday after the State applied for postponement.

Deputy chief magistrate Mr Crispen Mberewere deferred the matter after the State’s application for a postponement. Mubaiwa was represented by Ms Beatrice Mtetwa while Ms Netsai Mushayabasa appeared for the State.

Three State witnesses who were in attendance were warned to return to court on May 12. Mubaiwa is charged with assaulting the family maid, Delight Munyoro, at Hellenic School in Borrowdale following an altercation over the custody of children.

In another case, former Heath and Child Care Minister David Parirenyatwa, who is facing a charge of criminal abuse of office, appeared in court yesterday, but his trial was deferred to April 30 at the request of his new lawyer, Mr Innocent Chingarande, who needed for more time to go through the record and familiarise with the case.

According to the State outline, Parirenyatwa is alleged to have ordered NatPharm board chairman, Dr George Washaya, to terminate Flora Nancy Sifeku’s contract as managing director, saying he required her services at his then ministry.

He further directed Dr Washaya to appoint Newman Madzikwa as acting managing director of NatPharm with effect from June 1, 2018.

The board complied with the directive resulting in Sifeku and Madzikwa, both being given six-month contracts with effect from June to November 30, 2018. This resulted in NatPharm paying two salaries concurrently to Sifeku and Madzikwa for the managing director’s position, prejudicing NatPharm of $30 000.-StateMedia

By A Correspondent- Zororo Makamba the son of a Zimbabwean business tycoon, James Makamba, succumbed to the novel coronavirus on Monday at Wilkins Hospital after he interacted with a lot of people including those from the office of the president, the state media has revealed.

The 30-year-old journalist became Zimbabwe’s first public figure who succumbed to coronavirus. Of major concern, however, is that he mixed and mingled with lots of people shortly before and allegedly after he tested positive for the virus.

1. Makamba could have interacted with other passengers who were on the plane he was in on his way back from New York, USA.
2. He could have interacted with officials at the airport where lots of people come through.
3. Makamba is also reported to have visited BancABC Mount Pleasant campus where he had a meeting with four people; the office of the president and cabinet; Pabloz, a popular upmarket club in Sam Levy’s Village on Thursday night.
4. He is also said to have interacted with a University student who inevitably interacted with 25 classmates and other people.

All the people he interacted with other people around them which complicates everything. Harare City Health Department is reportedly tracking the student who interacted with Makamba and also the student’s classmates.-Statemedia

With Zimbabwe battling to keep out coronavirus and a possible total lockdown should the country fail to contain the outbreak, Zimbabweans have panicked and began hoarding food items from shops in anticipation of shortages.

Pictures below were taken from OK Mart in Harare.

OLD political foes President Emmerson Mnangagwa and opposition MDC leader, Nelson Chamisa have finally found cause to unite and join hands in the fight against the ravaging coronavirus.

In neighbouring South Africa, President Cyril Ramaphosa and Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) president Julius Malema have closed ranks as the pandemic wreaks havoc in that country and most parts of the world.

While addressing the media at the party’s headquarters, Morgan Richard Tsvangirai Monday, Chamisa said he and Mnangagwa should unite and build what he termed; “Team Zimbabwe”.

“We can’t afford to be divided as a nation. We need to be united and move together and confront this enemy. Once we deal with this virus that we are supposed to be dealing with, we will always retreat back to our politics and continue as normal. At the moment, there is no politics,” said Chamisa.

“We are able to have Team Zimbabwe effort, beyond the political parties, beyond sloganeering, beyond the finger pointing, it doesn’t help to say Mnangagwa is inadequate, if he is not inadequate, it doesn’t save our lives.”
He said the government, local authorities and politicians should not be complacent in dealing with the coronavirus.

“I want to and I must continue to say I must resist the temptation to go into politics, I can’t be pointing fingers I can’t be blaming anyone. I must point fingers at ourselves we need to do more.”

“Just look outside the window, look at how people are going about their normal business and then compare with what is happening in Italy and what is happening in Spain and other countries it shows that we are not doing enough as a people, as a country.

“We need to educate and press the button of emergency and to drive the country into a mode of extraordinary that is what we need it is for all of us.”

Chamisa said in neighbouring South Africa, political party rivalry had been set aside in order to deal with the coronavirus.

“We don’t need politicians to tell us to save lives. We must do whatever we can and this is our effort to say let’s lead. So we need to have a radical shift. Our police force, our army must be turned into an active mode so that they begin to do what they know best and we know that we have a very competent military.”

In his address Monday, Chamisa urged Mnangagwa to lockdown Zimbabwe to curb the spread of the deadly virus. Later in the same evening, Mnangagwa addressed a press conference at State House where he announced sweeping measures and bans to stop the spread of coronavirus, which recorded its first death Monday afternoon.

The measures include an immediate ban on gatherings around night clubs, bars, beerhalls, movie houses, swimming pools, gymnasiums and sporting activities until further notice.

With immediate effect, all the country’s borders have been closed for all non-essential travel for both in-bound and out-bound traffic.

Own Correspondent|Following revelations that Zororo Makamba met with several ZANU PF and government officials during the incubation period of his Coronavirus Infection, chances are now very high that some of the people he mingled with may have contracted the virus and subsequently ferried it to the ZANU PF rally held in Nyanga last week.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa surprisingly held the political rally barely 24 hours after the government banned all public gatherings as preventive measures against the coronavirus.

The President himself was the one who announced that all public gatherings of 100 or more people had been suspended for the next 60 days. In the same announcement, the President declared the coronavirus a national disaster.

Perhaps mindful of the widespread criticism his decision to hold the rally was drawing, Mnanagwa sought to defend it, saying:

“Today is 18 March, tomorrow is Thursday the 19th, Friday is the 20th, so my decree will come into effect on Friday. Right now, you have the right to gather as you have done, you have broken no rules.”

Mnangagwa’s arrogance ignored the fact that the Coronavirus scourge would not wait for his so claimed date and as a result may have exposed the thousands who attended the rally.

The web of people who came in contact with broadcaster and socialite Zororo Makamba, who succumbed to coronavirus yesterday, is difficult to trace after it emerged that he mingled with dozens of people following his return from the United States.

Makamba met many people in his business and social life, even when he was allegedly ill, that are yet to be tracked down by the Government.

In Government circles, Deputy Chief Secretary (Presidential Communications) Mr George Charamba confirmed that Makamba visited the Office of the President and Cabinet and the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development. There, Makamba interacted with three officials who have since been tested and put on a 21-day self-quarantine. The offices were fumigated on Sunday.

Without doubt some of these people definitely met up with people who eventually attended the ZANU PF rally or they themselves attended the rally.

The web of people who came in contact with broadcaster and socialite Zororo Makamba, who succumbed to coronavirus yesterday, is difficult to trace after it emerged that he mingled with dozens of people following his return from the United States.

Makamba met many people in his business and social life, even when he was allegedly ill, that are yet to be tracked down by the Government.

In Government circles, Deputy Chief Secretary (Presidential Communications) Mr George Charamba confirmed that Makamba visited the Office of the President and Cabinet and the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development. There, Makamba interacted with three officials who have since been tested and put on a 21-day self-quarantine.

The offices were fumigated on Sunday.

BancABC chief executive Dr Lance Mambondiani confirmed that four of the bank’s employees had a 15-minute meeting with Makamba at the bank’s Mount Pleasant Campus on Tuesday March 17, 2020 at 11:30am.

“The bank was subsequently advised that the patient had tested positive for Covid-19 on Saturday morning and immediately activated recommended protocols in consultation with the city health department.”

It is understood that Makamba interacted with a friend who is a university student, who went on to interact with fellow students over the weekend.

The class had about 25 students, who have since informed their employers about the contact, and recommended a self-quarantine.

The City of Harare’s health department is now reportedly tracking them down.

The Herald is reliably informed that Makamba had extensive contact with patrons at Pabloz, a popular upmarket club in Sam Levy’s Village on Thursday night.

Pabloz had since announced that it was temporarily closing shop in light of the coronavirus outbreak.

In a statement, Pabloz said: “Dear customers, due to the ongoing Covid-19 crisis, Pabloz Club and VIP have taken the considered decision to cease operations until further notice.

“In light of the devastation that Covid-19 virus is wreaking globally and now in our region, we find it in the interests of public health for both our clientele and staff to close doors until such time that it is safe to operate. This is effective immediately.”

Own Correspondent|Government has promulgated Statutory Instrument (SI) 77 of 2020 to govern conduct of members of the public in a bid to contain and prevent the spread of corona virus by banning public gatherings.

The Public Health (Covid-19 Prevention, Containment and Treatment) Regulations, 2020 criminalises events that can lead to members of the public spreading coronavirus.

Police will arrest individuals who violate the laid down procedures.

“Any person partaking at a gathering or convener thereof — (a) partakes in or convenes a gathering knowing that such gathering is prohibited in terms of subsection (1); or (b) refuses to disperse from a gathering after being ordered to disperse in terms of subsection (2)(a); shall be guilty of an offence and liable to fine not exceeding level 12 or to imprisonment for a period not exceeding one year or both such fine and such imprisonment,” reads the SI.

PRESIDENT Mnangagwa yesterday mourned journalist Zororo Makamba who became the first Zimbabwean to succumb to Covid-19 and announced a raft of measures to contain the virus.

He ordered the closure of all borders to human traffic and banned non-essential travel except for the movement of cargo.

The Government also promulgated Statutory Instrument (SI) 77 of 2020 that provides for up to 12 months imprisonment for people who gather in crowds of more than 50 people, likely to promote the spread of Covid-19.

Makamba (30) who had an underlying heart condition died at Wilkins Hospital in Harare yesterday morning.

He had been admitted to the hospital after testing positive for coronavirus as the country’s second patient after the first case was recorded on Friday in Victoria Falls.

In a statement, President Mnangagwa said he learnt with great shock and sadness of Makamba’s death as Government hoped he would recover.

“His passing on so suddenly has been unexpected as we had held high hopes also for his steady recovery following the good news about our first confirmed victim of the virus who has registered commendable recovery. Sadly, for Zororo, this was not to be as he had an underlying heart condition for which he had been receiving medical attention,” said President Mnangagwa.

“Zimbabwe has lost a promising young man from a crop of highly skilled and gifted youthful journalists striving to produce excellent local content and professionalism to broadcasting in this country.”

He extended his condolence message to the Makamba family.

“On behalf of Government, Zanu-PF, my family and on my own behalf, I wish to extend to the Makamba family, his relatives and friends, my heartfelt condolences on this their saddest loss which is our loss together,” he said

TOURISM players in Victoria Falls yesterday implored Government to close borders especially for travellers from high-risk countries to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

This comes as some countries have imposed travel restrictions while airlines have also suspended flights.

Yesterday panic gripped Victoria Falls when a group of 42 tourists from 11 countries arrived in the resort town aboard a Rovos train, a luxury train service that chauffeurs tourists around Africa.

The travellers were accompanied by about 20 handlers and tour guides comprising locals, South Africans and others from Botswana.

The tourists comprised nine British nationals, nine South Africans, eight Australians, four from Germany, three from Switzerland, two each from USA, Malta and Netherlands and one each from Sweden, New Zealand and Ireland.

The train was coming from Tanzania on a long tour that started a few months ago around the globe and booked at Victoria Falls Hotel.

There were concerns as the tourists were only checked for temperature without much more sophisticated screening.

This news crew observed the arrival of the train at Victoria Falls train station where some casual workers simply received luggage from the train without waiting for it to be sanitised.

None had gloves or face masks. Only staff at Victoria Falls Hotel had masks, gloves and a temperature screening device but the security guard who was screening the whole group had a single set of gloves and mask.

This exposed the officer to the risk of infection in the event that one of the travellers could be infected.

Even curio vendors went about their business as usual soliciting for clients without keeping the recommended social distance.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, some industry players called for immediate action.

“It’s better to lose business than to put everyone at risk. If we can temporarily close borders then we know we can defeat the virus and reopen than to expose ourselves,” said an operator.

The operators had intended not to allow the train to stop in Victoria Falls and order it to proceed but failed as there was no Government official to communicate with the train authorities.

“We are not sure if proper testing and screening was done on them. These are people from high-risk countries and if we remain open at our borders we are at risk and it’s a sign of lack of preparedness at a time when all countries are closing borders,” said a hotel executive.

“For now, it is better to prevent the spread from other countries. It’s better we suffer revenue drops temporarily than compromise the health of the whole society, which is already vulnerable.”

Another hotelier said Government should close Victoria Falls and Kazungula borders.

Health and Child Care Permanent Secretary Dr Agnes Mahomva acknowledged that the country is at risk and said recommendations have been made to Government.

“We as the health sector can only make recommendations and we have done that as much as we will continue doing. I am sure something is being worked on,” she said.

Own Correspondent|MDC President Nelson Chamisa has mourned the death of young broadcaster Zororo Makamba due to Coronavirus saying that the country lost a gem.

“Gone too soon my dear brother. What a bright spark and brilliant broadcaster! My condolences to the Makambas and the Zimbabwe family at large. We lost a gem!Rest in Power bro,” said Chamisa.

The broadcaster launched his media career at ZiFM Stereo, where he hosted current affairs programmes. He moved to television where one of his best-known shows was “Tonight with Zororo”, which aired on MNet’s Zambezi Magic.

He won several accolades including a National Arts and Merit Award and Best Male Achiever at the Zimbabwe Youth Achievers Awards.

By Simba Chikanza| Below is the exact narration by businessman James Makamba on how his son, Zororo died this morning, as told family friend Mutumwa Mawere on Monday.

The journalist was one of the victims admitted at Harare’s Wilkins Hospital and diagnosed with COVID-19.

ZimEye had a one to one interview soon after the sad news. ZimEye also verified from an audio recording that this is truly James Makamba’s account –

He always wanted to see his friends and wind up a few things…So last Wed he was feeling fluish, then he drove to Wilkins for testing, and you know they just admit you.Then it just got worse and worse and worse & about 20min ago he got out to try and walk about, and collapsed

— ZimEye (@ZimEye) March 23, 2020

“He always wanted to see his friends and wind up a few things…

“So last Wednesday he was feeling fluish, then he drove to Wilkins for testing, and you know the just admit you.

“Then it just got worse and worse and worse, and about 20min ago he got out to try and walk about, and collapsed, and they failed to resuscitate him. He died in the last 30 minutes.”

https://www.facebook.com/pg/ZimEye/reviews/

video loading below:

Mr Zororo Makamba, the son of Mr James Makamba has passed on. MHSRIEP. I have just learned of this tragic loss of life due to the virus. A giant with so much potential has fallen. Corona is real. Let us pause and reflect. Life is too precious. – Mutumwa Mawere

State Media|Zimbabwe has recorded its first death from Covid-19, Zororo Makamba (30) who died yesterday afternoon at Wilkins Infectious Diseases Hospital in Harare.

He was the second confirmed case with coronavirus after a Victoria Falls man (38) had tested positive last week. Makamba had been admitted to hospital after his condition deteriorated.

He had underlying medical conditions, making him more vulnerable to complications arising from Covid-19.

Makamba travelled to New York, in the United States on February 29 and returned to Harare on March 9, via Johannesburg, South Africa. He started exhibiting mild flu symptoms on March 12, which got worse on March 19. He consulted with his doctor, who advised him to self-isolate at home.

The doctor alerted the local Covid-19 rapid response team which immediately went to assess him and recommended that he continues with self-isolation while specimens were sent to the reference laboratory for testing

They were positive, but he was only moved to Wilkins when he later developed severe respiratory distress.

Confirming his death at a Press conference in Harare yesterday, Health and Child Care Minister Dr Obadiah Moyo said Government was still following up on all those who could have made contact with Makamba since his return.

“We appeal to all those who could have made contact with the deceased to present themselves for screening at Wilkins Infectious Diseases Hospital. Staff at Wilkins will be ready for screening starting from 9am,” said Dr Moyo.

Asked how many people who could have had contact with Makamba had been screened, Dr Moyo said figures were still being collated.

Dr Moyo said Makamba had other underlying conditions, which made him more vulnerable to Covid-19.

The broadcaster launched his media career at ZiFM Stereo, where he hosted current affairs programmes. He moved to television where one of his best-known shows was “Tonight with Zororo”, which aired on MNet’s Zambezi Magic.

He won several accolades including a National Arts and Merit Award and Best Male Achiever at the Zimbabwe Youth Achievers Awards.

Commenting on the first confirmed case from Victoria Falls, Dr Moyo said his condition was stable.

On the third suspected case, which was initially rumoured to be positive over the weekend, Dr Moyo said initial tests were inconclusive, meaning the sample could have been contaminated and could have provided an inaccurate result. Dr Moyo said the patient will now have to be subjected to a second round of sample taking.

President Mnangagwa and Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Minister Monica Mutsvangwa have given their condolences.

The President in his message to the family said: “I learnt with great shock and sadness of the death this morning of a very resourceful and talented young man, Zororo Makamba, following his admission to a local hospital at the weekend after testing positive to the corona virus.

“His passing on so suddenly has been unexpected as we had held high hopes also for his steady recovery following good news about our first confirmed victim of the virus who has registered commendable recovery, he said.

President Mnangagwa, however, said Zororo had an underlying heart condition for which he had been receiving medical attention.

He said the country has lost a promising young man who germinated from a crop of highly skilled and gifted journalist, who were striving to produce excellent local content and professionalism in the broadcasting fraternity.

The broadcasting sector is thus, all the poorer without the calibre of journalists like Zororo who had won the hearts and minds of many viewers and audiences with his captivating, well researched and balanced documents both aired on our local radio and television stations as we as on social media.

On behalf of the Government, Zanu PF and my family and on my own behalf, I wish to extend to the Makamba family, his relatives and friends, my heartfelt condolences on this their saddest loss which is our loss together, said the President.

Minister Mutsvangwa said she received the news of the passing on of Mr Makamba with great shock, extreme sadness and deep sense of shock.

The minister said she constantly and continuously worked with Mr Makamba on his much watched and greatly appreciated ‘State of the Nation’ program on Zimbabwe Television.

“He was a young intelligent and dynamic man that infused talent and passion for his work with intense patriotic pride. He always exuded that confidence in the face of daunting challenges.

“He communicated with promise and hope in the economic prospects of his beloved Zimbabwe. I extend my sincere condolences to the Makamba family as well as to relatives and friends of Zororo Makamba,” she said.

Minister Mutsvangwa said as the nation mourns Mr Makamba, it should take the threat of Covid-19 serious, by following due medical precautions announced by Ministry of Health and the World Health Organisation.

https://youtu.be/j3ynLgbX05U

State Media|PRESIDENT Mnangagwa last night announced sweeping measures and bans to stop the spread of coronavirus (Covid-19) which recorded its first death yesterday afternoon.

The measures include an immediate ban on gatherings around night clubs, bars, beerhalls, movie houses, swimming pools, gymnasiums and sporting activities until further notice.

With immediate effect, all the country’s borders have been closed for all non-essential travel for both in-bound and out-bound traffic.

Further, hospital visits have been reduced to one visit by one person per day, while public gatherings have been cut from 100 to 50.

Informal markets will remain open, but citizens are encouraged to limit their visits while health and security personnel will be deployed to enhance screening services.

With regards to mass transport, new measures will be announced shortly for the safety of commuters.

“To keep pace with the fast-changing national and global situation, Government has decided on the following additional measures, which take immediate effect.

“While our borders remain open to essential traffic, both in the interest of the economy and that of the corresponding economies of our region, we have decided to ban inessential travel and traffic, both in-bound and out-bound. Except for the movement of cargo, Government will close all our boarders to human traffic. This will not, however, affect returning residents.

“Screening on essential traffic will continue to be enforced strictly in line with the best practices and guidelines prescribed by the World Health Organisation.

“All our returning residents will be subjected to strict screening procedures including rigorous enforcement of the 21-day self-quarantine, which must not be breached for whatever reason,” said President Mnangagwa.

Until further notice, he said Government was discouraging unnecessary travel within the country including unnecessary movements beyond homes.

Said the President: “With immediate effect, Government has put a blanket ban on gatherings around night clubs, bars, beerhalls, movie houses, swimming pools, gymnasiums and sporting activities until further notice. I am aware that this curtailment of social activities will be hard on all of us. However, such tough measures have become necessary and unavoidable for our collective safety as a nation.

“With immediate effect, visits to hospitals and clinics will be reduced to one visit per day, even involving only one person per patient. With immediate effect, public gatherings may not exceed 50 persons. Such gatherings include religious fellowships, worship, weddings, conferences, workshops, meetings and funerals.”

President Mnangagwa said Government was encouraging automated electronic services to minimise human contact and interface particularly in dispensing essential services such as banking payment of bill utilities.

Where possible, the President said, employers were encouraged to reduce human concentrations at work places.

He said non-essential staff or essential staff whose services could be rendered from home should be encouraged by employers.

With regards to informal markets, President Mnangagwa said: “While Government will not, at this stage, close down informal markets, citizens are encouraged to limit their visits to such markets and in any case to reduce the numbers involved as well as frequencies to these markets. Health personnel, security personnel and other volunteer workers will be deployed in these markets to enhance screening services.”

He added that all transport operators are encouraged to comply with public health measures, which Government would be announcing shortly, all for the safety of commuters. These include screening on points of embarkation and occasional contamination operations targeting public vehicles and depots.

President Mnangagwa said companies in the business of manufacturing sanitary material such as sanitizers and masks among others should not take advantage of the current crisis to fleece the public.

He said where such actions would be observed, Government would not hesitate to take drastic measures.

“I am also aware of the concerns, which continue to be raised by our health personnel who are in the front line of this pandemic,” he said.

“These great men and women are the heroes and heroines of our nation. They continue to deliver services at great personal risk, they continue to save lives. They deserve our support, they deserve our unstinting praise and accolades. They must be rewarded. Above all, we should make their already risky medical chores both safer and less onerous.”

PRESIDENT Mnangagwa last night announced sweeping measures and bans to stop the spread of coronavirus (Covid-19) which recorded its first death yesterday afternoon.

The measures include an immediate ban on gatherings around night clubs, bars, beerhalls, movie houses, swimming pools, gymnasiums and sporting activities until further notice.

With immediate effect, all the country’s borders have been closed for all non-essential travel for both in-bound and out-bound traffic.

Further, hospital visits have been reduced to one visit by one person per day, while public gatherings have been cut from 100 to 50.

Informal markets will remain open, but citizens are encouraged to limit their visits while health and security personnel will be deployed to enhance screening services.
With regards to mass transport, new measures will be announced shortly for the safety of commuters.

“To keep pace with the fast-changing national and global situation, Government has decided on the following additional measures, which take immediate effect.

“While our borders remain open to essential traffic, both in the interest of the economy and that of the corresponding economies of our region, we have decided to ban inessential travel and traffic, both in-bound and out-bound. Except for the movement of cargo, Government will close all our boarders to human traffic. This will not, however, affect returning residents.

“Screening on essential traffic will continue to be enforced strictly in line with the best practices and guidelines prescribed by the World Health Organisation.

“All our returning residents will be subjected to strict screening procedures including rigorous enforcement of the 21-day self-quarantine, which must not be breached for whatever reason,” said President Mnangagwa.

Until further notice, he said Government was discouraging unnecessary travel within the country including unnecessary movements beyond homes.

Said the President: “With immediate effect, Government has put a blanket ban on gatherings around night clubs, bars, beerhalls, movie houses, swimming pools, gymnasiums and sporting activities until further notice. I am aware that this curtailment of social activities will be hard on all of us. However, such tough measures have become necessary and unavoidable for our collective safety as a nation.

“With immediate effect, visits to hospitals and clinics will be reduced to one visit per day, even involving only one person per patient.

With immediate effect, public gatherings may not exceed 50 persons. Such gatherings include religious fellowships, worship, weddings, conferences, workshops, meetings and funerals.”

President Mnangagwa said Government was encouraging automated electronic services to minimise human contact and interface particularly in dispensing essential services such as banking payment of bill utilities.

Where possible, the President said, employers were encouraged to reduce human concentrations at work places.

He said non-essential staff or essential staff whose services could be rendered from home should be encouraged by employers.

With regards to informal markets, President Mnangagwa said:

“While Government will not, at this stage, close down informal markets, citizens are encouraged to limit their visits to such markets and in any case to reduce the numbers involved as well as frequencies to these markets. Health personnel, security personnel and other volunteer workers will be deployed in these markets to enhance screening services.”

He added that all transport operators are encouraged to comply with public health measures, which Government would be announcing shortly, all for the safety of commuters.

These include screening on points of embarkation and occasional contamination operations targeting public vehicles and depots.-State media

PRESIDENT Mnangagwa last night announced sweeping measures and bans to stop the spread of coronavirus (Covid-19) which recorded its first death yesterday afternoon.

The measures include an immediate ban on gatherings around night clubs, bars, beerhalls, movie houses, swimming pools, gymnasiums and sporting activities until further notice.

With immediate effect, all the country’s borders have been closed for all non-essential travel for both in-bound and out-bound traffic.

Further, hospital visits have been reduced to one visit by one person per day, while public gatherings have been cut from 100 to 50.

Informal markets will remain open, but citizens are encouraged to limit their visits while health and security personnel will be deployed to enhance screening services.
With regards to mass transport, new measures will be announced shortly for the safety of commuters.

“To keep pace with the fast-changing national and global situation, Government has decided on the following additional measures, which take immediate effect.

“While our borders remain open to essential traffic, both in the interest of the economy and that of the corresponding economies of our region, we have decided to ban inessential travel and traffic, both in-bound and out-bound. Except for the movement of cargo, Government will close all our boarders to human traffic. This will not, however, affect returning residents.

“Screening on essential traffic will continue to be enforced strictly in line with the best practices and guidelines prescribed by the World Health Organisation.

“All our returning residents will be subjected to strict screening procedures including rigorous enforcement of the 21-day self-quarantine, which must not be breached for whatever reason,” said President Mnangagwa.

Until further notice, he said Government was discouraging unnecessary travel within the country including unnecessary movements beyond homes.

Said the President: “With immediate effect, Government has put a blanket ban on gatherings around night clubs, bars, beerhalls, movie houses, swimming pools, gymnasiums and sporting activities until further notice. I am aware that this curtailment of social activities will be hard on all of us. However, such tough measures have become necessary and unavoidable for our collective safety as a nation.

“With immediate effect, visits to hospitals and clinics will be reduced to one visit per day, even involving only one person per patient.

With immediate effect, public gatherings may not exceed 50 persons. Such gatherings include religious fellowships, worship, weddings, conferences, workshops, meetings and funerals.”

President Mnangagwa said Government was encouraging automated electronic services to minimise human contact and interface particularly in dispensing essential services such as banking payment of bill utilities.

Where possible, the President said, employers were encouraged to reduce human concentrations at work places.

He said non-essential staff or essential staff whose services could be rendered from home should be encouraged by employers.

With regards to informal markets, President Mnangagwa said:

“While Government will not, at this stage, close down informal markets, citizens are encouraged to limit their visits to such markets and in any case to reduce the numbers involved as well as frequencies to these markets. Health personnel, security personnel and other volunteer workers will be deployed in these markets to enhance screening services.”

He added that all transport operators are encouraged to comply with public health measures, which Government would be announcing shortly, all for the safety of commuters.

These include screening on points of embarkation and occasional contamination operations targeting public vehicles and depots.-State media

Two schoolchildren were yesterday morning ran over by a car at a pick-up point in Harare.

National police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi confirmed the accident.

“I can confirm that two schoolchildren who reside in Rydale Ridge were hit and killed on the spot yesterday morning while waiting for transport to school.

“The sad thing about this accident is that the accused Given Tapiwa Makeredza (19) is a new driver who got his driving licence on 31 January, 2020. He had one passenger in his car.

“The deceased Mufudzi Nyadzayo (12), a Grade Seven pupil at Kuwadzana 8 Primary School and Samuel Magorimbo (11), a Grade Six pupil at Kuwadzana 6 Primary School were waiting for transport to school off the road. Their next of kin have been informed,” he said.

“The driver lost control of the car resulting in him hitting the children who suffered head and fractured legs and died on the spot. They were taken to Harare hospital where they were certified dead.”

Ass Comm Nyathi urged motorists to be responsible on the road, as they were bound to come across pedestrians and schoolchildren.

“This is a very sad scenario and we strongly urge motorists especially new drivers to be driving under the guidance of seasoned drivers, as they still have a lot to learn.

They do not have road exposure, no experience and full composure.
“They should not drive alone in crowded areas, residential areas and schools, as they are bound to encounter schoolchildren who also still need assistance,” he added.

The driver is being charged with culpable homicide.-State media