We, the representatives of civil society organisations, social movements and progressive citizens, met virtually under the auspices of the Citizens’ Manifesto convergence platform to deliberate on the current Coronavirus crisis and the 21-day national lockdown declared by the
Government of Zimbabwe.
We do hereby express ourselves as follows:
Access to Reliable and Timely Information – As citizens, we acknowledge the efforts being driven by the government and other stakeholders to provide information on the COVID 19 pandemic, but note gaps in respect of delays in relaying vital information. For instance, the Ministry of Health and Child Care (MoHCC) only reported the second death from COVID 19, of a 79-year old male from Bulawayo, days after the fact. This inability to reassure the public with timely verified information is proving detrimental to efforts to mitigate the health disaster and in getting people to take the prescribed measures seriously, and is feeding into detrimental public speculation on social media. Citizens also call upon the Zimbabwean government to provide consistent and reliable information, including on the deployment of public and donated resources in the fight against COVID 19, as well as translate relevant educational information into local languages for easy accessibility by the general population.
Social Safety Nets and Social Protection – The continued implementation of the lockdown for the past 11 days without adequate preparations for safety nets for the most vulnerable in our society such as daily wage earners and vendors has adversely impacted livelihoods. This has created a conundrum between public health and survival and fed into public resistance to prescribed measures in some low-income and high density areas. There is need to put in place urgent measures to protect livelihoods. To this end we are calling for the state to establish a Universal Basic Income Grant scheme to cushion the most vulnerable. We believe if funds siphoned through corruption over the years are recovered, we can finance such a scheme. Additionally, we are calling for transparency as well as non-discrimination with regards to the vetting and drawing up of the list of beneficiaries, while the earmarked scheme to provide grants to Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) needs to be fast-tracked to support small businesses from bankruptcy
Reopening of Food Markets – While re-opening of food markets such as Mbare-Musika in Harare is crucial for livelihoods, this move must be accompanied by rigorous supervision by health officials as well as strict adherence to social distancing and hygiene for the protection of all. Furthermore, as Citizens we have observed that citizens are forced to violate the lockdown in search of basic foodstuffs such as meali-meal; government must implement measures to ensure that retailers and the grain milling industry involved in the supply of these basic commodities, desist from the current rampant corruption of channelling subsidized foodstuffs to the black market and profiteering by raising prices.
Decentralised Access to Testing and Treatment facilities – Citizens of regions outside Harare called for urgent decentralisation of testing, care and treatment facilities to all the 10 provinces of the country to ensure equitable access. The recent announcement by Local Government, Public Works and National Housing Minister, Hon. July Moyo, that COVID 19 patients in regions outside Harare will have to travel hundreds of kilometres to the capital city exposes the majority of citizens to great risk and marginalisation.
General Access to PPE – Citizens noted that frontline medical professionals in the fight against COVID 19, including doctors and nurses, have raised the issues of lack of Personal Protective Equipment (PEE), which is exposing them to risk of infection and hampering their work. We call upon the Zimbabwean government to urgently work towards the availability of PPE including urgently raising the country’s production capacity of PPE and sanitary products needed in the fight against COVID 19, inclusive of re-purposing industries and prioritising public resources to capacitate local manufacturers. Democratic Rights and Freedoms – As Citizens we are concerned by the current situation where the nation has been placed under an effective “state of emergency”, on the reasons of public health. We are worried that the Legislature and the Judiciary have all but suspended operations, leaving the Executive alone running the affairs of the country. Citizens call for a reactivation of the other arms of government, including the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Health. Further, we call for a clear enunciation by the government of the legal parameters of its operations, including a guarantee of the observance of human rights as well as stoppage of acts of harassment targeting journalists and the general public and confiscation of vendors’ wares and other excesses.
Lack of Preparedness of State Institutions – The COVID-19 crisis has exposed alarming weaknesses of our state institutions across the board, inclusive of the civil protection unit and public health institutions which should be in the forefront of coordinating our national response. Part of this institutional failure has been as a result of past policies such as the neoliberal disinvestment in public services as well as decades of corruption. The current crisis highlights the importance of investing in strong public institutions that can work in an effective and accountable manner, and point to the need for post-COVID 19 reforms to strengthen disaster preparedness and public institutions in general. As citizens we commend efforts by private citizens, civic groups, private sector and philanthropists in responding proactively to equip various facilities, disseminate information and mobilise support for the vulnerable members of society. Indeed, the situation calls for all hands on deck. We call on government to fully recognize the role of civil society in helping deal with the crisis and put in place mechanisms to enable vendor associations, rights organizations and community organizations to contribute to the national solution. As citizens we will continue to monitor the situation and regularly communicate on matters of concern.
