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Blessing Siyakurima MSU
The Covid-19 pandemic has killed a lot of people and it’s still raging. According to the experts, it is still a year away.
These are dark times and we are headed straight into a festive season during the pandemic.
Clearly, the 2020 festive season will have a very different flavour. Covid-19 has disrupted pretty much every aspect of our lives that it might cause the season to be curtailed or be completely off the agenda.
Traditionally, people in the Diaspora usually bring money, food to enjoy during the Christmas holiday.
However, this festive season they might not come back home because of Covid-19, presenting a challenge to those who rely on their relatives in the Diaspora.
Even if they come, South Africa has the highest Covid-19 cases on the continent, and the public mentality will be that people who are coming from South Africa are spreading the virus.
So resentment and fear of contracting the disease will disrupt the normal way of celebrating Christmas.
Normally, people in rural areas depend on their relatives who usually work throughout the year, but towards year end they would go to rural areas to enjoy with their folk.
This Christmas is slightly going to be the same although the greater part of 2020 was affected by the pandemic. The abrupt closure of industries both formal and informal inevitably degraded employees’ salaries and somehow it’s also going to disturb their bonuses.
The question is, are people going to sacrifice the little they have for Christmas or they are not going to celebrate it at all?
People often use public transport to move to different parts of Zimbabwe to celebrate Christmas.
Considering that the use of public transport is currently restricted to mitigate the spread of the disease, it is going to be a challenge to those who use public transport.
This is going to affect how people enjoy the holidays.
Unfortunately, people are not going to spend their money as they usually do because Christmas and the school calendar for the New Year are very close to each other.
The first week of January every parent is expected to pay school fees, buy uniforms and other basics, yet there was nation-wide shutdown in what was meant to be the busiest season.
With all these restrictions, are people going to celebrate the festive season or they will be grieving?
The Government recently said that parties were restricted to a maximum of 100 people. That will define Christmas for Zimbabweans.
Will they celebrate or grieve?
Online Reporter