Planned opposition demo ill-timed

Fungi Kwaramba

Political Editor

Despite the fact that Zimbabwe is still under a national lockdown enforced to help mitigate the devastating effects of the deadly Covid-19 pandemic, desperate opposition officials, whose political careers hang by a thread now want to gain relevance by staging anti-government protests in the futile hope of effecting regime change.

Never mind the collateral damage that is certainly going to accompany such a foolish act of demonstrating under a dark cloud of the Covid-19 pandemic, itself a highly contagious disease that among other things can be curbed through social distancing, limited human movement and the wearing of face masks.

It has no known cure for now.

From the onset of the first confirmed Covid-19 case in the country, President Mnangagwa introduced a raft of measures to ensure that lives are saved under the unavoidable new normal that was spawned by the world plague.

Through a cocktail of measures, including statutory regulations, the country managed to minimise the movement of people at a cost to the general public who bore the brunt of limited movement, and who had to forego the comfort and company of loved ones.

The President was unequivocally clear that while the shock effects of the economy would be redressed in the future, lives lost will never be brought back and thus the need for lockdown, which is gradually being relaxed to allow greater economic activities.

So Zimbabweans, ever patriotic, played their part and adhered to the restrictions that were put in place by Government, not to emasculate them, but to save lives and our record of just over 700 positive cases, mostly from returning citizens, speaks volumes of the swift and timely intervention by the Government.

Indeed, a good medicine tastes bitter to the mouth, but unpalatable as it is, it is something that Zimbabwe needed in order to avoid unnecessary deaths.

Covid-19, which has claimed nine lives in Zimbabwe, is not only a health crisis, but is an evolving disease with far reaching political and economic ramifications whose negative impact will most certainly slow the country’s march towards Vision 2030, job creation and economic stabilisation.

Like the rest of the global village, Zimbabwe is yet to appreciate the full impact of this pandemic that has wrecked even some of the world’s strongest economies.

In the United States, the world richest country, 40 million people lost their jobs as the country adjusted to the ripple effects of the pandemic. Closer to home, surveys in neighbouring countries such as South Africa show that since the outbreak of the contagion, between 8-14 percent people have lost their jobs.

With the world focused on finding a cure for the novel pandemic, demand for exports from African countries like Zimbabwe has fallen, resulting in the fall of mineral prices and earnings from agricultural products such as tobacco.

While this affects the formal sector directly, it will also reverberate in the informal sector, where the majority of our populace eke a living.

Despite these inevitable consequences of the novel pandemic, some in the opposition, desperate for attention and to save their sinking political careers are now trying to sacrifice people’s lives on the altar of political expediency.

Ever the political pretenders that they are, with scant regard to the consequences of their actions, which could fuel the spread of the virus, opposition leaders are determined to hold demonstrations on July 31.

Never mind the existence of channels through which they can vent their concerns, genuine or contrived, the opposition prima donnas are itching for some little action, not because they have any genuine grievances, but because they want some oxygen to revive their sinking political careers and gain attention of their puppeteers.

Zimbabwe’s economy is in distress because of a host of issues that include among other issues, the illegal economic sanctions that were imposed by the Western world at the behest of opposition parties.

Secondly, the asymmetrical warfare that is being waged covertly by “wolves in sheep clothing” who now, having lost patience in the opposition, want to create a market forces driven opposition to the Government though manipulation of the market like the exchange rate.

Thirdly, and horribly, the emergence of Covid-19 has resulted in the Government channelling resources that were meant for other economic fundamentals to the critical health sector.

For instance, the Government has rerouted money meant for capital projects towards the importation of health related equipment, it has employed health personnel to bridge human capital gaps and also availed at least US$8 million per month for a period of three months to succour vulnerable households.

Such interventions inevitably leave a hole that makes economic stabilisation, a sine qua non for economic growth, job creation and the consequent reduction of poverty, difficult to attain. This creates some form of discomfort for the general public, but it is a passing phase that the Government has responded to through provision of safety nets and grants to the poor and also cushioning allowances to its employees.

The genuine unionists would appreciate that both bilateral negotiations between them and Government are continuing and will continue outside the rescue package that was availed by Government and political parties should not try to use workers as vehicles to push their nefarious regime change agendas.