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Mashudu Netsianda/Andile Tshuma, Chronicle Reporters
PRESIDENT Mnangagwa has appointed a 11-member ministerial taskforce to spearhead efforts to fight Covid-19 in the country.
The taskforce will be headed by the Minister of Health and Child Care, Dr Obadiah Moyo and he will be deputised by the Minister of Local Government and Public Works July Moyo.
The taskforce will have 11 ministers, and will work with the Civil Protection Unit.
“His Excellency the President has established an Ad-Hoc Inter-ministerial Taskforce in line with the decision made by Cabinet at its seventh meeting on Tuesday, 17th March, 2020,” read a statement from the Office of the President and Cabinet.
The taskforce’s terms of reference include monitoring the situation, managing the response and identifying any gaps for corrective action as well as mobilising domestic and international financial resources to adequately respond to the outbreak, among others.
The statement also said the taskforce will: “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; 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 field; and 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, Dr Moyo was tasked 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 Minister of Defence and War Veterans Affairs Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri; Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Trade Sibusiso Moyo; Minister of Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage Kazembe Kazembe and Minister of Primary and Secondary Education Cain Mathema are part of the taskforce.
Other taskforce members are Joel Biggie Matiza (Transport and Infrastructural Development), Nqobizitha Mangaliso Ndlovu (Environment, Climate, Tourism and Hospitality Industry), Monica Mutsvangwa (Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services), Mthuli Ncube (Finance and Economic Development) and Amon Murwira (Higher and Tertiary Education, Innovation, Science and Technology Development).
Meanwhile, Government is considering using State universities’ laboratories for testing coronavirus disease (Covid-19) as part of efforts to widen the scope in the fight against the deadly global pandemic, Chronicle has established.
Currently testing for Covid-19 is done at the National Microbiology Reference Laboratory (NMRL) at Sally Mugabe Central Hospital in Harare with confirmatory tests being done by South Africa’s National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD).
The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health and Child Care Dr Agnes Mahomva said it was important to join hands in combating Covid-19.
“We are assessing to find out whether we can partner with the universities and this is actually part of what we do when we have massive disasters such as Covid-19 outbreak when we will be faced with a lot of challenges. We assess a whole lot of other things and we will share with you at the appropriate time,” she said.
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