Netsai Marova: Another looming disaster:- life after COVID-19 under the current clueless regime

By Netsai Marova

Eleven days into the lockdown, and I can’t sleep. I am scared while imagining how millions of Zimbabweans who voted for the people’s movement and millions more who lost faith in the current government after 2018 elections will handle the changed world coming after COVID-19.

Sadly, the current establishment has a track record of incompetence, they are always reactive and never proactive.

Cyclone Idai caught them unaware, they didn’t have any reserves to alleviate the natural disaster, then doctors went on strike and warned them that the health sector is under equipped, and then WHO also warned them that coronavirus is coming you should buy personal protective equipment, PPE, yet they were still unprepared when coronavirus arrived.

Consequently, I can infer that even now they will ignore warnings by experts who are predicting that the economic meltdown will get worse after the lockdown, and they will let us down again. Clearly, the current regime is not compatible with life after lockdown, and the people’s movement has to save the citizenry from gloom and doom. 

The wickedness of the incumbent administration exceeds that of village fools who steal funeral contributions, because they can even embezzle COVID-19 donations or use them for vote buying while citizens die.

Imagine that despite receiving a lot of donated equipment, they are still testing for suspected COVID-19 cases at tortoise speed. At best, the ministry of health has tested around 30 people per day. At this rate, it will take about 1500 years of daily testing for the current government to test the more than 16 million Zimbabweans for COVID-19.

Do we have have that long? This makes the alarming projections of the increase of coronavirus cases during lockdown days a sad reality. We cannot entrust the health of the nation to the current administration any longer, they lack the sense of urgency. If coronavirus spreads, the current government will have committed a genocide.

The current  administration is known for overpromising and under delivering. Their globe trotting, which was put on hold by the coronavirus pandemic, failed to attract the much needed foreign direct investment.

They then failed to resuscitate local industry by ensuring meaningful production, they also failed to solve shortage of electricity and they crippled agriculture through ineffective command policies, and the tourism industry has not been doing well.

All this poor performance happened before the COVID-19 crisis. How do you think the current regime will perform during the economic recession coming after the lockdown? They will perform poorly as usual, and even start begging when it’s too late. 

Unemployment will have increased because cross border traders will join us, the unemployed group, something I realized after studying the guidelines released by SADC on harmonization and facilitation of cross border transport operations across the region during this pandemic.

The informal traders and vendors will also join the unemployed group because all their savings and capital are being used to feed their families during the lockdown, making restocking a nightmare.

The informal sector which employs the greater part of the 10% of employed citizens has tragically suffered because of inactivity in the market, a lot of businesses will not be reopening anytime soon, which automatically means massive job losses in the informal sector.

With this coming increase in unemployment, we cannot watch while our lives come to an end because of a group of common thugs operating cartels to plunder state resources while masquerading as saviours of the people. 

Despite the diabolical tax system put in place by Ministry of Finance, there hasn’t been any real commitment from government to finance all businesses that are affected by this pandemic like what other countries are doing.

We have seen the United States of America for instance registering its unemployed citizens for survival grants, and businesses being assisted to stay afloat, yet in Zimbabwe even the promised welfare grants haven’t surfaced, and the majority of small businesses operators have already spent their savings and are now chewing into their capital.

This is evidenced by their presence on long winding mealie meal queues which are still seen at shops during the lockdown, a glaring reminder that the current administration has no solution, but is the actual problem. Their strategy of squeezing us through austerity measures will not work after lockdown, we will be in crisis mode, the only thing we can give them is a fight for our own economic liberation.

All the above are results of rampant corruption and gross maladministration of state resources by incumbent politicians, who are ignoring the robust economic blueprint made publicly available by the people’s movement.

As Zimbabweans we are hardworking people, we respect the dignity of labour,  yet this government has let us down, and is setting us up for another disaster waiting to happen after lockdown. How then can I sleep?

When you my fellow countrymen who put so much trust in your movement are going to bed on empty stomachs, and your lives are in imminent danger. We definitely need a new government that can nurture entrepreneurship, revitalize the economy, and industrialize the nation so as to create dignified jobs. For now, the situation is getting worse just like my insomnia.

Netsai Marova is MDC Alliance National Deputy Organising Secretary