Cabinet happy with progress in response to Covid-19 outbreak
1. Zimbabwe Response to the COVID-19 Outbreak
The Chairman of the Ad-Hoc Inter-Ministerial Task Force on COVID-19, Honourable Vice President K.C.D. Mohadi presented the weekly report on the National Response to the COVID-19 Outbreak, which was adopted by Cabinet. Cabinet was informed that the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases had increased to two hundred and eighty-seven (287) from the one hundred and seventy-four (174) recorded on 30 May, 2020. The number of those who have recovered from the disease has increased from the previously reported twenty-nine (29) to forty-six (46), while the number of deaths remains at four (4). The number of active cases is now two hundred and thirty-seven (237).
Cabinet noted that there was much progress made in the country’s response to the COVID19 outbreak. It is heartening to note that the University of Zimbabwe is manufacturing a four layer mask, which is the most optimum one and recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
Given the increasing number of positive cases, alternative quarantine centres with a carrying capacity of 5 267 were identified to free schools, which are currently housing the returnees.
a) In order to curtail the prevalence of people absconding from quarantine centres, Cabinet agreed that identification/travel documents be collected from returnees on arrival and returned to them at the end of the quarantine period.
b) Noting that not everyone who is COVID19 positive has a conducive self isolation home, Cabinet resolved that some asymptomatic COVID-19 cases be placed in isolation centres that are not hospitals;
c) In line with His Excellency the President’s decision that schools should start reopening, Cabinet resolved that the re-opening of schools be moved from the proposed 29 June, 2020 to 28 July, 2020 to allow the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education to engage Treasury and other stakeholders/ partners to mobilise for the provision of adequate resources;
d) The decision to reopen schools on 28 July
ONE wintry morning in 1997, villagers in Gororo communal lands in Chivi, Masvingo South, woke up to a spectre of caterpillars, graders and front-end loaders felling trees, shoving and tossing huge boulders and ripping open mother earth’s belly with their iron fangs.
For the villagers the confluence of Tugwi and Mukosi rivers had, since time immemorial, been nothing, but a sign of nature’s exhaustless generosity and a geomorphological splendour. Nothing more.
But this day, the communal lands were agog with the news that a new dam was being built at the confluence to change their lives forever.
For Chivi, whose name is synonymous with drought-and is home to the proverbial old woman who, when faced with starvation, boiled stones and drank the broth — anything that beats drought is a huge honour.
News that Government was building Zimbabwe’s largest inland water body at the confluence ignited euphoric scenes and hysterical celebrations in Gororo and beyond.
The dam was billed to be an antidote of the gnawing hunger caused by perennial droughts.
Villagers across the length and breadth of Chivi started sharpening their plough sheers and readying themselves for irrigation that would eventually exorcise the ghosts of hunger and drought.
After a tortuous 17 year-construction journey, Gororo villagers in particular and the Chivi community in general, finally welcomed a new baby in May 2017, with Italian contractor Salini Impregilio having played midwife for the dam project that cost a whooping US$270 million, which was wholly financed by Government.
The pomp and fanfare in the wake of the dam’s commissioning was testimony that the Chivi folk fully embraced the project and were preparing to beat drums of an agricultural war predicated on a massive irrigation development project that would eventually help them weanoff the basket-case tag.
However, the flashing embers of hope and optimism that engulfed them three years ago are gradually dimming, plunging them into a world of despair over an initially promising agricultural renaissance and dream that seems to have been deferred.
The drums of hope have suddenly stopped and hopes of creating a greenbelt across the entire Chivi hinterland, using Tugwi-Mukosi which can irrigate more than 25 000 hectares when full, have been replaced by pessimism.
In officialdom circles, talk over failure to exploit the dam’s water revolves around delays in crafting the master plan, which will also include the irrigation master plan. An irrigation master plan is a prerequisite for irrigation development and officials say its absence is stalling use of Tugwi-Mukosi water to produce food. 2020 does not affect the June Examinations which are to be held from 29 June to 22 July, 2020 as initially proposed;
e) In order to clarify the position regarding operations of food outlets during the COVID-19 lockdown period, Cabinet agreed that such outlets should operate within stipulated times as per their licences.
f) In line with (e) above, Cabinet agreed that the following conditions be met for the food outlets:
- temperature testing on arrival;
- regular hand sanitisation;
- wearing of masks;
- social distancing;
- regular disinfection of workspaces; and -provision of transport for employees after hours. Workers should also be subjected to confirmatory PCR tests
g) In an effort to contain Covid-19 imported infections, Cabinet agreed that every person transiting through Zimbabwe should have a Covid-19 free certificate and that they be subjected to further testing by PCR upon arrival in Zimbabwe.
2. Cotton Floor Producer Price for the 2020–2021 Cotton Marketing Season
Cabinet considered and approved a Cotton Floor Producer Price of ZW$43,94 per kg for the 2020-2021 Cotton Marketing Season, which gives the farmer a 15 percent return and ensures viability and competitiveness of the cotton industry. The price proposal was tabled by the Minister of Lands, Agriculture, Water and Rural Resettlement, as Deputy Chairman of the Cabinet Committee on Food Security and Nutrition.
The ZW$43.94 per kg producer price will be paid out in the following manner: US$10 per each bale of cotton delivered;
ZW$ cash notes; and
farmers’ mobile money wallet accounts.
It is emphasised that the price and provision of inputs support in the production of cotton is part of Government’s social protection and provision of safety nets programme to alleviate the plight of marginalised rural farmers. All inputs for cotton producers are free.
3. Day of Fasting and National Prayer We wish to advise that His Excellency the President is set to officially announce a day of fasting and national prayer.
MUMIRIRIRI weBuhera South mudare reNational Assembly, Cde Joseph Chinotimba, vakavamba chirongwa chekuwanisa vanhu vemudunhu ravo vanodarika 30 000 mamask pachena nechinangwa chekurwisa kupararira kwechirwere cheCovid-19.
Hurumende yakadzika mutemo unoita kuti vanhu vose vapfeke mamask pose pavanenge vari munzvimbo dzeruzhinji uyewo kuti vagare vasina kuita chitsokotsoko. Panguva imwecheteyo, veruzhinji vanokurudzirwa kukoshesa hutsanana nekugeza maoko nesipo nemvura inochururuka.
Covid-19 chirwere chinokonzerwa nehutachiona hunonzi coronavirus uho hunotapiriranwa nyore muvanhu uye nekukasika.
Muhurukuro neKwayedza, Cde Chinotimba vanoti ibasa remunhu wose kuona kuti chirwere ichi chamiswa kupararira.
“Ini handingomirira kuvhoterwa nevanhu chete, ndiri muranda wavo uye mushandi wevanhu vanondisarudza. Izvi ndizvo zvinoita kuti ndirambe ndichivamirira kuno kuBuhera South.
“Nekuda kweCovid-19, ndakatenga michina makumi maviri yekusona inosanganisira mimwe yemagetsi iyo iri kushandiswa nemadzimai anokwana makumi matatu kusona mamask evanhu vemudunhu randinomirira. Havasi kuzorora kusona masikati nehusiku kuti tiwanise vanhu vose mamask munguva ino,” vanodaro Cde Chinotimba.
Cde Chinotimba — avo vanowanzozivikanwa nekungoti “Cde Chinoz” — vanoenderera mberi: “Dunhu rangu reBuhera South harinaye mvura zvakanaka nekudaro kunogara kuine nzara. Izvozvi vanhu vari kutosunza. Saka ini saMP wavo, ndave kuita kuti vawane mamask epachena vose.
“Mudunhu mangu mune vanhu vanodarika 30 000 vakuru nevadiki, kureva kuti takatarisana nekusona mamask anodarika 30 000.”
Madzimai ari kusona mamasiki aya vanonzi vakazvipira kuita basa iri pachena.
Cde Chinotimba vanoti kana basa rekusona mamasiki aya rapera, pane hurongwa hwekuzotanga chirongwa chekusona mayunifomu echikoro, mahovhorisi nedzimwe mbatya dzemucheno nemichina iyi.
“Machira, shinda nendandi zvinokwana mamask aya ndakatenga. Mukati mevanhu ava mune vamwe vanoayina mamask acho kana apera kusonwa.
“Kana basa iri rapera, tichazoita kambani yekusona iyo tinotarisira kuti ichakwikwidzana nemamwe makambani ari kumaguta akaita sekuHarare, Mutare nekuChipinge mubasa iri,” vanodaro Cde Chinotimba.
Vanoti basa rekusona mamask iri vanotarisira kuti richange rapera nenguva pfupi iri kutevera kuti vanhu vose vakwanise kuwana zvinovadzivirira mukutapurirwa hutachiona hwecoronavirus.
“Kana zvemamask zvapera, madzimai 30 ari kuita basa iri aya acharamba achishanda. Kuchapindawo vamwe mabasa vanosanganisira vanocheka machira, kutsvaira nezvimwe. Zvose izvi zvabva mumamask eCovid-19 saka denda iri rativhurira mikana, raunza mabasa kuno kuBuhera.”
Muchirongwa chekupa mamask kuvanhu ichi vanoti havasi kusiya vana vechikoro nevadzidzisi muzvikoro zveko.
“Zvikoro zvedu zvichavhurwa uyewo tine vana vari kuda kunyora bvunzo munguva iri kuda kutevera saka tichavapa mamask vose,” vanodaro.
Mamask aya vanoti ari kupihwa kumasabhuku emudunhu ravo avo vanozoagovera muvanhu.
“Kukaitika rufu ndiri kufamba zvakare ndichidzidzisa veruzhinji nyaya dzehutsanana kuti vasaungane ndichibatsirwa nevashandi vekuzvipatara nemakiriniki. Handidi kuti vanhu vekudunhu rangu vafe nekushaya zivo,” vanodaro Cde Chinotimba.
Cde Chinotimba vane mamwe mabasa ebudiriro avari kuita mudunhu ravo anosanganisira ekutonongora nzungu nemichina.
“Tine michina inotonongora nzungu nekukuya dovi iyo iri munharaunda, tine mapindu anorima zvakasiyana uye tine kambani inobika chingwa nemabhanzi izvo tinotengesa nemitengo yepasi. Tinewo kambani inogaya hupfu huchitengeswa nemari yakadzika zvikuru,” vanodaro Cde Chinotimba.