The Sunday Mail
Address to the nation by His Excellency the President, Comrade E.D Mnangagwa, in the wake of the second wave of Covid-19 pandemic, Harare, January 23, 2021.
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FELLOW Zimbabweans,
As I address you, our nation, alongside the rest of the world, is under renewed attack from Covid-19, the pandemic which has hit the whole globe and humanity.
The pandemic we thought was beginning to ease, has come back with a vengeance.
It has picked new strains which spread faster, are more aggressive, and about which more is yet to be known.
Worldwide, over 99 million people are now infected, with the number clearly set to keep rising.
So far, upward of 2 million people have died from it, again with more set to succumb to the virus daily.
For our nation, the numbers of infections have gone past 30 000, with indications pointing to more infections in the coming hours, days, weeks and even months.
To date, we have lost over 962 of our beloved, and soon, we will reach and even pass the grim mark of a thousand.
The situation is very worrisome, and threatens to become dire.
There is hope, however.
Our recovery rates are once more beginning to creep up.
While we are facing an increasing number of cases requiring hospitalisation and close professional care, there is scope for increasing our capacities to respond in order to cope with the likely upsurge.
Our frontline staff continue to give their very best, and we owe them greatly for their huge sacrifices.
On the ground, the lockdown is holding, with more and more Zimbabweans voluntarily taking measures that are necessary to protect themselves, their families, their friends and their fellow countrymen and countrywomen.
Our law enforcement agencies are active, manning all key points.
We are ready with more deployments, and ready to prescribe stronger measures, should that become necessary.
Government has and is engaging countries which have developed vaccines.
Help and relief are on the way.
Our experts who have been assessing different vaccines, are very close to finalising the course to recommend to our nation.
A course which brings in relief, and which we will roll out across the length and breadth of our nation, so we do not lose more lives than has become inevitable.
A course which ensures that the vaccines we introduce in our bodies are both safe and effective.
Consultations are underway with the private sector to ensure we pool our efforts and resources for a definitive national response.
We will spare no effort, spare no resource, to save the lives of Zimbabweans.
We will spare no effort to protect our frontline staff who have served us remarkably well under very challenging conditions in these trying times.
They are the heroes and heroines of our nation, and should receive priority protection so they in turn protect, you, me, all of us.
Once we receive the vaccine — and it will be quite soon — they will be the first ones to be inoculated.
Fellow Zimbabweans,
The pandemic has been indiscriminate in its grim harvest.
Zimbabweans from all walks of life, all stations, all tribes, all races, all regions, have succumbed to it.
We have lost loved ones; we have lost Ministers of Government and officials.
We have lost more, across the political divide.
The danger we face, meets us as Zimbabweans, whatever our station, colour, creed or politics.
Today, we are united in grief and in facing this overbearing danger.
There are no spectators, adjudicators, no ‘holier than thou’, no super men or women.
We are all exposed.
We are all potential victims.
We are all affected, one way or the other.
We must stand together, arm in arm, holding each and one another like a united people.
The situation which confronts us may make us feel depressed, even helpless.
Let me remind each and every one of us that we have been through worse challenges as a people.
Challenges we have had to confront alone, when the greater part of the world moved on with indifference, or was even complicit in seeking our ruin.
We have confronted danger on our own, with a few allies and friends.
Yet we overcame, which is why our nation stands to this day.
Come to think of it, some forty years ago, we were not even a nation.
Before then, we were in the throes of a vicious war for our national Independence.
We lived and took each day at a time.
All looked desperate.
Yet here we are today, a free people and a free nation!
Yes, we overcame, thanks to our unity, collective determination and shared sense of common purpose.
Yes, we triumphed, the same way we will triumph yet again.
Now is the time to strengthen that unity, determination and shared sense of purpose.
We face a new kind of war, but a war nevertheless.
We face a new enemy, but a common enemy nevertheless.
As before, we summon that inner resource, individually and collectively, to yet again win the war, vanquish the enemy.
You, me, all of us, acting singly and collectively to one shared end.
You, me, all of us becoming each and one another’s keeper.
l We must mask up, wearing our masks properly, at all times covering the nose and mouth.
l We must stay at home, only leaving our homes when it is absolutely necessary and unavoidable.
l We must practice maximum hygiene at all times, in all places.
l We must practice social distance: as individuals, as families and as communities.
l We must stop going to private parties and gatherings.
l We must report suspicious cases of returnees.
Once we feel unwell, exhibiting symptoms adjudged suggestive of Covid-19, we must seek help and get tested.
Should we turn out positive, we must isolate until we recover fully and are safe to resume normal lives, but within strictures of community safety.
Help is on the way; your Government is doing all it can to ensure our nation is defended and protected.
More substantive announcements will be made in the coming days.
In the meantime, let us continue to behave responsibly, and even raise our collective vigilance for our own safety and that of those dear and close to us.
We will overcome and as leadership, we stand shoulder to shoulder with you as we work to defeat this global pandemic.
In conclusion, may I, on behalf of Government and our entire nation, take this opportunity to express our heartfelt condolences to all those who have lost their beloved ones from this deadly virus, and to wish speedy recovery to all those who have been infected by it.
Keep yourself safe!
Keep your neighbour safe!
Keep Zimbabwe safe!
May God Bless our nation, and save it from danger.
Vamwe venyu murikunwa doro, mukawona mapurisa movhara-vhara moita sevanhu kwavo.
Kana vapfuura motanga kumwa zvakare, kwete!
Chirwere ichi chinouraya, asi chinokundika.
Kukundika kwacho kunoda kuti tese titeerere mirairo irikubva kuhurumende.
Tikadaro chinopfuura, tigova nehupenyu hwedu hwakanaka zvakare.
Ikozvino tirikupa mutemo wekuti mugare mudzimba, musafamba.
Vekumabasa, tirikungoti vanemabasa atisingakwanise kumisa ndovatakati vaende, vamwe vese mirai.
Tichiitira kuti tikaterera zvese izvi chinodarika tigodzokera muhupenyu hwedu hwamazuva ose.
Hachina muchenjeri, hachina benzi, hachina kuti une mari kana kuti hauna; hachina kuti wakafunda kana kuti hauna.
Chero uri munhu chinokusvasvanga, saka ngatiregei kuita misikanzwa.
Ngatitevedzerei zvinotaurwa nehurumende kuti chirwere chipfuure ichi, tichikunde.
Ndinofunga kuti vazhinji munyika medu vanovimbika nekuterera murairo.
I thank you.
