The Sunday Mail
Sunday Mail Reporters
A lockdown, according to the Oxford dictionary, is “a state of isolation or restricted access instituted as a security measure”.
Going by the above definition, Zimbabwe’s 21-day Covid-19 lockdown elicited mixed reactions around the country at the onset.
But by midweek, in most parts of the country the lockdown worked like a charm, attracting Presidential praise. The Head of State and Government President Mnangagwa on Friday applauded Zimbabweans for exercising self-discipline.
In some instances, however, the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) and municipal police had their hands full as a few delinquents disregarded the order.
Some were of the view that since the informal sector is a big player in Zimbabwe’s economy — most people were unable to survive without working, hence they went about their “normal lives”.
Last week, The Sunday Mail observed a number of people in different areas across the country sharing beer mugs at bottle stores, playing draughts in groups, queueing for basic commodities in shops without adhering to social distancing rules, or fetching water from boreholes in large uncontrolled numbers.
Most people interviewed by our reporters had not witnessed a single Covid-19 positive case in their communities and thus believed the disease “is for those that fly to China and Europe”. Below is a round-up of Zimbabwe’s 21-day Covid-19 lockdown from our reporters dotted around Zimbabwe, seven days after the measures went into effect at 2.02am on Monday morning.
Mtandazo Dube in Domboshava
Human beings’ gregarious nature has been put to the test here. Villagers are unable to attend funerals the way their forebearers have for centuries. Every such gathering is superintended by the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP). When numbers begin to swell beyond 50, the cut-off under the revised rules of the lockdown, some mourners are immediately asked to leave.
At Showground Shopping Centre, about 40 kilometres north of Harare, loitering is prohibited. Awareness campaigns about the dangers of Covid-19 are a combined effort between the police, village headman and other community leaders. However, it seems keeping crowds small has been their only success.
“Chinotanga chapedza variku Harare chozouya kuno (It will finish people in Harare first before affecting us),” said a villager interviewed by this publication, echoing a common line repeated by most villagers.
Handwashing and social distancing, two of the most emphasised ways to curb Covid-19, are not adhered to by many in Domboshava. The use of alcohol-based sanitisers is out of the question as they are out of reach for many.
Simbarashe Manhenda recently in Kadoma
To begin with, the term lockdown in Kanyemba village, Kadoma, is just a strange word frequently used by those fleeing the 21-day Covid-19 lockdown in urban areas.
The majority of people in this rural enclave do not even know that the lockdown applies to them as well.
Life is as it has always been. Just that it has been spiced up by large numbers of long lost friends and relatives flocking back to the countryside. This reporter got an uncomfortable three-minute hug from an uncle, who took the opportunity to rebuke relatives, like me, who only return to their roots sick and ready to be buried or fleeing pandemics like the novel coronavirus.
People are still waking up to work the fields. Only difference is that there is more labour.
Men are the main culprits. They flock to their gold claims in large numbers of up to 200 people. Afterwards they go to local bottle stores and other leisure centres in groups, to enjoy their hard-earned cash.
However, highways are a completely different cup of tea. About five kilometres from Chegutu, on the Harare-Bulawayo road, police officers were demanding proof that one was a provider of essential services and sanctioned to travel.
In my case, I showed them my press card. I tried to negotiate for almost 30 minutes but they would not budge. I was taken to the nearest police station where I negotiated with the officer-in-charge for over an hour. She finally let me go.
The story remained the same all the way to Harare where I was stopped after every 20-30 kilometres, with the police demanding passes. A two-hour journey from Kadoma to Harare ended up being a five-hour excursion, littered with roadblocks.
Leonard Ncube in Victoria Falls
The business community has largely heeded the call by President Mnangagwa as the central business district (CBD) in Victoria Falls is deserted after shops closed. Big supermarkets like OK and TM Pick n Pay only open for people to buy essentials. But in the high-density suburbs it is a different story. The police had to move around starting Thursday, telling people to stay indoors or risk arrest.
This was after people in residential areas had largely ignored the lockdown directive and gone about their business, aimlessly walking around the streets while children played in groups.
Petros Kausiyo in Greencroft, Harare
The lockdown in Greencroft and New Marlborough areas has been religiously observed. Vendors and most informal traders were nowhere to be seen last week. Only vehicle tyre repairs, LPG gas traders, supermarkets and butcheries were active.
Activity around shopping centres starts at 9am. By 4pm, an hour after supermarkets and butcheries operating under a lockdown schedule would have closed, the business centres are deserted once more.
With the bottle stores and bars closed, The Sunday Mail observed that there is virtually no outdoor life for imbibers. A few odd friends meet for a couple of hours and drink from their cars in the car park around the shopping malls.
Refreshingly for motorists, the lockdown has meant an end to long winding queues as fuel has been readily available particularly at service stations in the CBD and at Belgravia Shopping Centre along Second Street Extension.
Thupeyo Muleya in Beitbridge
In Beitbridge people have continued to stay in their homes with only a few seen at business centres and pharmacies to get groceries and medication.
Municipal police and the ZRP are working together to enforce the 21-day Covid-19 lockdown order on the roads where a few pirate taxis are still visible. The culture of social distancing is gradually becoming the order of the day at most public places.
Tinashe Kusema in the Avenues, Harare
Most people seemed to have heeded President Mnangagwa’s call for a nationwide lockdown. The first three days, most residents were in complete lockdown, with virtually no life on the streets except the odd shopper and hospital visitor here and there. Most flats looked deserted. Even kids spent their days inside.
However, as the week wore on, there were more signs of life as imbibers found their way to drinking spots.
“The shops are open, and we can still buy our beers, so life goes on,” said one resident.
“Twenty-one days is too long a time to go without drinking or having fun. I’m about to call my boys and make a plan.”
Rumbidzayi Zinyuke in Mutare
In Mutare, there was very little traffic in the CBD on Monday and Tuesday.
By Wednesday, there was a notable increase in both human and vehicular traffic as more people ventured into the city centre in search of basic commodities. At one point there were long queues at some shops which had received mealie-meal supplies.
In Sakubva, activity was recorded at the vegetable market where vendors were selling their produce early in the morning.
However, the bus terminus and the flea market remained deserted. Movement in high-density suburbs like Chikanga and Dangamvura was slightly high as people went about with their daily activities.
Brighton Zhawi in Mufakose, Harare
One thing for sure is that people are more afraid of the police than the virus itself. Life remains normal in most parts of Mufakose — it is business as usual in this high-density suburb.
For most kids this is a typical April school holiday, as clearly seen by how they still play outside in groups and roam around the streets.
Women are doing their routine chores, cleaning the yard and going to the nearest boreholes to fetch water while men are socialising at their usual hangout spots such as bottle stores, even though they are closed.
However, the main streets are significantly deserted, with very few cars driving by. Beerhalls and bottle stores are closed while supermarkets are adhering to the social distance regulations and ordering the use of sanitisers on entrance. There is high demand for gas despite the US$3 per kg price tag in most areas.
Freedom Mupanedemo in Gweru
In Gweru, people are staying home. Streets are virtually empty since Monday last week. Police have barricaded some roads leading into the city. This has seen Gweru’s CBD become so empty that last week a solitary baboon was seen strolling the streets of Gweru scavenging for food. Few people who were in the CBD could be seen running away while others took pictures of the rare visitor to the City of Progress.
However, it appears as though the lockdown is simply for people not to get into the CBD. In residential areas people are roaming the streets visiting each other or loafing about. Social distancing is not being observed.
Asked what the 21-day lockdown meant to him, one resident of Mkoba, Mr Aaron Museve, said he understood it to mean that people could not get into town.
Langton Nyakwenda and Norman Muchemwa in Chitungwiza
A survey conducted by The Sunday Mail in areas covering Unit A, B, C, F and G in Seke, Chitungwiza, shows that there has been no total lockdown.
In Zengeza and St Mary’s people continued to mill around shopping centres in search of foodstuffs and beer. Most people here cannot afford to stock up foodstuffs as they survive from hand to mouth. This resulted in mini skirmishes at Zengeza 2 Shopping Centre where police had to fire teargas to disperse crowds on Thursday afternoon.
The fracas caused the temporary closure of TM Supermarket, which has been serving locals since Monday. For the self-employed like tyre service providers and cobblers, it has been business as usual while street vegetable markets continued to operate.
Locals here cannot stay indoors completely as they have to fetch water from nearby boreholes for daily use. There is no running water in most households of Zengeza and St Mary’s.
There has been little movement of people from Seke rural, which supplies Chitungwiza with green vegetables at the Chikwanha market. The market has been closed since Monday. Towards the end of the week, police had deployed patrol teams to raise awareness on the importance of staying at home and to ensure the lockdown is functional.
Gabriel Masvora in Bulawayo
In Bulawayo most people heeded the lockdown order. Only a few were seen moving in town and residential areas. Police mounted roadblocks on all roads leading into the city and demanded that motorists produce letters authorising them to travel. A few retail shops were open with most ensuring that customers observed social distancing while some supermarkets such as TM Pick n Pay were sanitising customers and checking their temperature on entry. A few skirmishes were, however, witnessed at shops in suburbs where residents were expecting mealie-meal deliveries.
