The Sunday Mail
Farai Makubaza
ON countless occasions, President Mnangagwa has made policy announcements that are futuristic in nature, equally on countless occasions he has received brickbats from a section of society which has deliberately taken a position against him.
A position taken mainly on opposing political inclination.
President Mnangagwa has got visionary leadership which has given him sneak peeks into the future, and he has shared these with fellow citizens, and only forward looking Zimbabweans have believed in him.
Speaking at a function sometime in February, the President tackled the vaccination issue and said, “ichasvika nguva yekuti kana usina kubaiwa vaccine, basa hauriwani . . . Zupco haukwiri . . .”
What the President was doing in this instance was galvanising the nation towards the vaccination drive, which many people at that time were quite sceptical of.
President Mnangagwa’s leadership style is laid back and relaxed, that is why the sobriquet ED, has stuck nationally and at a global level, he can make serious policy announcements but in a very relaxed fashion.
He is quite an affable character and we must get used to this. The days of table banging and tongue lashing pronouncements are behind us. This is leadership that should resonate with the people.
During the early days of the vaccination drive, rumour mongers and harbingers of fake news went into overdrive disparaging the inoculations, some went as far as predicting that in two years’ time vaccinated people will start capitulating to the side effects of the dose. President Mnangagwa saw beyond this cheap rhetoric and tried to hazard the nation.
As has become the norm, armchair critics and pseudo social media experts lambasted him for trying to accost the whole nation into an “unsafe” area.
He was derided for trying to shepherd the whole nation into vaccination for the benefit of ‘his Chinese friends’, and all kinds of hogwash.
Globally, the partial lifting of lockdowns in certain sporting codes or economic sectors has been facilitated by having people in those fields having taken the vaccine.
In the UK and several European countries, certain bars have been open to vaccinated people, sporting disciplines have been open to spectators who are vaccinated culminating in what is now known as the vaccination passport phenomenon.
This is what President Mnangagwa was talking about!
It is high time we trust in the word of our own President, for more often than not, he has been right.
Social media memories are very short, naturally so because there are more fake academics and analysts than anywhere else.
In fact there are trolls in borrowed academic robes. If anything, there is a section of society that owes President Mnangagwa an apology, for the umpteenth time he was right.
The negative effervescence with which his prophetic words were received by the usual coterie of naysayers and doomsday pepperers will forever be remembered, inasmuch as it was shocking. Cabinet recently gave the green light for churches to open, albeit for vaccinated congregants. This comes on the backdrop of Victoria Falls being the first city to receive a localised relaxation status, following the achievement of herd immunity status. A recent report on ZTV revealed that landlords are beginning to demand vaccination cards from home seekers and would be lodgers.
This move is quite understandable, whilst it is anyone’s right not to vaccinate, once this right infringes on the right of others, principally the right to life, then it is quite acceptable for people to protect their interests by removing undesirable people from personal spaces.
Business recently called on Government to consider having vaccination passports. Large corporates have joined in the fray, there is no doubt that the scourge of Covid-19 has caused irreparable damage to some organisations to the extent that some organisations will fold. These are the sad realities. A considerable number of companies have furloughed a lot of employees and no-one knows whether they will be employed afterwards.
These are the devastating effects of Covid-19. Delta Beverages is running a campaign encouraging people to get vaccinated, and so are many other conglomerates. President Mnangagwa’s vision back then in February had shown him that vaccination is the only way to go, not many believed.
This should put paid to those who do not believe in Vision 2030. President Mnangagwa is a visionary.
Farai Makubaza is the acting director for Media Services in the Ministry of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services. He wrote this article in his personal capacity.
