It is clear that January marked a false start to Zimbabwe’s hopes of economic recovery
and the surge in the COVID-19 cases was more like a wake up call for government to act
on the social service systems it had conveniently neglected for decades.
It therefore remains to be seen if government will act as they should, and that is to ensure
they capacitate the health sector to deal with the healthcare needs of all citizens
regardless of class or political affiliation. This is because when disease comes, it does not
discriminate, and with international travel under restriction, government officials, who all
along flew out for medical attention, must now have to make do with the system they
neglected, and if they are ever to learn, the time is now!
Government should provide a clear, inclusive plan on how it intends to deal with the longterm changes brought about by COVID-19 and this should apply to the health and
education sector.
Government cannot continue to deny the existence of the informal sector, and it needs to
have some income and should therefore have a clear plan on how to ensure that the over
70 percent of the population who are in the informal sector, do not become completely
vulnerable.
While social grants - which government has not provided since January - can be welcome,
there is need for a long-term solution to the situation, which, according to experts, will be
with us for quite a long time.
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