FULL TEXT: EFF Zimbabwe Condemns 'Elitist And Anti-poor' Lockdown Measures

EFF Zimbabwe is perturbed by the Mnangagwa led the administration’s decision to lock down the
country indefinitely without consulting widely with different stakeholders in the country.

The continued lockdown measures are heavily pounding on the majority of citizens who have for the longest of time survived through hand to mouth.

We are aware that governments around the globe have taken similar measures but these were followed by magnanimous resolutions to bail out citizens during this difficult period.

It is disheartening to note that Mnangagwa’s government appears obsessed with imposing the restrictive aspects of the lockdown without any effort to cushion the economic plight of the vulnerable sections of our population, many of whom have been cut from the informal sector, their lifeblood for daily sustainability.

Resultantly, the lockdown has gradually become elitist and anti-poor in its design and purpose, being enforced oblivious to the precarious food situation that most of our people are facing, given also the hyperinflationary environment.

Our people also continue to live with erratic water supplies particularly in suburbs of Bulawayo, Harare and other urban areas which reduces to jokes all efforts to ensure hygienic living conditions in efforts to stem the spread of this deadly virus.

At the same time, it is equally sad to note that the authorities have in an opportunistic manner adopted a program of destroying informal sector vending sites in the urban areas incognizant to the reality of the high rate of unemployment in the country.

This is shocking particularly given that not even a single coronavirus case has been attributed to these sites, if anything the source of the virus locally is largely connected to the well off who have the means to afford plane tickets to hotspot countries in Europe and United States among others.

EFF strongly condemns this excessive and heartless use of force by the authorities who appear determined to use the lockdown measures as a campaign to wreck the livelihoods of poor people and as a basis for wholesale economic disempowerment of an already suffering population.

EFF Zimbabwe, therefore, call upon Mr Mnangagwa’s government to ensure adequate socio-economic protection of the vulnerable and to desist from abusing the coronavirus crisis as a reckless opportunity to attack the livelihoods of poor people.

EFF Zimbabwe also calls on the authorities to ensure that the lockdown measures do not become an opportunity for police officers and other enforcement agents to solicit bribes from our people ostensibly in the enforcement of the lockdown measures such as requirements for face masks and travel pass authorities.

Security officers must also desist from taking the lockdown as an opportunity to violate the human rights of people, through intimidation, harassment, wanton beatings and torture of civilians.