Raj Modi, the Deputy Minister of Industry and Commerce, has been left frustrated with having to stay away from home since March this year.
Modi had travelled on private business to Australia when the country imposed a lockdown on 20 March, before Zimbabwe closed its borders to foreigners on 30 March. He said:
My biggest frustration is that I am failing to do my job as a Deputy Minister. It’s all hands on the deck and I am not there to help.
Of all the things that are on my mind, it is that I feel helpless but I am optimistic that sooner rather than later I will get a flight home. As soon as flights resume, I will come home. I also miss my constituency.
Modi runs several businesses in Bulawayo and has also been involved with several philanthropic initiatives.
In 2019 Modi coordinated the raising of close to US$10 000 from well-wishers needed for a woman who had been bitten by dogs to travel to India and be operated on.
Cherish Muchegwa was bitten by her landlord’s 5 rabid dogs and sustained serious injuries and had to be airlifted to India’s Kiran Hospital so that doctors could do skin grafting on her body.