Curfew breaking is widespread in Harare, with a growing number of cars
seen driving around northern suburbs late at night, although shopping centres
are abandoned in these suburbs, and with vending and public drinking common at
high-density suburban shopping centres well into the night.
Earlier in the evening there are the non-deliberate curfew
breakers, generally those who have battled to catch a pair of buses to get
home, since many have to find one bus to get from their workplaces to the city
centre and a second one to get from there to their nearest bus stop and then
need to walk home.
The queues at the nearest bus stop to their workplace and
at the terminus in town where they catch their home bus are sometimes long, and
many have to wait at both for the second or third Zupco bus going their way.
But as the night progresses these accidental curfew
breakers, who generally are now wearing masks, are safely home while the
deliberate curfew breaking starts, with social visits and people seeking
entertainment and companionship while they drink. These deliberate curfew
breakers generally shun masks and are quite happy to huddle together, shake
hands and laugh at social distancing rules.
While police say they are concerned about the numbers
breaching curfew regulations, patrols are few and most roadblocks are lifted as
darkness falls, making it easy for those who reckon they cannot fall sick to do
exactly what they want.
At the beginning of the curfew, most did their best to
follow the regulations, at least until they could find out about how heavy
enforcement was, but traffic and social gatherings quickly built up.
A night curfew from 6pm to 6am for all but essential
services and a retreat to 8am to 3pm working hours for exempted but
non-essential businesses was imposed three weeks ago as part of measures to
slow infection rates.
While the formal sectors follow the new working hours, with
police checking at many supermarkets and strolling down the pavements in the
city centre and at suburban shopping centres as 3pm approaches to make sure
they obey, vendors tend to be more flexible and are prepared to play
cat-and-mouse with the authorities.
This reached a crescendo at Kamfinsa on Friday afternoon
when three police officers in a pick-up truck fired tear gas canisters into the
car park shortly before 4pm in an attempt to disperse vendors but hitting the
queues at the
five pharmacies in the shopping centre harder and with tear
smoke drifting into neighbouring blocks of flats where a lot of old people
live.
But about 20 minutes later there was more intelligent
enforcement when a truck brought in police officers who actively ambushed and
arrested most of the vendors breaching the 3pm business hours limit but leaving
everyone else alone.
But such enforcement is rare. A good example can be found
in Epworth where bars are open and vending common late at night within half a
kilometre of a 24-hour roadblock, and where those being checked at the
roadblock can easily hear the noise of partying drinkers, but the police take
little notice. The drinking is active at the other two shopping centres late at
night as well, but these are out of earshot of the police.
Even where there are patrols, the word is quickly passed
that “the cops are on the way”, and vendors and their customers merge into the
shadows until the patrol has passed and then re-emerge to resume business and
socialising.
Northern suburbs residents tend to visit friends by car,
but the scale of the problem can be seen when a couple of dozen cars, besides
the exempted traffic, pass in both directions along a major arterial road in
these suburbs in a 20-minute stretch near midnight. It is unlikely they are all
essential workers exempted from the curfew for the sole purpose of driving to
and from work.
Police have been trying persuasion. National police
spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi raised concern over the issue
and called on the public to adhere to all health regulations in place to curb
the spread of Covid-19.
“We are equally concerned about this, particularly in high
density suburbs where a lot of issues which include people operating shebeens,
people moving around while defying the curfew order and people drinking beer in
bars,” he said.
“People are ignoring safety measures put in place by the
Government, people are taking the issue of Covid-19 for granted, people are
disregarding these regulations just for leisure. Everyone is at risk. These
regulations were put in place by the Government for their safety.
“We urge all stakeholders to come on board and take heed of
health and safety messages and if we do that the Government can manage the
situation of Covid-19. But as long as people are complacent and want to be
forced to comply, then we are going nowhere.”
Most recently, Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage Minister
Kazembe Kazembe made a call to the public to adhere to the laid-down health
measures aimed at preventing the spread of the pandemic.
“We appeal to the general public to observe the lockdown
regulations. It is for their own good . This is no longer an issue for the
police alone . It’s about saving our own lives . We all have to act
responsibly. We need to curb the spread of this virus.
“Covid-19 is real and we have lost prominent people in the
last few days . I don’t know how else we are suppose to realise that this
pandemic is real and we need to act now. Whilst the police are expected to do
their job, let’s all take this pandemic seriously. We urge the public to report
any suspected cases of collusion between the police and those that are breaking
the law.”
But few listen.
In Kuwadzana Extension on Heroes Day eve, it was business
as usual with most of the streets filled with people and vendors who were
selling their goods around 7pm. Most of the people there were neither wearing
face masks nor practising social distance.
By this time most of the accidental curfew breakers, the
returning workers, were home meaning these were those who were now out to have
fun.
It was the same at the popular White House shopping centre
in Kuwadzana, a few metres from the Bulawayo highway were revellers were
braaing and drinking beer while some were vendors selling fish.
Illegal money changers could also be seen soliciting for
customers while some of the hardware shops were still operating.
The same was witnessed at Glenview 1 and 3 and Glenorah A,
popularly known as Spaceman Shopping Centre, where people were busy conducting
their business.
At the popular Mapuranga area in Machipisa, it was business
as usual around 9pm with vendors selling their goods. Unauthorised commuter
omnibuses plying the Machipisa-Chitungwiza route were also loading and
offloading passengers.
Passengers were not sanitised as they boarded the kombis,
nor were they asked to put on masks. This is common with the pirate kombis on
all routes at all hours, while Zupco conductors usually insist on masks and
squirt sanitiser on the hands of boarding passengers. But Zupco does not run
night services and buses and Zupco kombis return to depots after delivering
their last batch of commuting workers.
One of the vendors, who refused to be named, said their
customers are only available after 6pm since most of them would be at work.
“We cannot help it. We are aware that we are supposed to be
indoors by now, but our customers are only available after 6pm after finishing
their work. We are then forced to be out here at this hour.
“Police officers always patrol on this area and whenever we
see them, we run away and hide our things and we will be back as soon as they
go.
It was a hive of activity at Chigovanyika shopping centre
in St Mary’s, Chitungwiza, around 10pm where vendors could be seen selling
various wares.
The whole shopping centre was packed with people, and again
as is common with curfew breakers, the majority were without face masks and
were not practising social distance.
Vendors at Chigovanyika said they are aware of the curfew
order but they only make a sale during the night, hence disregarding the order.
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