The three hours between 3.30pm when most businesses must
close and 6.30pm, when the curfew comes into effect, is seen as adequate for
staff in the general economy to clear their workplace and get home.
The Cabinet agreed on Tuesday that better enforcement of
the lockdown was required because there was an element of non-compliance of the
enhanced lockdown measures.
These measures were added to the standard lockdown in the
middle of last month, basically a ban on social and religious gatherings except
for funerals of less than 30 people with business meetings now to be virtual.
There was a further tightening last week by President
Mnangagwa, mainly an extended curfew, narrower business hours, a ban on intercity
passenger travel and 60 percent of staff to be working from home.
Some people were confused by the Cabinet decision to demand
better compliance, and were not helped by some misleading interpretations put
out on social media platforms.
Putting the position straight in an interview, Secretary
for Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Mr Nick Mangwana said
there had been no new changes in the lockdown regulations and almost all
economic activity could continue in the same way as it had since the shorter
hours announced last week.
But enforcement of the 3.30pm deadline for close of most
business and the 6.30pm curfew was being improved by requiring those who needed
to remain open later and those who had to be out and about after curfew needed
to be able to show they were exempted.
“The position is that all businesses will be allowed to
operate but should do so within the stipulated time which is 3.30pm. The
expectation is that between 3.30 pm and 6.30pm people should be going home
ahead of a curfew set at 6.30pm. After 3.30 pm, only essential services as
spelt out by the law are allowed to open,” said Mr Mangwana.
He reminded businesses and others that they were expected
to reduce their workforces on business premises by riding on technological
platforms so people could work from home and meetings should be held virtually
where possible.
Inter-city passenger travel remained banned and law
enforcement agencies will continue to enforce this with those seeking an
exemption going through the normal procedure and providing evidence of why they
needed an exemption.
Police have been stopping people travelling after curfew,
seeking an explanation and recording details even when they accept that the
travel is legitimate.
The enhanced measures were put in place, and the school
holidays were extended, to help combat a third wave of Covid-19 infection
spreading from initial hotspots that were put under the tighter lockdown
controls earlier.
Cabinet deployed Government ministers to the provinces to
assess the position and reports indicated compliance of the lockdown was
constrained by a number of factors,
There was a shortage of some PPE, misinformation on
vaccines about their alleged negative effects, and shortage of health care
workers at some stations.
During the post-Cabinet public briefing, Information,
Publicity and Broadcasting Services Minister Monica Mutsvangwa said some
district hospitals, such as Nyanga and Chipinge require bulk oxygen tanks,
while some like Zvimba in Mashonaland West, and Plumtree and Gwanda in
Matabeleland South required functional isolation centres.
Construction work at Mvurwi Hospital in Mashonaland Central
needed to be expeditiously completed to meet the current rising demand.
Funerals were singled out as major spreaders of infection
within the provinces. Environmental health workers and police were now
enforcing the 30-person limit, while village health workers were playing their
part in educating villagers.
Cabinet wanted traditional leaders to be more visible and
forceful in the enforcement of lockdown regulations.
Minister Mutsvangwa said it had been noted that public servants
were facing problems of inadequate tools of trade such as desktops, laptops and
vehicles including provision of adequate data to ensure compliance of the
requirement that only 40 percent of staff should be at workstations with the
rest working from home.
All efforts are being made to redress the situation.
There was often poor network connectivity for both staff
reporting for duty and those working from home and some provincial taskforces
indicated that there was erratic fuel supply and inadequate vehicles for
operations.
The start of the second school term will see a combination
of face-to-face teaching, remote home learning, community learning and the use
of alternative platforms such as e-learning, radio and television, Information,
Publicity and Broadcasting Services Minister Monica Mutsvangwa said after the
Cabinet meeting on Tuesday.
All schools are at present being inspected to ensure they
have finalised their Covid-19 preventative measures and have the basic
equipment they need. Herald
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