Kadoma flagged for poor Covid-19 compliance

Kadoma Bureau

The level of Covid-19 lockdown compliance in the City of Kadoma has been flagged as being below expected levels as residents go about their business without due care, Nhau has learnt.
While authorities ramp up efforts to contain the spread of the infectious disease and resultant deaths, the situation on the ground in the CBD and most residential areas leaves a lot to be desired.
A survey conducted by Nhau revealed that a large chunk of the population simply wears masks to avoid arrest and to get access to supermarkets, farm produce market places, pharmacies and other essential service providers.
Regulations are sadly abandoned in the absence of authorities while in some instances, handwashing and temperature checks are foregone.
Nhau spoke to city health director Dr Daniel Chirundu, who bemoaned the large numbers of people getting into the Central Business District (CBD).
“A considerable number of people are still coming to town. The informal sector has shifted to peripheral sections of the CBD. These people are not masking properly. That is posing serious challenges,” Dr Chirundu observed.
At township shopping centres, the prevailing atmosphere is deplorable.
“Most of the shops here do not have handwashing or sanitising points. We will have a catastrophe judging by the way business is conducted here,” said Zivanai Chara, after doing some grocery shopping at Rumwe Shopping Centre.
A businessperson who requested anonymity said: “We’re following the guidelines. The problem is we run out of the requirements but customers continue to come. Sometimes we cannot control them as they also want to beat the lockdown business closing time each day.”
The situation is better at major essential service providers in the city. Nhau observed that all requirements were in place and functional.
However, the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) and members of various other security agencies are going around encouraging strict adherence to Covid-19 protocols and also arresting violators.
The constant presence of law enforcement agents in suburbs and the CBD seems not to deter the public. It is the high-density areas that could soon become hotspots.
Shebeens are operating like there is no lockdown, taking advantage of the closure of formal bottle stores to make a killing.
Bar and bottle store owners have also turned their places into quasi-shebeens – they have devised ways of selling their products discreetly while private homes have been turned into flea markets.
“I’m doing well here. People now know that I’m operating from home and the sales are satisfactory. It’s unlike staying idle. We had challenges during the initial stages of the first lockdown period. As time went by, sales began to improve. I go to Harare for orders every week,” said Amai Amanda, who sells clothes from her home in Waverly suburb.
The new farm produce market, however, is the one area that tells an encouraging story in terms of compliance. Here, there is high adherence.
Perhaps it is due to its location – it is next to Rimuka Police Station.
The arrest of non-compliant individuals has also been used to send a clear message that non-compliance is not an option. However, the other farm produce trading centres are a disaster.
Whenever teams from the ZRP reaction group together with ZNA members patrol suburbs on foot and in trucks, it becomes a cat and mouse game with members of the public.
Latest Covid-19 statistics for the city show that fifteen deaths and 193 positive cases have been recorded as at January 18, 2020. Nhau/Indaba