Zimbabwe to go into a 21-day lockdown on Monday 30 March 2020

Zimbabwe President Emmerson Mnangagwa announced on Friday that the Southern African nation would go into lockdown to inhibit the spread of the coronavirus.

In an emergency state of the nation address on Friday, Mnangagwa said all businesses barring essential services would be closed from Monday.

Zimbabwe lockdown receives almost universal support

Mirroring the decision made by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on Tuesday, Mnangagwa has opted to deploy Zimbabwe’s army to maintain law and order during the lockdown alongside police.

Mnangagwa said it was time to put political differences aside and shortly after his address he received the wholehearted support of the leader of Zimbabwe’s opposition, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).

MDC Alliance leader Nelson Chamisa said: “The decision to lockdown Zimbabwe is necessary, wise and supported. We are in circumstances of a catastrophe. There is only one Zimbabwe. We are one people, politics aside we must unite to save lives.”

Mnangagwa had been criticised for his approach to the coronavirus crisis in a week which saw Zimbabwe confirm its first death from the virus. There have been just five confirmed cases but a lack of testing capability means those numbers are likely well below the actual figures of infected.

The move to institute a 21-day national lockdown in Zimbabwe has been met with approval from medical professionals who fear that the country’s health system could quickly be overwhelmed by COVID-19 infections.

“If we don’t lockdown we could count dead bodies in the next few weeks. This is a good move,” said Mpilo General Hospital clinical director Dr Solwayo Ngwenya. 

This week Zimbabwe’s reintroduced the use of foreign currency, in the form of the US Dollar, as a stabilising measure as the pandemic struck home.

Mnangagwa has put a blanket ban on all public transport barring the Zimbabwe Passenger Company (Zupco). Private transport operators have been outlawed for the lockdown period.

The Zimbabwe president said that Food markets will remain open but will be supervised by public health officers. Mnangagwa said that those caught hoarding food and other basic essentials would face criminal prosecution.

As a special dispensation funerals will be exempt from Zimbabwe’s lockdown, but they will be limited to 50 mourners or less.

Zimbabwe joins South Africa and Lesotho as the Southern African countries to have instituted lockdowns to curb the spread of the coronavirus. Elsewhere on the continent, Sierra Leone has closed its borders, while DRC’s capital Kinshasa has imposed a curfew.