Opinion / Columnist
'Zimbabwe has 2 747 covid-19 related deaths' - what is nauseating is some still believe the lie
25 Jul 2021 at 02:47hrs | Views
Zimbabweans are a naive and gullible people, easily fooled; hence the reason the country is in such a mess. Indeed, in some cases as now we like to be fooled so we do not have to deal with the consequences of knowing the truth!
Only a village idiot believes Zimbabwe has had 88 415 corona virus cases and 2 747 deaths since the outbreak of the pandemic. One of the reasons why the numbers have remained very low is because the regime has not been testing for the virus even when common sense dictated it. By not testing, tracing and tracking as diligently as we should we have allowed many people with the virus to continue to mix and spread the virus.
We have found comfort in the official figures suggesting there are very few people out there with the virus and dying from it. False comfort since many more people have the virus and died than the official figures and more significantly hundreds of thousands of those who had the virus and thousands of the died would have been spared if only the nation had the common sense to demand to know the truth and due diligence in the testing!
We are a foolish and conceited people who insist on seeing what we want to see regardless of how far-fetched that happens to be from the reality. Zimbabwe is in this hell-on-earth of our own making and we are not getting out of it by pretending everything is just fine!
The coronavirus has happened at the time when Zimbabwe was already down and out after decades of gross mismanagement, rampant corruption and rank lawlessness making the country a Banana Republic in which nothing worked. The idea that the country has fared much, much better than countries like SA with a robust economy, working health care services, etc. is just nonsense.
SA has over 2 million coronavirus cases and over 68 000 deaths and Zimbabwe, with ¼ SA's population and an all but collapsed health care service and economy, should be faring far worse than having ¼ of SA's cases and deaths. Instead of over 500 000 cases and 17 000 deaths; Zimbabwe, officially, has 88 415 cases and 2 747 deaths, less than 20% in each case. No wonder the Zanu PF regime has been bragging about it!
"Despite Zimbabwe's COVID-19 response being one of the best on the continent as evidenced by fewer deaths and infections as compared to other nations, for government, a single death is one too many," boasted Zimbabwe's Minister of Information (read Propaganda), Monica Mutsvangwa.
In a way that there should be such a wide discrepancy between the official coronavirus cases and the real numbers on the ground should not come as a surprise; Zanu PF ruling elite have always ridden roughshod over the masses denying them their freedoms and rights including their right to a meaningful say in the governance of the country and even the right to life. The testing, tracking and isolation protocol was diligently carried out to reduce any of the ruling elite getting the virus; the protocol was largely ignored when it was the life of povo at stake.
To include all the corona virus cases and deaths among the povo in the official count would have exposed the Zanu PF regime's blundering incompetence in the handling of the pandemic and that was sacrilege.
Indeed, the first thing the Zanu PF regime soon after the outbreak of the pandemic was to ensure it alone controlled who get tested of the virus and only the official figures are released for publication. A 20-year jail sentence awaits anyone who publish anything other than the official corona virus cases and deaths.
A 20-year jail sentence for taking away Zanu PF's bragging right that the regime's handling of the corona virus pandemic is "one of the best on the continent" although we all know that is a lie. Worse still, this is a damned lie that has helped the virus spread more widely and faster causing more economic disruption and more human misery and deaths.
There is not one Zimbabwean out there with half a working brain who does not know that the official covid-19 cases and deaths are damned lies; they know in country of 15 million the undertakers would not be overwhelmed by 50 or so additional deaths per day over the normal. And yet the majority of Zimbabweans have elected to believe the damned lie "Zanu PF's handling of the pandemic is one of the best on the continent" because to do otherwise will force them out of their sloth-like slumber - this, just like Zanu PF's lying, is nothing new.
Zanu PF blatantly rigged the 2018 elections; the regime denied over 3 million Zimbabweans in the diaspora the vote (more than the 2.4 million who voted for Mnangagwa), ZEC failed to produce something as basic as a verified voters' roll, etc.; and still the regime maintain the elections were legal, free, fair and credible. Zimbabweans, for the sake of maintaining their sloth-like slumber have pretended their right to free and fair elections is not a right but a privilege and so the blatant vote rigging was all water off a duck's back.
It is true that in the long run, each nation get the government it deserves; we in Zimbabwe certainly deserve this corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF dictatorship complete with the entourage of equally corrupt and useless opposition parties. Zimbabwe is in this man-made economic and political mess because for the last 41 years and counting Zimbabweans have maintained this stony indifference to criminal waste of the nation's material and human resources, causing untold human suffering and deaths, by the country's ruling elite. It sickens me to admit this but readily do so because it will kill me not to; it is far better to throw up, unsightly as that may be, than hold down the poison.
Mankind is a creature of reason and one does not need to be a rocket scientist to an election in which 30% plus of the electorate are denied the vote cannot be a free and fair election. When 49% of the population is languishing in abject poverty, basic services such as education and health care have all but collapsed and the corona virus is caused heart-breaking human sufferings and deaths - far more that the official lies; surely this must force everyone out of their sloth-like slumber and demand change. Sadly, the sloth has not even stirred!
The corona virus storm is not done yet, Zimbabwe will have done very well indeed if the country was to vaccinate the 10 million herd immunity by this time next year (the regime claims it will achieve this target by end of the year, that is doubtful given it took six months to vaccinate 1 million (first dose) and 600 000 (required two doses) and so the grime-ripper has time to increase the covid-19 cases and deaths toll.
And as long as the country remains a Banana Republic governed by corrupt, incompetent and murderous tyrants who are not democratically accountable to the people, the country's relentless march deeper and deeper into this man-made hell will continue; the march will continue as long as the people remain in their sloth-like slumber. The sloth-like slumber has lasted 41 years now, only time will tell how much longer it will last?
Only a village idiot believes Zimbabwe has had 88 415 corona virus cases and 2 747 deaths since the outbreak of the pandemic. One of the reasons why the numbers have remained very low is because the regime has not been testing for the virus even when common sense dictated it. By not testing, tracing and tracking as diligently as we should we have allowed many people with the virus to continue to mix and spread the virus.
We have found comfort in the official figures suggesting there are very few people out there with the virus and dying from it. False comfort since many more people have the virus and died than the official figures and more significantly hundreds of thousands of those who had the virus and thousands of the died would have been spared if only the nation had the common sense to demand to know the truth and due diligence in the testing!
We are a foolish and conceited people who insist on seeing what we want to see regardless of how far-fetched that happens to be from the reality. Zimbabwe is in this hell-on-earth of our own making and we are not getting out of it by pretending everything is just fine!
The coronavirus has happened at the time when Zimbabwe was already down and out after decades of gross mismanagement, rampant corruption and rank lawlessness making the country a Banana Republic in which nothing worked. The idea that the country has fared much, much better than countries like SA with a robust economy, working health care services, etc. is just nonsense.
SA has over 2 million coronavirus cases and over 68 000 deaths and Zimbabwe, with ¼ SA's population and an all but collapsed health care service and economy, should be faring far worse than having ¼ of SA's cases and deaths. Instead of over 500 000 cases and 17 000 deaths; Zimbabwe, officially, has 88 415 cases and 2 747 deaths, less than 20% in each case. No wonder the Zanu PF regime has been bragging about it!
"Despite Zimbabwe's COVID-19 response being one of the best on the continent as evidenced by fewer deaths and infections as compared to other nations, for government, a single death is one too many," boasted Zimbabwe's Minister of Information (read Propaganda), Monica Mutsvangwa.
In a way that there should be such a wide discrepancy between the official coronavirus cases and the real numbers on the ground should not come as a surprise; Zanu PF ruling elite have always ridden roughshod over the masses denying them their freedoms and rights including their right to a meaningful say in the governance of the country and even the right to life. The testing, tracking and isolation protocol was diligently carried out to reduce any of the ruling elite getting the virus; the protocol was largely ignored when it was the life of povo at stake.
To include all the corona virus cases and deaths among the povo in the official count would have exposed the Zanu PF regime's blundering incompetence in the handling of the pandemic and that was sacrilege.
Indeed, the first thing the Zanu PF regime soon after the outbreak of the pandemic was to ensure it alone controlled who get tested of the virus and only the official figures are released for publication. A 20-year jail sentence awaits anyone who publish anything other than the official corona virus cases and deaths.
A 20-year jail sentence for taking away Zanu PF's bragging right that the regime's handling of the corona virus pandemic is "one of the best on the continent" although we all know that is a lie. Worse still, this is a damned lie that has helped the virus spread more widely and faster causing more economic disruption and more human misery and deaths.
There is not one Zimbabwean out there with half a working brain who does not know that the official covid-19 cases and deaths are damned lies; they know in country of 15 million the undertakers would not be overwhelmed by 50 or so additional deaths per day over the normal. And yet the majority of Zimbabweans have elected to believe the damned lie "Zanu PF's handling of the pandemic is one of the best on the continent" because to do otherwise will force them out of their sloth-like slumber - this, just like Zanu PF's lying, is nothing new.
Zanu PF blatantly rigged the 2018 elections; the regime denied over 3 million Zimbabweans in the diaspora the vote (more than the 2.4 million who voted for Mnangagwa), ZEC failed to produce something as basic as a verified voters' roll, etc.; and still the regime maintain the elections were legal, free, fair and credible. Zimbabweans, for the sake of maintaining their sloth-like slumber have pretended their right to free and fair elections is not a right but a privilege and so the blatant vote rigging was all water off a duck's back.
It is true that in the long run, each nation get the government it deserves; we in Zimbabwe certainly deserve this corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF dictatorship complete with the entourage of equally corrupt and useless opposition parties. Zimbabwe is in this man-made economic and political mess because for the last 41 years and counting Zimbabweans have maintained this stony indifference to criminal waste of the nation's material and human resources, causing untold human suffering and deaths, by the country's ruling elite. It sickens me to admit this but readily do so because it will kill me not to; it is far better to throw up, unsightly as that may be, than hold down the poison.
Mankind is a creature of reason and one does not need to be a rocket scientist to an election in which 30% plus of the electorate are denied the vote cannot be a free and fair election. When 49% of the population is languishing in abject poverty, basic services such as education and health care have all but collapsed and the corona virus is caused heart-breaking human sufferings and deaths - far more that the official lies; surely this must force everyone out of their sloth-like slumber and demand change. Sadly, the sloth has not even stirred!
The corona virus storm is not done yet, Zimbabwe will have done very well indeed if the country was to vaccinate the 10 million herd immunity by this time next year (the regime claims it will achieve this target by end of the year, that is doubtful given it took six months to vaccinate 1 million (first dose) and 600 000 (required two doses) and so the grime-ripper has time to increase the covid-19 cases and deaths toll.
And as long as the country remains a Banana Republic governed by corrupt, incompetent and murderous tyrants who are not democratically accountable to the people, the country's relentless march deeper and deeper into this man-made hell will continue; the march will continue as long as the people remain in their sloth-like slumber. The sloth-like slumber has lasted 41 years now, only time will tell how much longer it will last?
Source - zimbabwelight.blogspot.com
All articles and letters published on Bulawayo24 have been independently written by members of Bulawayo24's community. The views of users published on Bulawayo24 are therefore their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Bulawayo24. Bulawayo24 editors also reserve the right to edit or delete any and all comments received.