FULL TEXT: MDC Calls For The Provision Of Safety Nets For Vulnerable Groups

As we enter the 5th day of the National Lockdown in efforts to fight and contain the Coronavirus pandemic, the MDC is concerned about the unfortunate fix upon the ordinary poor citizen.

We are at crossroads.

On one hand, is a devastating virus and on the other a huge crisis of hunger.

Whilst the corona scare is real and all efforts and people must unite to fight and prevent it from further spreading by staying at home and practising maximum hygiene, the economic realities of the ordinary citizen and mostly the urban poor and vulnerable can not be ignored.

Zimbabweans are living from hand to mouth, surviving on less than US1 a day. The majority are in the informal sector and survive on daily earnings.

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Having to spend 21 days locked down with no money, food and access to basic essentials is a potential breeding ground for diseases and starvation. Already there are disturbing reports of ZRP arresting those queuing to buy food at grocery shops.

It has been our clarion call as the MDC that the government put in place social safety nets to cushion and protect the most exposed and vulnerable through the provision of food packs and hygiene packs.

It would be irresponsible for the government to let the situation play out on its own. Article 77 of the Zimbabwean Constitution explicitly guarantees the right to adequate “(a) safe, clean and potable water; and (b) sufficient food; and the State must take reasonable legislative and other measures, within the limits of the resources available to it, to achieve the progressive realisation of this right.”

Whilst we take note and acknowledge the Treasury mitigatory measures to cover one million vulnerable households under a Cash Transfer Program, it is our hope that such resources and efforts reach out to the deserving vulnerable people including the elderly, child-headed families and the homeless.

It is not the time for the usual corruption and partisan distribution of such assistance as has been the norm with regards to food aid in the past.

This is a national disaster and all deserving people must be catered for uniformly. The Ministry of Social Welfare must work with Local Authorities and other community stakeholders to come up with an inclusive nonpartisan list of beneficiaries of this scheme.

A payout of a ZWD 100 per household is insufficient to sustain a 21 day period. There has been a current spike in prices and a monthly breadbasket for a family of 5 will cost not less than ZWD 800.

We, therefore, call upon the government to review the amount allocated per household under the Cash Transfer Program.

We also call upon the government to put in place plans to cushion informal sector actors such as vendors who depend on a daily income since their daily economic activities have been disrupted by the lockdown.

Strategic response and management of this global pandemic must be holistic and must be accommodative of the economic realities and social well-being of every member of the society.

The most vulnerable are the urban poor who can neither access the privatized health facilities nor feed their families. In fighting the pandemic, the government needs to avoid fighting the economic and social wellbeing of an already suffering people.

Maureen Kademaunga
MDC Secretary for Welfare