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THE fact that our biggest trading partner, neighbouring South Africa has decided to reopen its land borders from Monday following advice from its National Coronavirus Command Council (NCCC), should not in any way prod Zimbabwean authorities to blindly follow the same route as circumstances in the two countries differ on many fronts. Our fears are that if we rush to open our borders for travellers from COVID-19 hotspots like South Africa, this could result in a surge in imported cases, which will in turn further complicate the health situation in the country given the parlous state of our health infrastructure. Authorities should, therefore, be on the side of caution until we achieve maximum control of the pandemic. It’s a fact that despite recording a record higher infection rate and deaths in the Sadc region and facing the spectre of a deadly third wave, South Africa undoubtedly fares much better in health service delivery as compared to most of her peers in the region, particularly her northern neighbour. Besides, the Cyril Ramaphosa-led administration has already secured and continues to stockpile vaccines to inoculate its citizens, in addition to introducing a host of new protocols to minimise infections at its ports of entry. Although Zimbabwe might be under pressure from business and other quarters to reopen its borders, conditions on the ground at the moment don’t allow for a rash decision. We have travelled this road before, so we should be wary of the pitfalls lying ahead of us. This is not the time to mimic anything South African like we have done before. Economic interests should not supersede the sanctity of human life. Adequate measures such as massive vaccination of citizens, curbing corruption at borders and in the issuance of COVID-19 certificates to ensure our borders don’t turn into COVID-19 hotspots or super-spreaders as it were, ought to be put in place before we consider opening our doors for foreign travel. In short, Zimbabwe should try by all means to match measures that South Africa has implemented. The issue of porous borders as well as corruption at the points of entry, which has remained our Achilles heel, requires urgent address if we are to safely resume travel and trade with other countries. It’s not in doubt that our public health delivery system is in the intensive care unit and has no capacity to absorb additional shocks. Therefore, authorities should tread with caution and remain guided by pragmatism if we are to win the war against the virus. The fact that our COVID-19 infection and death rates are going down should not lull us into believing that we have won the battle, considering that neighbouring South Africa is facing a new highly infectious and transmissible variant that might even be more difficult to tame.
The president also stressed the importance of keeping the economy open after months of stifling movement restrictions.
He urged citizens not to drop their guard and continue adhering to the health rules, such as wearing face masks and respecting curfew times.
South Africa has recorded just over 800,000 coronavirus infections - more than a third of the cases reported across the African continent - and over 20,000 deaths.
AFP
Judith February On December 5 we marked the seventh anniversary of the late former South African President Nelson Madiba Mandela’s passing, while 10 December marked the 24th anniversary of the final Constitution which was signed into law by him at Sharpeville in 1996. Somehow it seems fitting that these important events are five days apart on the calendar even if separated by 17 years. The adoption of our final Constitution was a significant milestone, though 24 years are not the same as 25 and so 2021 will doubtless be the year where we look at the making of our Constitution and the road we have travelled, more carefully. While the Constitution remains a lodestar to those who believe in the constitutional democracy we wrought, it has now become fashionable to blame Madiba and the Constitution itself for lack of transformation within our society. It is a limited argument that ignores the politics of the day and the corruption and mismanagement that lies at the heart of our inability to ensure basic rights are protected. A more expansive notion of constitutionalism was proffered by former Chief Justice Pius Langa when he said: “Transformation is a permanent ideal, a way of looking at the world that creates a space is in which dialogue and contestation are truly possible, in which new ways of being are constantly explored and created, accepted and rejected and in which change is unpredictable but the idea of change is constant. This is perhaps the ultimate vision of a transformative constitution . . . It envisions a society that will always be open to change and contestation, a society that will always be defined by transformation.” Most democracies find such mature contestation tricky to navigate. South Africa is no different. Given the challenges South Africa faces, it is easy (and perhaps inevitable) to slip into reductionist thinking on the Constitution itself, that it is an imported liberal concept and not worth the paper it is written on. But in a world of cheap populism and easy answers, now more than ever we need to dispel what is reductionist and ahistorical. Former Constitutional Court judge Justice Albie Sachs is a charming storyteller. He talks of his debates on constitutionalism with his old friend, the late Kader Asmal, with humour and relish. Sachs never misses an opportunity to explain the African National Congress (ANC)’s debates on the Bill of Rights and the Constitution. In these confusing times of noisy debate about constitutionalism, his recollections are worth pondering. Sachs describes the pre-1990s rights debates within the ANC as difficult and often fierce. Is the fight for human rights a “luxury” when one is fighting for national liberation from a system as brutal as apartheid? Sachs often recalls how some within the ANC believed that a Bill of Rights would only seek to protect entrenched (white) privilege while not providing the majority of citizens with true protection. During the 2016 #feesmustfall activism, the Constitution itself came under scrutiny. For many younger South Africans, the o
Ramaphosa said that we can expect a vaccine by 'the second quarter of 2021\" and assured South Africans that funding is being urgently sought.
(ThyBlackMan.com) Walter Williams loved teaching. Unlike too many other teachers today, he made it a point never to impose his opinions on his students. Those who read his syndicated newspaper columns know that he expressed his opinions boldly and unequivocally there. But not in the classroom. Walter once said he hoped that, on the day […]
Members of NUMSA and SACCA went to the Kempton Park police station to lay criminal charges against current and former executives and board members of SAA and SAA Technical.
While Alan Winde believes Level 1 lockdown regulations are sufficient, he will ask the president to consider possible \"consequences\" for people who do not wear a mask.
[Cameroon Tribune] The Abakwa boys played a 0-0 tie with Kaiser Chiefs of South Africa on Saturday December 5, 2020 in the second leg preliminary in Johannesburg.
The Rape Impact Cohort Evaluation (RICE) study enrolled 1 019 HIV negative women and found that among those who were raped, there was a 60% increased likelihood of contracting HIV
\"Today, we wish to reiterate our plea to South Africans to heed the threat of the rising numbers of Covid-19 cases identified,\" Health Minister Zweli Mkhize said.
Herman Mashaba has weighed in on the situation at the Beitbridge border, as swathes of South Africans demand that the crossing must close.
(Reuters) - Former test batsman Mohammad Wasim has been appointed Pakistan’s chief selector, succeeding Misbah-ul-Haq, until the 2023 World Cup in India, the country’s cricket board said yesterday.
The article Wasim named Pakistan’s chief selector until 2023 World Cup appeared first on Stabroek News.
New, more contagious variants of the novel coronavirus have been found in four patients in the District, city health officials have confirmed.
The post Coronavirus Variants Found in D.C. appeared first on The Washington Informer.
