Army, Police Clampdown Spark Outrage
The Employers’ Confederation of Zimbabwe (Emcoz) has written to the Minister of Labour, Paul Mavima complaining about the conduct of the police and soldiers deployed to enforce the lockdown.
This comes after the security forces recently blocked workers from entering into central business districts of some towns including the capital for no clear reason thereby forcing business to close down.
The letter that was signed by Emcoz president Israel Murefu reads in part:
This letter serves to express our concern as business with respect to the disruption that is being caused to operations as a result of actions of security forces at roadblocks and checkpoints particularly in urban centres.
We wish to put it on record that the conduct of security forces, which prima facie, do not appear to be in accordance with known Covid-19 lockdown regulations, is causing serious disruptions to business operations.
Murefu added that as rightfully acknowledged by both the minister of Finance (Muthuli Ncube) and Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor (John Mangudya), the country’s economy is on its knees due to low production adding that the actions of the security forces are likely to worsen the crisis.
This comes after a recent survey by the Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries observed that the Covid-19 pandemic has dealt a major blow on Zimbabwe’s productive sector with some manufacturing companies on the verge of collapse.
More: The Standard
