Govt defies own COVID-19 regulations

Source: Govt defies own COVID-19 regulations – NewsDay Zimbabwe

BY OWN CORRESPONDENT

Government continues to defy its COVID-19 containment measures after the Masvingo provincial development co-ordinator (PDC) Jefter Sakupwanya summoned all non-governmental organisations (NGOs) operating in the province for a physical meeting yesterday at the Great Zimbabwe University’s Robert Mugabe Hall.

This is despite the fact that government banned physical meetings, church gatherings and limited the number of mourners to 30 in lockdown measures announced recently.

An estimated 80 people attended the meeting yesterday.

In the meeting, Sakupwanya is said to have warned some NGOs, which he labelled “bad apples”, not to meddle in politics or pursue the regime change agenda.

He was not reachable on his mobile phone yesterday for a comment, but some civic organisations that attended confirmed that the meeting took place.

The meeting followed a government directive that all civic organisations report to PDCs, a move critics say President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government is bent on cracking down on NGOs.

In Harare, PDC Tafadzwa Muguti also ordered the NGOs to report to him, but the civic groups hit back saying they did not recognise his office because it was not provided for in the Constitution.