Four years after Mugabe, Zimbabwe’s ''blocked'' transition



By Blessing I. Vava 


The 17th  of November 2017 is significant in Zimbabwe's political calendar as it marked the end of President Robert Mugabe's 37-year reign through a military coup. As we reflect on the four years since the ouster of Mugabe and the ascendancy of Emmerson Mnangagwa as the country's leader, we must discuss the progress we have made in addressing the challenges the country faced during the years that President Mugabe was in power. 

For decades, post-independence in 1980, Zimbabwe’s political and economic environment kept regressing because of the ruling ZANU PF party’s misrule and bad governance. Under President Mugabe, Zimbabwe witnessed egregious human rights abuses mainly targeted at the opposition, the media and civil society activists. The opposition was labelled as enemies, while the exercise of freedoms and rights as guaranteed in the country's constitution was gradually whittled and became a preserve to be enjoyed only by ruling party supporters. Various pieces of legislation were crafted mainly targeting the opposition, the media and civil society as the ruling government sought to limit democratic space. Laws like the Public Order and Security Act (POSA), the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act were all enacted to target perceived opponents and silence dissent. 
 

However, without belabouring too much on the performance of the government during Mugabe's era, it is important to note that events happening in Zimbabwe currently are a sad reflection on the deceptive characters of the country's leaders who are continuing in the path of Mugabe, if not worse.  It is no longer in doubt that the country’s rulers are using the law as part of an agenda to create a one-party state where the opposition and civil society are outlawed. The ‘second republic’ has gone back to history to retrieve some archaic tactics of repression such as introducing obnoxious laws like the Law and Order Maintenance Act (LOMA) of 1960 which infringed on people's freedom of association, assembly, movement and expression and the banning of political parties such as ZAPU and ZANU.  

The reform promises that the coup plotters made in November 2017  ie; to restore constitutionalism and the rule of law,  to end corruption and promote human rights and democracy in their imagined "Second Republic" have turned out to be a farfetched dream. The second republic has perfected the repressive apparatus under Robert Mugabe with ruthless determination. The autocracy is deepening faster making a mockery of the promises of November 2017. Already, the country has witnessed the decimation of the main opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change Alliance (MDC Alliance) using the courts. The courts are being used to settle political battles and instead of the judiciary acting independently and impartial they have become subservient to the ruling party's wishes painting a gloomy picture on the future of democracy in Zimbabwe.  

Despite the country adopting a new constitution in 2013, the government of Zimbabwe has failed to align old laws to the new constitution. Instead of implementing the new constitution, the government opted to amend the constitution to concentrate power in the Executive.  Whilst the same government promised to do away with some bad laws such as AIPPA, POSA to mention but a few, the reality on the ground proves otherwise. VERITAS, notes that laws such as the Public Order and Security Act [POSA] were replaced with the almost identical Maintenance of Peace and Order Act; AIPPA was repealed, but the new regulations seek to maintain some of its odious aspects. Veritas further noted that Bills have been presented in Parliament to remove checks and balances on judicial appointments and to centralise power in the President.


The government continues to pay lip service to the reform agenda they promised in 2017. The most worrying thing now is the continued shrinking of the democratic space and if anything, what we are witnessing in Zimbabwe is the suspension of the constitution. Apart from the many statutory instruments which the government are busy crafting, various laws are being put in place also to regulate the operations of Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and civic work in general. This should be a worrying development for citizens as the government seems determined to muzzle the freedoms of its citizens. According to an analysis by the International Center for Non-Profit Law the proposed Private Voluntary Organisations Amendment Bill, 2021 states that The Minister has broad discretion to replace a PVO’s executive committee with provisional members, which allows the Minister to interfere with a PVO’s internal affairs. The Minister has broad discretion to require trusts registered with the High Court to stop collecting public contributions, including from outside the country, and to register under the PVO Act. This imposes double registration and restricts funding, which both violate best practices. This law threatens the existence of civil society and is a step backwards for the country's democracy and that is the very reason why citizens must resist the re-energised approaches of dealing with those perceived to be critical of the government. 

These laws are coming with a focus on the impending elections in 2023.  After ZANU PF orchestrated commotion in the opposition, it is now determined to ensure that civil society is crippled. The winds of change that blew in Malawi and Zambia have left the ruling ZANU PF party in a panic mode and thus determined not to leave anything to chance. 
Looking back to four years ago when Mnangagwa delivered his inauguration speech on the 24th of November 2017 at the National Sports Stadium in Harare, one would be left wondering how quickly the tide has changed as all the commitments and promises made have proved to be empty rhetoric. Mnangagwa had started on a good note, and quoting his speech he said: “.. we must, however, appreciate the fact that over the years, our domestic politics had become poisoned, rancorous and polarising. My goal is to preside over a polity and run an administration that recognises strength in our diversity as a people, hoping that this position and well-meant stance will be reciprocated and radiated to cover all our groups, organisation and communities.’’ A helicopter analysis today tells a completely different story. 

In conclusion, the “second republic” tenure is proving that Zimbabwe is well entrenched on the same trajectory it was going under President Mugabe. The only difference is that now it is an overt military state. With the level of determination and callousness the state is dealing with the opposition and dissenting voice (particularly the broader democratic movement) the 2023 election has to be a cause for concern to Zimbabweans, the region and the international community. It is, therefore, crucial to mobilise and organise citizens to resist this dangerous trajectory the ZANU PF leadership has placed the country on. There is a need to reawaken the citizens’ agency with urgency, and the mobilisation of communities to stop the government of Zimbabwe from imposing such dangerous pieces of legislation that seek to create a one-party state. The civil society and all pro-democratic forces need to join hands and create a formidable alliance of resistance to safeguard the little that is left for the citizens to enjoy their fundamental freedoms and rights as enshrined in the constitution.  It is also in the interest of regional bodies like SADC, the AU and the UN to bring to check the actions of the government of Zimbabwe which has declared war on its citizens. The laws being introduced in Zimbabwe are a clear violation of the many protocols and international statutes that Zimbabwe is a signatory to.  Mnangagwa's deceit must be exposed as he is proving to be even worse than former president Mugabe.  


Blessing Ivan Vava writes from Chipinge. He can be contacted at blessingvava@gmail.com 


Zimbabwe’s Looting Machine: Cartels, Smugglers, Stealing Country’s Wealth

 

Photos: Getty Images / Waldo Swiegers / Cynthia R Matonhodze / EPA-EFE/AARON UFUMELI

In early February 2021, South Africa’s  Maverick Citizen published an explosive report,  Cartel Power Dynamics, which dug deeper into Zimbabwe’s web of looting, illicit cross-border financial transactions by cartels causing devastating effects to the country’s economy.

As Tom Burgis observed in his 2015 book, The Looting Machine, “Africa’s troves of natural resources were not going to be its salvation; instead, they were its curse.’’ The mAVERICK Citizen report estimated US$3 billion a year in minerals like gold and diamonds being smuggled out of the country at the expense of the national economy. Zimbabwe remains poor despite the abundance of resources a phenomenon described by Burgis (2015) as the “resource curse” as a result of systematic looting.  In sequence, Macartan Humphreys, Jeffrey Sachs, and Joseph Stiglitz of Columbia University in 2007 wrote, “despite the prospects of wealth and opportunity that accompany the discovery and extraction of oil and other natural resources, such endowments all too often impede rather than further balanced and sustainable development.” Zimbabwe rightly fits in this jigsaw puzzle.

According to the Daily Maverick, the report sought to understand the extent and impact of cartels and state capture on Zimbabwe's political economy, exposing the contributing factors that have enabled these cartels to thrive. The report looked at the power structures behind cartels in Zimbabwe and analysed their impact on the economy, service delivery and long-term prospects of democratisation in Zimbabwe.

In its findings, the study exposed three types of cartels in Zimbabwe,  the first being collusive relationships between private sector companies; the second being the abuse of office by public officeholders for self-enrichment, and the third and main type being collusive relationships between public officials and the private sector.

The report also observed that these cartels thrive in Zimbabwe because of a complex mix of political, economic and social factors that create an enabling environment for cartel-based corruption. These include patronage, the militarisation of the state, unstable macroeconomic conditions, weak property rights, lack of rule of law and limited citizen agency to deal with corruption.

Overall, the study shows that cartels are deeply entrenched in many parts of Zimbabwean life and recommended for Zimbabwe to achieve economic stability there is need for cartels to be dealt with decisively.

Of interest is the exposé of President Emmerson Mnangagwa as one of the cartel ring leaders whose patronage and protection keeps cartels operating in the country. Kudakwashe Tagwirei, a businessman and advisor to President Mnangagwa, widely regarded as a key benefactor of ZANU-PF was also named amongst the fuel, agriculture and lately mining cartels and one of the key cartel bosses who is also at the centre of state capture. According to the report: “Tagwirei, who falls into this paper’s categorisation of money men, deftly managed the two by financing ZANU-PF’s 2018 election campaign and gifting both Mnangagwa and Chiwenga, their spouses and several top government and ZANU-PF officials with vehicles that were imported duty-free under the Command Agriculture Program (CAP). Tagwirei was recently described by President Mnangagwa as his favourite disciple, and Vice-President Chiwenga allegedly stormed out of a ZANU-PF politburo meeting when youths accused Tagwirei of corruption.”

Suffice to say, Emmerson Mnangagwa is a business partner of Tagwirei, in fact, Mnangagwa himself has said that Tagwirei is a relative – “my nephew”.

Thus, Tagwirei abuses the fact that he is in a corrupt business relationship with Mnangagwa to bully government departments and state-owned companies into illegally siphoning money from the state into their own pockets.

With the current legislation that guarantees access to information, credible sections of the media should have identified and quantified the number of contracts Tagwirei’s companies and subsidiaries have with the state. 

Such must be revealed because there has never been one single business empire in Zimbabwe that monopolises state contracts in the manner that Tagwirei has done.

In reality, what Zimbabwe is currently going through under Mnangagwa is a form of criminal state capture by his kinsman, Kuda Tagwirei is essentially in business with the First Family.  Therefore,  there is no doubt that the extent of capture is deeper than what has come out in this particular report.

Consequently, while the report drew ire from Civil society and citizens in general it is the lack of a coordinated campaign and programme of action by citizens to rise against this cancerous behaviour that is bleeding our economy. The issue seems to have died down, and how soon do Zimbabweans forget and attention has been divided to discuss Vice President Kembo Mohadi’s alleged philandering escapades with said subordinates. Typical of a citizenry whose consciousness has escaped and never said goodbye.

The silence of Zimbabweans over such an issue is alarming and at this rate, we will be left with no country.  This report is just the tip of the iceberg of the many scandals and grand looting by cartels who have captured the state in broad daylight.

Despite the abundance of information floating around our media has also been exposed for their lack of sophistication and rather limited investigative capacity to search for more and expose the shenanigans that have been happening over the past decades. The country has an adequate legislative framework to guarantee Zimbabweans media access to such crucial information,  but there is no one to genuinely pursue such because the media is either complacent, captured or compromised.

It is in this light that all right-thinking Zimbabweans must stand up against the Tagwirei kleptocratic syndicate because at this rate we will soon be left with no country.

In the final analysis, I would posit that the solution to dealing with cartels and state capture is to remove ZANU PF from political power, and Zimbabweans must never be apologetic about that.  However, the process in which ZANU PF will be removed from power is through elections, this is why therefore there has to be a clamour for electoral reforms to enable free and fair participation of citizens. This does not mean, however, that other means to remove a captured state will not be explored, because, under a dictatorship, electoral outcomes are not the true reflection of the people’s wishes and interests.

Blessing Ivan Vava is a blogger based in Chipinge. He can be contacted at blessingvava@gmail.com



COVID-19: Africa’s wins and big losses


 By Blessing Vava

One year after the first recorded cases of COVID-19 were reported in Wuhan, China in December 2019, the world is experiencing a second wave of the deadly COVID-19 pandemic with the emerging new variants leading to a rise in infections and deaths.

However, even with the emergence of the new variants, the rate of infections and deaths in Africa remains low as compared to the other continents.

The latest statistics from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control 25 January 2021 points out that Africa has recorded78,894 deaths; compared with roughly 969,992 in the Americas, 662,326 in Europe, and 324,294 in Asia.

Whereas in 2020, the U.N. Economic Commission for Africa in April predicted that the COVID-19 would spread like wildfire in Africa estimating 300,000 deaths by end of 2020, citing crowded cities where social distancing is impossible, poorly funded health sector and lack of testing facilities etc, it seems it has not happened as predicted.

Basing on the statistics, it seems the first wave of the coronavirus had less impact than predicted and to date, death rates haven’t met those worst-case scenario predictions as compared to Asia, Europe and Americas. The case-fatality ratio (CFR) for COVID-19 in Africa is lower than the global CFR.

Consequently, some theories are suggesting that those numbers might not actually reflect the reality on the ground due to a variety of reasons. Central to the argument being pushed suggest that testing for COVID-19 cases has been comparatively limited on the continent, which could be contributing to lower case numbers.

However, as the debates continue whether COVID-19 has had much impact on the continent or not, the realities on the ground are that though still low, the second wave is claiming lives more than we anticipated and this has exposed many governments in Africa for lack of preparedness and uncoordinated response mechanisms. With previous outbreaks of Ebola and Cholera etc we are still found wanting with our lack of preparedness.

As this is happening countries in the developed world, in particular the United States, Europe, China and Canada are running vaccination campaigns and inoculating their populations. In Africa, it seems we are always lagging behind and still negotiating with foreign governments for vaccines, why is that so? One wonders what the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention,  (a public health agency of the African Union to support the public health initiatives of member states and strengthen the capacity of their health institutions to deal with disease threats) is doing, what are our scientists, researchers doing? Since time immemorial we have been waiting for vaccines from outside the continent and now with conspiracy theories flying around on the negative effects of the vaccines, the question still stands why Africa has been failing to come up with its own vaccines compatible to our situation.  In countries like Zimbabwe, the government is said to have approached Russia and China for Covid-19 vaccines as the country battles to contain the spread of the virus which has claimed 3 cabinet Ministers in 10 days.

COVID-19…the Case of Zimbabwe

Whilst the country is on an extended 2 weeks hard lockdown with a 6 am to 6 pm curfew, with a surge in infections in particular in the first 2 weeks since the beginning of the year, hospitals have been failing to cope. From a public health perspective 2020, the imposed lockdowns were more proactive with concerted efforts being made to arrest the spread of the virus as compared to the current which is more or less reactive, based on the cluelessness of the Mnangagwa's administration. However, from a socio-economic angle, some would argue that the lockdowns are failing to work due to their economically destructive nature. It should be noted that the purpose of the lockdowns is to curb transmission of the virus and it should be a time for the state to prepare hospitals, source supplies and learn from treatment innovations perfected elsewhere. But instead, a lockdown which is not supported by the rolling out of a mass testing campaign, provision of personal protective equipment (PPEs), capacitating and expanding facilities, the fight against the pandemic will remain a pipe dream.

Enforcement of Lockdown

Furthermore, concerns have been raised in the manner in which the lockdowns are being enforced, and instead of it being a mitigatory public health issue lockdowns become security issues, police heavy-handedness to those found violating the regulations. In reality, the COVID-19 lockdowns have proven to be an opportunity for insecure regimes to close the democratic space.

In the same light, and despite the lockdown, the rate of infection is going down but deaths continue to rise with many people dying at home due to the inaccessibility of health facilities due to exorbitant fees, the lack of adequate infrastructure and equipment to treat COVID-19 patients etc.

And as we wait for the Russia/China vaccines a government official, Robert Mudyirama, the Head of Monitoring and Evaluation in the Ministry of Health and Child Care, announced that government was failing to procure enough Covid-19 vaccines adding that of the 3 Million doses set to be acquired under the COVAX scheme, would be prioritized to frontline health care workers, ministers, Members of Parliament, the security sector and senior government officials.

Though the government has backtracked on this announcement, such a move would not only have been shocking but very disturbing and priority should be given to high risk or vulnerable groups. In doing so, the government must ensure that there is equity, fairness in the rolling out of the vaccines and they should appropriate funds towards this initiative. The government of Zimbabwe should ensure a people-centred approach in the provision of health care, ensuring free testing, free PPEs and free vaccination should the vaccines come to the country.

However, as it stands it seems there is no clear plan to deal with the virus despite the lockdowns. Public health facilities remain deathbeds with ill-equipped facilities, poor remuneration of the health workers etc.

The country’s health delivery systems are dysfunctional as far as promoting the provision of core health services because of the nationwide economic decline, corruption and staff attrition.

It should thus be the responsibility of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, our governments and mandate to institute reforms and the creation of a Public Health Emergency Taskforce to guarantee a rapid response to outbreaks and emergencies on our continent. This should be complemented by robust mechanisms to strengthen the surveillance and response systems, as one of the major priorities.

Blessing Ivan Vava is a blogger based in Chipinge. He can be contacted on blessingvava@gmail.com

"Racism in China: With friends like these does Africa need enemies?"


By Blessing Vava

 There have been complaints of xenophobia over the treatment of African nationals in Guangzhou. Photo: Handout广州 ​

The recent photos,  videos of African nationals, living and/or working in China, being evicted from their homes by landlords turned away from hotels, despite many claiming to have no recent travel history or known contact with Covid-19 patients are quite disturbing. It’s disturbing because of the default assumption that COVID 19 started from outside China, yet it emerged from within and the world had to burden with the containment strategy on the same.

 In some of the videos, awash on social media, African nationals can be seen being harassed by police and others sleeping on the streets in the cold southern Chinese city of Guangzhou.
The unfortunate incidents have drawn ire from many parts of the continent particularly on social media with African social media users taking turns to attack the Chinese people, government over the racist and xenophobic actions exhibited in Guangzhou. In this regard, civil society organisations in Africa have launched a petition to the African Union on Chinese mistreatment of Africans in China.  
The Chinese government ought to be pressured to respond adequately and in a manner that shows they acknowledge the problem at hand. So far,  Beijing's responses have been inadequate, unconvincing and insincere.

Incidentally, American media and government found this as an opportune time to put a wedge between China and Africa in their diplomatic rivalry and battle for political and economic influence across Africa.  A statement from the US State Department said: "It's unfortunate but not surprising to see this kind of xenophobia toward Africans by Chinese authorities…Anyone who watches Chinese engagement in projects across Africa recognises this kind of abusive and manipulative behaviour."

Several African countries have remained mum except for a few who have released statements in that regard. Countries like Nigeria, Uganda, South Africa and Ghana to name a few have spoken out over what happened in China.

Zimbabwe, a country that has aggressively pursued an active and engaged relationship with China than other African states chose not to speak. However, the reactions so far from African countries are weak and quite disappointing, they failed to hit the bull straight in the eye. It appears as if they are also defending the actions of the Chinese. The responses by the African leadership are worrisome as they confirm suspicions on shady deals that are happening at elite levels without consent by African citizens.

In a majority of the statements, no country dared challenge the Chinese government to at least acknowledge and apologise for the barbaric behaviour towards African nationals. Despite  “expressing concern” over the incidents, our inferiority complex was exposed.  One country after the other re-emphasised on the "excellent" relations dating back to the decolonisation project in Africa. It cannot be business as usual and this is not a very good example of excellent relations.

Posting on his, Twitter handle yesterday April 13, 2020, the Chairperson of the African Union Commission Moussa Faki Mahamat claimed that he had a phone call with Chinese Foreign Minister Mr Wang Yi, who assured him of the measures  underway in Guangzhou to improve the situation of Africans, in line with  what he termed “the strong and brotherly partnership between Africa and China.”

For how long will Africa continue being beholden to China’s poisoned chalice, quoted in “generosity”?

One would have thought that Africa, through organised formations such as the African Union and her sub-regional blocs should aim at advancing and protecting its interests and that of its people first, but it seems there is a challenge of protecting our sovereignty in the face of a domineering imperial China.

In response, Chinese officials have repeatedly denied the stigmatisation and mistreatment of African nationals despite the overwhelming visuals of several of these incidents captured in Guangzhou. Several Chinese diplomats accredited to Africa had a fair share denying the allegations.

Consequently, the official statement made by Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian displayed sheer arrogance lacked an acknowledgement of what had happened and bordered on emotional blackmail.

While the Chinese have been at pains to acknowledge the racial discrimination, McDonald's China apologised after a video went viral, of a McDonald's employee in Guangzhou, China, holding up a sign that read: “From now on black people are not allowed to enter the restaurant”.

Instead of (1) issuing an apology, (2) an expression of regret (3) a commitment to investigate the allegations (4) condemning the barbaric acts; the Chinese Foreign Ministry went on counting fingers and toes on the number of African countries they assisted. Overall, the response from China is disgusting, arrogant lack sincerity and borders on a stinking superiority complex with clear insinuations that China is doing Africa a big favour.

The emphasis on mutual respect, brotherly love is not sincere as we have noticed that the relations between China and Africa are not as even as mutual as the emphasis being made. 

What is happening in Guangzhou is not new, racism against Africans once hogged the limelight in 2013 and still, no decisive action was taken. Negative attitudes toward the peoples of Nigeria have been fuelled by their alleged involvement in drug-related crime in Guangzhou, which is a rather low bar.

 In a 2014 Al Jazeera report on African migrants in Guangzhou, journalist Jennifer Marsh highlighted the plight of African migrants. She noted that “While the central government publicly welcomes the migrants, recent draconian visa legislation has sent a clear signal: Africans in China - even highly prosperous, educated economic contributors — are not welcome.”


This, coupled with how the Chinese have treated Africans working for Chinese  in Africa in places like Nairobi and Addis Ababa shows a serious challenge in the China-Africa relations. Several cases of racism, discrimination by the Chinese people in Africa with an exceptional case of a  Chinese boss in Kenya comparing Africans to monkeys.

China's relations with Africa have changed over the past half-century. In the decolonisation period, China played a critical role under the internationalism of its communist principles but as China emerges as a powerful capitalist state the relations have changed. Under the latest phase, China-Africa relations are now dominated by the search for natural resources and markets for its goods, in turn, African economies are loaded with debt and nationalist leaders are now shareholders in companies. Thus, the weak statements from African countries point out to three fundamental narratives, Firstly, the African elites are compromised and embedded in the soft power cocoon at Chinese business relations level and as such in most African countries, you would notice that much of the shareholdings are between the Chinese and local elites.  Secondly, the political party relationship between the Chinese Communist Party and ruling parties in most African countries are very cosy, the exchange programmes and scholarships that ruling party activists in Africa have been enjoying makes them compromised. Thirdly, African countries are benefitting from the Chinese Belt and Road initiative with infrastructural developments with the construction of airports, roads, railways and the telecommunications have left African leaders compromised and in this case, they do not have the moral standing to challenge China. The question is, are these relations simply going to be a replica of what Walter Rodney in the book How Europe underdeveloped Africa said about Europe: “It was economics that determined that Europe should invest in Africa and control the continent’s raw materials and labour. It was racism which confirmed the decision that the form of control should be direct colonial rule,” and in this case China. Considering the racism it seems Africa hasn't learnt anything from Walter Rodney. 


However, going forward, Africa (in particular the AU, regional bodies like ECOWAS, SADC, EAC and the civil society) must compile and document the evidence of the abuse of Africans in this regard and speak loudly against these abuses.  South Africa’s president Cyril Ramaphosa, in his capacity as the Chairperson of the African Union (AU), must show leadership and demand a public apology from the Chinese government over the racial xenophobic attacks committed in Guangzhou and other parts of China. China must be forced to apologise and put in place clear measures to bring this barbarism to an end before it escalates. There is a need for genuine engagements of both parties to ensure peace to improve people to people relations based on genuine mutual respect.

Further to the afore-stated, the peoples of Africa need to increase muscle as the agency in the holding of their respective political leaders through people to people solidarity. This is the time to consider such a move especially when African citizens are vulnerable in economic capitals with an enslaving mindset like China. In essence, if the AU is to be considered a serious actor in the global polity, it needs to move with speed to facilitate for the repatriation of African citizens, despite its Headquarters in Addis Ababa being a donation from China. Without citizen to citizen solidarity, Africans, you stand alone!

Blessing Vava is a Doctoral candidate researching on China-Africa relations in the School of Communications at the University of Johannesburg. He writes in his personal capacity and can be contacted on blessingvava@gmail.com

Covid-19: the Unheeded Ides of March and lessons for Africa


By Blessing Vava
“Beware the ides of March" — these famous words are spoken twice in Shakespeare's play “Julius Caesar,” warning the titular character of his assassination. The event, which took place on March 15, 44 B.C., has become known as an unlucky date for more than just Caesar.
Since then, the month of March, specifically the 15th has been associated with superstitious narratives and bad omens.  On March 15, 1889, a cyclone destroyed six warships -- three US and three German ships -- and killed more than 200 sailors in the waters of Apia, Samoa.
On March 15, 1939. Adolf Hitler ignored the Munich Pact -- an agreement between Germany, Great Britain and France that gave Germany the Sudetenland, in western Czechoslovakia -- and invaded other parts of Czechoslovakia and that marked the end of appeasement and further escalated tension leading toward World War II.
More recently, the Syrian Civil War began on March 15, 2011, when protesters took to the streets of Daraa after a group of teens and children were arrested for writing political graffiti. This leads to an estimated 400,000 Syrians being killed and more than 6.1 million internally displaced.
Most superstitions are hundreds of years old, stemming from the human instinct to attribute reasoning to the inexplicable.
While putting a more particular focus on the Shakespeare play, Julius Caesar set in 44 BC, the Roman Senate was jealous of the growing power of one of its own, Julius Caesar. Caesar had consolidated his power by acclamation, but not by consensus. As a result, he was assassinated on the Ides of March, 15th of March.
The assassination was led by one of his longtime and closest friends, Marcus Julius Brutus. The attempt to restore the Roman Republic by assassinating an ascending 'Dictator', backfired. The Roman Republic was forever discarded. In its place rose a brutal, aggressive, and eventually rotten and corrupt Empire that failed. This lesson should be held closely. We should keep it in our minds for not only the political changes coming but also in our ways of ascertaining what strategies to employ in our economic lives.
As such, the tragedy that befell the Roman Emperor got me thinking in assessing the world preparedness in dealing with Covid-19 despite the warnings with clear examples of how the disease wreaked havoc in China. When the disease affected China, the West and its media were reluctant and stigmatizing as they didn't see it coming right to their doorstep. Therefore, in drawing some narratives in the wake of the deadly pandemic that has wreaked havoc globally killing many lives and threatening human existence, William Shakespeare’s epic play provides a candid explanation on the warnings of March which the world ignored.
In its early stages, the Covid-19 crisis in Italy looked nothing like a crisis. The initial state-of-emergency declarations were met by scepticism by both the public and many in policy circles — even though several scientists had been warning of the potential for a catastrophe for weeks. Indeed, in late February some notable Italian politicians engaged in public handshaking in Milan to make the point that the economy should not panic and stop because of the virus. (A week later, one of these politicians was diagnosed with Covid-19.)
After the devastating effects in Wuhan, China coronavirus spread in many parts of the world came and denialism has cost many lives and affected economies, some which might never recover. US President Donald Trump's scepticism and denialism around the deadly pandemic coronavirus left the world in awe and total disbelief. The month of March has been a dreadful month with the coronavirus spreading like veld fire in many parts of the world. On the 11th of February 2020, Prof. Marc Lipsitch of Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health warned; “This is really a global problem that’s not going to go away in a week or two. What makes this one perhaps harder to control than SARS is that it may be possible to transmit before you are sick. I  think we should be prepared for the equivalent of a very, very bad flu season, or maybe the worst-ever flu season in modern times.’’ Many other experts warned.
Like Julius Caesar's failure to heed the warnings of the Ides of March, Trump dismissed the existence of coronavirus accusing the Democrats of politicizing the coronavirus. He said: "Now the Democrats are politicizing the coronavirus. You know that, right? Coronavirus. They're politicizing it ... And this is their new hoax."
It should be known that by this time, the U.S. had confirmed 60 cases of coronavirus. The CDC had already warned the public to prepare for the virus to spread, assuring them that this was not a hoax.
On the 18th of March, in typical Trump’s fashion, the American president failed to hold his loose tongue stigmatizing the pandemic as a Chinese virus. "I always treated the Chinese Virus very seriously, and have done a very good job from the beginning, including my very early decision to close the 'borders' from China—against the wishes of almost all. Many lives were saved. The Fake News new narrative is disgraceful & false!"
Trump was urged to stop calling COVID-19 the "Chinese Virus," a term he has used repeatedly and that some have called racist and dangerous. And many public health experts have criticized the administration's lack of preparation and failure to act quickly when the virus was first recognized. Despite Trump's denials, the US has surpassed China in terms of the number of infections. A warning to Trump that indeed, the ides of March have come and they have not gone!
In the global south, we equally had our share of madness and denialism with Zimbabwe, top government officials Zimbabwe's Minister of Defence and war veterans, Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri, making dangerous claims that the coronavirus was unleashed by God to deal with US President Donald Trump and other Western countries for imposing sanctions on Zimbabwe.
Speaking at a Zanu-PF meeting, as the party's chairperson, Muchinguri-Kashiri said: "Coronavirus is the work of God punishing countries that imposed sanctions on us. They are now keeping indoors. Their economies are screaming just like they did to ours. Trump should know that he is not God." Shockingly, the coronavirus has proved not the be a Chinese disease as Trump called it nor the work of God to punish the countries that imposed sanctions on Zimbabwe.
Already, the US is now has the highest number of infections by Thursday the 26th of March, confirmed coronavirus cases in the United States reached 82,400 on Thursday, more than any other country, overtaking both Italy and China, the Johns Hopkins University tally showed. China had 81,782 cases, and Italy had 80,589 cases.
Zimbabwe has already recorded a single death with some infections recorded, with infections tallying to 7 though there are fears that they might be many infections because the government has not been honest in their handling of information with regards to the disease. The poor state of public health facilities, which the ruling elites have failed to equip into modern facilities is a ticking time bomb for the Southern African nation. For many years the masses have been clamouring for good public health facilities but the elites left everything to deteriorate because for them they always had alternatives to go and seek medical health care overseas. And now with the coronavirus closing borders, ruling elites will have to get used to going to local public health facilities they failed to prioritize. This should be a big lesson not only for Zimbabwe but many African countries that have been operating the same. 
As Africa respond to the spread of Covid-19 unanticipated challenges have emerged. Resistance and social challenges exemplified by the way people are living particularly in informal settlements. The challenges facing the majority of our people are enormous and poverty remains one of the biggest threats to humanity in Africa. Our people are more worried about poverty and their living conditions more than they are worried about Covid-19, a disease some are jokingly calling a disease for the rich. African leaders should draw many lessons from this pandemic and make consented efforts to improve their economies and the livelihoods of their people. The resistance to the lockdowns and other precautionary measures put in place point out to a very complex nature of our situation. The challenge we have as Africa is how our leaders' failures to come up with solutions that are in tandem with the realities on the ground. What we are witnessing is just a copy and paste job and mimicry of western solutions even with our vastly different political economy and social realities. The lockdowns will be difficult to enforce as we have already witnessed in South Africa, and one wonders how Zimbabwe will lockdown places like Mbare or rural areas which our people are already flocking to. There are largely two factors that inform our economies in Africa, the first one is the rural agrarian economy and informality, therefore policy responses must speak to these issues because that's were the majority of the masses are.  How are we going to deal with infections in the rural areas with no rural system of testing, racking and isolation?  
In conclusion, yes, several African countries have been putting measures to combat the spread of the disease despite the earlier lackadaisical approach and myths that the coronavirus does not affect Africans. Our social, political and economic realities should inform the kind of policy response mechanisms which we should employ and not mimicry of western solutions.
Denialism and ill-preparedness costed many lives, it was wrong to ignore science and early warnings from health experts. So, Beware, The ides of March are come, but not gone!!
Blessing Vava is a blogger who writes from Chipinge. He can be contacted on blessingvava@gmail.com