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Zimbabwe’s Response to Covid-19 and Its Socio-economic Impact

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Constitutional Resilience and the COVID-19 Pandemic

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Abstract

This chapter presents an overview of the situation regarding Covid-19, and discusses the measures adopted by the Zimbabwean government to curb the spread of the pandemic. The Siracusa Principles, the General Comments of the Human Rights Committee and other human rights bodies provide the guiding standard in assessing the kind of measures that were adopted, the legality of the containment measures, the enactment of new laws or the use of existing legislation to address Covid-19, the constitutionality thereof, and the content of the law and how it has impacted on human rights. This chapter also discusses court decisions concerning the challenges to some of the measures adopted by the government, after which it examines the socio-economic impact of the measures taken by the government.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    ZimStat ‘Updated 2012 population census projections report’ (2019).

  2. 2.

    FAO The state of food security and nutrition in the world 2020: Transforming food systems for affordable healthy diets (2020), https://doi.org/10.4060/ca9692en (accessed 20 April 2021).

  3. 3.

    https://www.wfp.org/countries/zimbabwe.

  4. 4.

    ZimStat ‘Inter-Censal Demographic Survey, 2017’ (2017).

  5. 5.

    UN Zimbabwe ‘Immediate socio-economic response to COVID-19 in Zimbabwe: A framework for integrated policy analysis and support’ (2020).

  6. 6.

    Ibid.

  7. 7.

    See Mangwaya M ‘Zim health spending continues to shrink’ The Newsday 22 April 2021.

  8. 8.

    Zimbabwe Peace Project COVID19 Accountability Tracker (2021).

  9. 9.

    See https://www.zimstat.co.zw/covid-19/ (accessed 20 April 2021).

  10. 10.

    Mbanje P et al. ‘3rd wave already in Zim’ The Newsday 21 April 2021.

  11. 11.

    SC Mutambasere ‘Constitutionalism in the time of Covid-19: The Zimbabwean experience’ (2020).

  12. 12.

    Section 27 of the Civil Protection Act.

  13. 13.

    See https://www.amnesty.org/en/countries/africa/zimbabwe/report-zimbabwe/ (accessed 20 April 2021).

  14. 14.

    CESCR General Comment No. 20 (2009), para. 23.

  15. 15.

    UN Zimbabwe (n 5).

  16. 16.

    See MOHCC ‘Zimbabwe preparedness response plan—Covid-19: Immediate priorities’ (March–May 2020).

  17. 17.

    UNDP ‘A preliminary assessment of the socio-economic impact of Coronavirus (COVID -19) on Zimbabwe’ (2020) Policy Brief 01/2020.

  18. 18.

    Statutory Instrument 2020-083 (2020).

  19. 19.

    SI-093 (2020).

  20. 20.

    SI-092 (2020).

  21. 21.

    SI-099 (2020).

  22. 22.

    If the checks indicated possible infection, a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test was recommended.

  23. 23.

    SI-136 (2020).

  24. 24.

    ZADHR ‘3rd COVID-19 monitoring and advocacy report’ (2020).

  25. 25.

    UN Zimbabwe (n 5).

  26. 26.

    Government of Zimbabwe ‘Details on the COVID-19 Economic Recovery and Stimulus Package’ (2020).

  27. 27.

    UNDP (n 17).

  28. 28.

    ‘EU says its financial grants to Zim won’t go to the government’ Pindula 13 July 2020, https://news.pindula.co.zw/2020/07/13/eu-says-its-financial-grants-to-zim-wont-go-to-the-government/ (accessed 20 April 2021).

  29. 29.

    UNDP (n 17).

  30. 30.

    ‘President hints at tightening lockdown’ The Herald 11 July 2020, https://www.herald.co.zw/president-hints-at-tightening-lockdown/ (accessed 20 April 2020).

  31. 31.

    Government of Zimbabwe ‘Towards an upper middle-income economy by 2030: New dispensation core values’ (2018).

  32. 32.

    SI-135 (2020).

  33. 33.

    ZADHR ‘3rd COVID-19 monitoring and advocacy report’ (2020).

  34. 34.

    Muzulu P ‘Mthuli’s 700 000 forgotten households’ The Newsday 31 October 2020.

  35. 35.

    CESCR General Comment No. 5 (1994), paras. 9 and 34.

  36. 36.

    CESCR General Comment No. 14 (2000), para. 16.

  37. 37.

    UNDP (n 17).

  38. 38.

    MOHCC ‘Zimbabwe preparedness response plan—Covid-19: Immediate priorities’ (March–May 2020).

  39. 39.

    Chikohomero R ‘Court ruling pulls the rug from under Zimbabwe’s opposition’ Institute for Security Studies (27 April 2020).

  40. 40.

    Towindo L ‘More about SIs 62, 83 of 2020’ The Sunday Mail, 5 April 2020.

  41. 41.

    Bonavero Institute of Human Rights Bonavero Report No. 3/2020: A preliminary human rights assessment of legislative and regulatory responses to the COVID-19 pandemic across 11 jurisdictions (2020).

  42. 42.

    National Assembly Hansard, 18 March 2020, 46(36).

  43. 43.

    Bonavero (n 41).

  44. 44.

    Chikohomero (n 39).

  45. 45.

    SC Mutambasere ‘Constitutionalism in the time of Covid-19: The Zimbabwe experience’. African Network of Constitutional Lawyers (12 May 2020), https://ancl-radc.org.za/node/641 (accessed 20 April 2021).

  46. 46.

    Bonavero (n 41).

  47. 47.

    Ibid.

  48. 48.

    Chikohomero (n 39).

  49. 49.

    United Nations ‘COVID-19 and human rights: We are all in this together’ (2020), https://www.un.org/sites/un2.un.org/files/un_policy_brief_on_human_rights_and_covid_23_april_2020.pdf (accessed 20 April 2021).

  50. 50.

    UN Zimbabwe (n 5).

  51. 51.

    UNESCO ‘Statement on Covid-19: Ethical Considerations from a Global Perspective, Statement of the International Bioethics Committee (IBC) and the UNESCO World Commission on the Ethics of Scientific Knowledge and Technology (COMEST)’ (2020).

  52. 52.

    Bonavero (n 41).

  53. 53.

    UNESCO ‘UNESCO provides ethical frameworks to COVID-19 responses’ (2020), https://en.unesco.org/news/unesco-provides-ethical-frameworks-covid-19-responses (accessed 20 April 2021).

  54. 54.

    ZADHR ‘4th COVID-19 monitoring and advocacy report’ (2020).

  55. 55.

    Ibid.

  56. 56.

    Ibid.

  57. 57.

    CESCR General Comment No. 16 (2005), para. 1.

  58. 58.

    ZADHR ‘5th COVID-19 Monitoring and advocacy report’ (2020).

  59. 59.

    ZADHR ‘4th COVID-19 monitoring and advocacy report’ (5 May 2020).

  60. 60.

    Bonavero (n 41).

  61. 61.

    The criminal penalty is derived from section 31 of the Criminal Law Code, which prescribes a fine up to or exceeding level 14 or imprisonment for a period of up to 20 years, or both.

  62. 62.

    SI-083 of 2020 imposes a 20-year term of imprisonment for spreading fake news about the coronavirus pandemic.

  63. 63.

    Bonavero (n 41).

  64. 64.

    Chikohomero (n 39).

  65. 65.

    Harding, A ‘Zimbabwe—once more on the brink of collapse?’ BBC News 17 June 2020, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-53062503 (accessed 20 April 2021).

  66. 66.

    The 2020 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices.

  67. 67.

    Ibid.

  68. 68.

    ZADHR ‘5th COVID-19 Monitoring and advocacy report’ (20 May 2020).

  69. 69.

    Bonavero Report No. 3/2020, A Preliminary Human Rights Assessment of Legislative and Regulatory Responses to the COVID-19 Pandemic across 11 Jurisdictions, Bonavero Institute of Human Rights, University of Oxford, Faculty of Law, 06 May 2020.

  70. 70.

    Statutory Instrument 2020-077 (2020).

  71. 71.

    CESCR General Comment No. 7 (1997); No. 4 (1991).

  72. 72.

    Bonavero (n 41).

  73. 73.

    ‘Zimbabwe prisoners released amid overcrowding during Covid-19 pandemic’, Africanews and AFP, 17 April 2021, https://www.africanews.com/2021/04/17/zimbabwe-prisoners-released-amid-overcrowding-during-covid-19-pandemic// (accessed 17 April 2021).

  74. 74.

    ZADHR ‘4th COVID-19 monitoring and advocacy report’ (2020).

  75. 75.

    Ibid.

  76. 76.

    Bonavero (n 41).

  77. 77.

    ‘Covid-19 protection measures in all courts in Zimbabwe’ Veritas 23 March 2020.

  78. 78.

    ZADHR ‘5th COVID-19 Monitoring and advocacy report’ (2020).

  79. 79.

    Ibid.

  80. 80.

    CESCR General Comment No. 15 (2002), para. 2.

  81. 81.

    ZADHR ‘5th COVID-19 Monitoring and advocacy report’ (2020).

  82. 82.

    Stringer v Minister of Health and Child Care & Anor (HH 259-20, HC 2154/20) [2020] ZWHHC 259 (31 March 2020).

  83. 83.

    CESCR General Comment No. 10 (1998), paras. 3 and 4.

  84. 84.

    UNDP (n 17).

  85. 85.

    Chikohomero (n 39).

  86. 86.

    ‘The documents required to pass ZRP roadblocks’ TechZim 25 July 2020, https://www.techzim.co.zw/2020/07/the-documents-required-to-pass-zrp-roadblocks/ (accessed 20 April 2020).

  87. 87.

    F Munyoro ‘Covid-19 restrictions legal: High Court’ The Herald, 17 August 2020.

  88. 88.

    Ibid.

  89. 89.

    CESCR General Comment No. 12 (1999).

  90. 90.

    UNDP (n 17).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Zimbabwe, Harare, Zimbabwe

    Tinotenda Chidhawu

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  1. Tinotenda Chidhawu
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Correspondence to Tinotenda Chidhawu .

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  1. Dullah Omar Institute for Constitutional Law, Governance, and Human Rights, University of the Western Cape, Cape Town, South Africa

    Ebenezer Durojaye

  2. Dullah Omar Institute for Constitutional Law, Governance, and Human Rights, University of the Western Cape, Cape Town, South Africa

    Derek M. Powell

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Chidhawu, T. (2022). Zimbabwe’s Response to Covid-19 and Its Socio-economic Impact. In: Durojaye, E., Powell, D.M. (eds) Constitutional Resilience and the COVID-19 Pandemic. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-06401-2_12

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