The people of Zimbabwe expect better from the President of Zimbabwe. He recently announced that Corona Virus is a National Disaster and directed people not to gather in groups above 100 people starting 20 March 2020. he also urged citizens to postpone non essential travel.
A day after the announcement, he attended a rally and addressed thousands as reported by the state media. Even though he was legally correct to attend the rally given it happened two days earlier than the stipulated deadline, the gesture was not well received by the public. Yesterday he went to Namibia for the inauguration of President Hage Geingob.
Missed opportunities
The President keeps missing opportunities to show leadership. Having rightly imposed a ban on large gatherings he should have led by example and cancelled the Ndanga rallies regardless of when the ban was expected to take legally take effect. The spirit was more important than the letter of the law.
Non essential travel
Having advised against non essential travel he should again have set an example by not going to Namibia most probably the president will be safe but he travels with a large contingent that increases the risk of someone bringing the disease home the Namibian trip is important but its not essential. SADC region will be fine without a head of state attending the inauguration. I hope sooner rather than later he starts showing leadership