Chamisa Calls For Returning Citizens To Be Treated With Dignity And Empathy

MDC Alliance president Nelson Chamisa said that Zimbabweans returning from abroad should be treated with respect and dignity amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Writing on Twitter on Tuesday morning, the politician-cum religious leader said while it is mandatory for returning citizens to be quarantined, they should be held in a hospitable environment. Said Chamisa:

During this difficult time, we must treat each other with kindness and empathy. While the government must safeguard citizens, we urge the treatment of returning citizens with respect and dignity.

We must avoid conduct that leads to stigmatisation and vitriol against fellow citizens.

While returning citizens must be placed in mandatory quarantine, conditions of living must be decent and habitable.

Buy Samsung, itel, Redmi smartphones in Zimbabwe

WhatsApp: +263715068543

Quarantine is not punishment. We urge the government to ensure adequate testing facilities and that there is fair and equal treatment of every person regardless of their status.

Chamisa’s remarks come after the government accused 65 citizens who returned from the United Kingdom on Monday of refusing to be isolated at Belvedere Teachers’ College, instead, demanding to be accommodated at hotels.

Reports indicate that the place set aside for the returnees’ isolation had no running water and they were also being forced to share a communal bathroom.

Police were eventually deployed to the facility to ensure that none of the returnees escaped to their homes as fears abound that some of them could be infected with COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the novel coronavirus.

Britain is currently one of the hotspots of the disease, with hundreds of people losing their lives daily from the disease.