HARARE – Outrage greeted an announcement Wednesday that Zanu PF financier Kudakwashe Tagwirei had taken over two private hospitals in Harare, which would be upgraded and equipped to accommodate “VIP” coronavirus patients.
MDC deputy president Tendai Biti called the government a “disaster”, while prominent Zimbabweans took to social media with pledges to lead protests at the facilities.
Tagwirei’s Sakunda Holdings announced a takeover of St Anne’s Hospital in Avondale and the Rock Foundation Medical Centre in Mt Pleasant, two days after Zimbabwe announced its first coronavirus death at the City of Harare-owned Wilkins Hospital.
Government spokesman Nick Mangagwa admitted the Rock Foundation Medical Centre, owned by the jailed rapist Munyaradzi Kereke, would only take paying patients – effectively making it an exclusive facility for political elites.
Mangwana said he was still verifying how St Anne’s would operate.
Health ministry permanent secretary Agnes Mahomva, said the government had made a request to St Anne’s management to “utilise” the hospital and had identified Sakunda Holdings to be “our partner to work with us and yourselves to do all the remaining renovations and refurbishments necessary for the hospital to function in the shortest possible time.”
The infectious diseases Wilkins Hospital was designated by the government as the main facility to take in coronavirus patients, but it was exposed as woefully unprepared following the death of Zororo Makamba, the son of millionaire telecoms tycoon, James Makamba.
Makamba’s family said the hospital had no ventilators, no power sockets, limited oxygen and no medicines – revelations which appear to have spooked the country’s elites in business, politics, the military and government.
The governing elite fly to India, South Africa, China and the United Arab Emirates for treatment, while the population is left at the mercy of rundown public hospitals which lack basic equipment and are manned by poorly paid nurses and doctors.
International restrictions on flights and foreign visitors by most countries means for the first time ever, Zimbabwe’s wealthy and the majority poor are boxed in, and must use the same hospital facilities.
MDC vice president Biti said attempts to create enclaves for the rich, while failing to address the poor infrastructure at Wilkins and the infectious diseases Thorngrove Hospital in Bulawayo were a betrayal of the people.
“There is no limit, shame, remorse or elasticity to the evils of this regime,” Biti said on Twitter. “You fail to provide resources for Covid-19. But you and your cartels had already seen an opportunity for rent. So there is now a Covid-19-ready facility. Your facility. You are a shame, a disaster!”
Prominent lawyer Advocate Thabani Mpofu said: “I will march to this private looters clinic and open its doors to the masses. We have had enough of this nonsense, and the time to put it to an end is now. Coronavirus is more dangerous than a bullet. Join me as we liberate our people, I will lead.”
Novelist Tsitsi Dangarembga stormed on Twitter: “I will march to any new, elite Covid-19 hospital which is not accessible to ordinary Zimbabweans. The lives of ordinary Zimbabweans matter. ZNA (Zimbabwe National Army), your families are ordinary Zimbabweans to Covid-19.
“We, Zimbabweans, can save ourselves on our own. Let’s go together.”
Government spokesman Mangwana said Sakunda was only complementing government efforts.
“People are rightly expressing concern over our capacity to fight Covid-19. We can win the fight if take a national approach. This means the government, local authorities, the private sector must all pull together. We need private sector facilities to augment government efforts. Let’s embrace free enterprise.”
