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Stephen Mpofu

This discourse is a review of the calamitous cyclone that hit Zimbabwe last week as well as a timely exhortation to those ensconced in responsible positions to act promptly in future in order to forestall similar weather devastations.

To begin with, it must be immortalised on record for the benefit of posterity the fact that at no other time in the history of our motherland have global Zimbabweans demonstrated such unmitigated solidarity and compassion that translate into their oneness as a nation as have, and continue to be, their responses to the devastation caused last week to Manicaland and Masvingo provinces by Cyclone Idai.

Several of our Sadc neighbours and our other all-weather friendly countries have weighed in with various forms of support in the wake of the cyclone which claimed scores of lives with a final death toll yet to be known as some victims have not yet been accounted for with bodies of other victims reported to have been sighted in Mozambique after being swept down there on swollen rivers.

But what is really overwhelming in the aftermath of Idai are the responses of Zimbabweans in the diaspora. For instance in diaspora North America, or ZIDNA,  had three days ago raised more than USD$40 000 to send home to assist in the tragic devastation caused by Idai with a further  fund- raising event taking place today in Washington DC in addition to more contributions to the disaster fund being made by Zimbabweans based in various cities and towns in South Africa, according to various international radio reports.

Add to all those efforts what Zimbabweans and Zimbabwean organisations, including the Zimpapers group are putting together as aid in the wake of the havoc wrecked by the cyclone which made landfall in Mozambique last week Thursday and also affected parts of Malawi. [According to the Voice of America radio, the Donald Trump administration has through its embassy in Harare donated US$100 000 as relief contribution in the wake of the  cyclone.]

While this effort is no doubt welcome, some people might wonder if by its monetary contribution to the disaster the USA wanted to be counted with the masses in responding to the loud Idai cyclone while it has kept its arms folded in the wake of  the devastation caused by its ZIDERA cyclone which has for nearly  two decades devastated the Zimbabwean economy with countless numbers of people probably dying for lack of money for medical attention when sick or failing to send their children to school after ZIDERA closed factories as sources of income for bread winners as the illegal sanctions took their toll on the economy which is the goose that lays golden eggs for the sustenance of our people.

By mentioning the American financial contribution to the emergency relief fund in the aftermath of Idai, this pen is by no means looking a gift horse in the mouth as it were.

On the contrary, this communicologist urges the American government to make a contribution to the relief of millions of Zimbabweans under siege by its silent cyclone ZIDERA by effortlessly reversing its recent one year extension of the economic and financial embargo which has, in addition to virtually ruining our economy,  made it difficult  if not impossible for our government to access assistance from international financial institutions in which the US  has overwhelming influence, thereby stagnating Zimbabwe’s economic growth with various attendant consequences.

Other Zimbabweans elsewhere in the diaspora, including the United Kingdom are reportedly contributing relief assistance to Idai victims with Econet guru Mr Strive Masiyiwa paying for helicopters that were deployed for rescue operations to areas virtually impassable by other means in the cyclone hit areas.

A major concern for those sending relief contributions to the disaster areas is that some of the money or goods donated might end up in wrong corrupt hands thereby denying the affected victims of the cyclone the goodwill of concerned fellow Zimbabweans at home and abroad. ZIDNA relief contributors say, for instance, they will send their relief contributions for distribution by church organisations and other non-governmental bodies in Zimbabwe with receipts issued as assurance that the donations are in good hands.

Zimbabweans in diaspora South Africa have called for committees to be set up in Zimbabwe to which money and other goods raised should be sent so that contributors are assured of the safety of their donations. The relief contributions by Zimbabweans working and living in various parts of the globe are no doubt an eloquent statement by them that east, north, west and south home, Zimbabwe, is best.

Other cyclones have hit Zimbabwe in the past, as detailed in a report published by our sister paper The Sunday Mail, last week with Eline in 2000 having caused more damage than the others, affecting 2,7 million people with 91 deaths; 357 injuries and the destruction of 59 187 households. Obviously something needs to be done by weather experts together with civil protection authorities to safeguard life and properties in the event of future cyclonic visitations to our country.

As President Emmerson Mnangagwa has already indicated there is obviously a need to change the geographical complexion of settlements in areas vulnerable to adverse weather conditions such as cyclones by moving people away from near mountains as well as those homesteads situated in low lying areas near rivers and which are prone to flash floods.

Those settled near mountains where they enjoy vantage view of outlying areas may resist efforts to move them but an explanation of the danger of boulders rolling down from the mountain as a result of landslides caused by cyclones, for instance, will compel them to move to safer areas.

Those others who may resist movement on the grounds that they cannot abandon their “ancestral land” must be moved by force for the protection of their innocent children as well as of their future generations.

Finally, in light of homes that have been obliterated and our children orphaned by Idai government will have to consider with assistance of the public at large adoption of some children who lost their parents or set up orphanages to take care of the victims of the cyclone. The good news, however is that, President Mnangagwa and his subordinates appear to be in good stead in taking care of the victims of the cyclone.

But the bottom line here is that in addition to measures the Government has promised to take for the protection of citizens those people who tout themselves, and are praised by the masses as weather experts must demonstrate their expertise in tracking adverse weather conditions, such as cyclones, are taken well in advance of their arrival in our country so that civil protection measures are taken to protect lives and property.

It is therefore to be hoped that a cocktail of measures announced by President Mnangagwa to protect Zimbabwe against any future adverse weather conditions will avert potential disasters in our country.