John Kwarabu, 36, knew he would be forced to stay at home when government announced a 30-day coronavirus lockdown early last month. His job, hawking mobile phone appliances in Harare’s central business district, did not fall under essential service providers, the only population segment exempted from restrictions barring movement. With the curbs set to take effect on January 5, Kwarabu decided to head to his rural home in Hwedza, some 130km from Harare, to plant food crops for two weeks. His stay, however, was cut short when his wife called him after a week, telling him that food had already run out for the family. “I had no choice. I couldn’t let my family starve,” said Kwarabu, sitting on a concrete slab in front of a building in the capital. Following his return, he has been risking arrest and fines as he boards a bus from Tafara high-density suburb without an exemption letter to head to the city centre and try to earn a living. On good days, he manages to sell a few items — USB cables, chargers and power banks — from the stock he had before the lockdown was imposed and buys food for his family. But these supplies will not last for more than three days, he says, leaving him without an option but to keep finding his way into the city. Even before the spread of COVID-19, millions of Zimbabweans were facing food shortages due to the combined effects of a devastating drought and a deepening economic crisis. Now, the situation is compounded by the coronavirus. “The COVID-19 pandemic is making it especially hard for poor families to afford a nutritious diet, with lack of incomes, remittances and stressed livelihoods having a ruinous effect on vulnerable communities,” said Claire Nevill, spokesperson for the World Food Programme. Although plans are underway for a national analysis of urban food insecurity, Nevill said the United Nations’ food agency estimates about half of all urban dwellers — roughly 2,2 million people — go to bed hungry, adding that some 3,4 million people, including more than a third of the rural population, are expected to face “crisis” or “emergency” levels of hunger in the first quarter — up from 2,6 million people a year ago. On Monday, President Emmerson Mnangagwa extended the national lockdown by an additional two weeks. A ban on travelling between provinces remained in place, while a curfew was shortened to nine hours from 12 hours. Meanwhile, staffing levels at government offices were increased to 25% capacity from 10%, while private companies were allowed to open under strict adherence to World Health Organisation guidelines and after testing. In recent weeks, Zimbabwe has seen an exponential jump in confirmed COVID-19 infections. More than 35 000 cases of the respiratory disease have been recorded to date, almost double the total for all of last year, with nearly 1 400 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University. The official coronavirus death toll for the whole of 2020 stood at 409. Tapiwa Kayse, 28, said measures to contain the spread of the coronavirus had made it difficult for people t
