A widely circulated claim that President Emmerson Mnangagwa has declared a two-week national lockdown is false.
According to the report, the President made the announcement at a “meeting in Parliament with cabinet”.
The message claims (unedited): “As from the meeting held today in the late morning in Parliament, the President His Excellence Emerson Mnangwagwa addresses the issue of the rising Covid-19 cases. He says Zimbabwe is at risk but should continue fighting against the pandemic therefore he introduces a fortnight lockdown for the whole country starting from Monday 28th of June 2021 up to Monday the 12th of July 2021. However business will be usual for industrial services, health workers and other official workers. Schools will be officially closed during the 14 day lockdown. They will resume in phases after this...”
This is false.
Firstly, no such Cabinet meeting was held in Parliament on Monday, as claimed by the message. Cabinet typically meets on Tuesday, and meetings are not held in Parliament.
Secondly, the article claims to be sourced from a website called “zimheraldnews”. There is no such website. People who push such misinformation usually use slightly changed names of well-known news sources in order to make their posts more believable.
The message is also filled with spelling mistakes which show that it is not from a credible news source.
The facts
The last declaration on lockdowns from the Government was on June 17. This was an announcement of localised lockdowns in three districts of Mashonaland West; Kariba, Makonde and Hurungwe. This added to a lockdown announced earlier for Kwekwe. These announcements have since been gazetted under Statutory Instrument 183 of 2021.
On June 12, the Government also announced tighter restrictions, among them the banning of gatherings.
No new lockdown measures had been announced as of Tuesday. According to Deputy Health Minister John Mangwiro, Government however continues to monitor the spread of COVID-19.
Conclusion
The message claiming that President Emmerson Mnangagwa has declared a two-week national lockdown after a Cabinet meeting in Parliament are false. No such meeting was held and the article carries a fake website link. By Tuesday, no new lockdown measures had been declared.
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