James Butty
The vice president of the Zimbabwe Rural Teachers Union says while he welcomes the government’s desire to get all Zimbabweans vaccinated for COVID-19, he feels the idea of a mandate for government workers may violate their constitutional rights.
Gibson Mushangu says every Zimbabwean has a constitutional right to accept or deny taking the COVID-19 vaccine.
This week, Zimbabwe Justice Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi reportedly said government workers who do not want to be vaccinated against COVID-19 should resign from their government jobs.
He said the government did not intend to force citizens to take the vaccine, but that each Zimbabwean had a responsibility to the nation.
Mushangu says the government could have first educated the public about the importance of vaccination.
According to the Ministry of Health, 14 Zimbabweans succumbed to COVID-19 yesterday and 135 tested positive for coronavirus. The country has recorded 125,931 cases since March last year, 117,822 recoveries and 4,517 deaths. To date, a total of 2,782,103 people have been vaccinated against COVID-19.