{"id":46776,"date":"2021-09-17T17:16:08","date_gmt":"2021-09-17T15:16:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/?p=46776"},"modified":"2021-09-17T16:09:19","modified_gmt":"2021-09-17T14:09:19","slug":"mps-challenge-mandatory-covid-19-vaccination-policy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.cc\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/mps-challenge-mandatory-covid-19-vaccination-policy","title":{"rendered":"MPs Challenge Mandatory COVID-19 Vaccination Policy"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press<\/a> – Zimbabwe<\/a>. <\/strong><\/span>Members of Parliament from across the political divide on Wednesday challenged the government\u2019s recent decision to ban unvaccinated civil servants from reporting for duty.<\/p>\n

The legislators described the move as an infringement on citizens\u2019 rights, but Higher and Tertiary Education minister Amon Murwira representing the government defended the Cabinet\u2019s decision arguing \u201cextra-ordinary times require suspension of the Constitution\u201d.<\/p>\n

The government on Tuesday announced that its workers, who are not yet vaccinated, will no longer be allowed to report for duty.<\/p>\n

The announcement came a week after Justice minister Ziyambi Ziyambi ordered civil servants who did not want to be vaccinated against COVID-19 to resign.<\/p>\n

Parliament has also ordered unvaccinated lawmakers to stay at home, an order that triggered anger among the legislators who described the prohibition order as an affront to democracy.<\/p>\n

Mutare West MP Teedzayi Muchimwe (ZANU PF), who is a member of the Johanne Marange apostolic sect, said the directive was unfair to him and others who do not believe in vaccination. Said Muchimwe:<\/p>\n

Is it now mandatory that the COVID-19 vaccination is now compulsory in view of the fact that there are other entities that do not indulge in medication?<\/p>\n

\u2026 COVID-19, to me and the Johanne Marange apostolic sect, is just a drop in the sea, we are not even affected.<\/p>\n

Since this COVID-19 started, we have been kissing each other and shaking hands, we are not even affected by COVID-19. Why deny us entry into Parliament?<\/p>\n

Dzivarasekwa MP Edwin Mushoriwa (MDC Alliance) described the ban as a gross violation of citizens\u2019 rights. He said:<\/p>\n

By putting restrictions on those unvaccinated or those that are unvaccinated because of religion or other views, the government is in a way setting the wrong precedence for it is actually encroaching into the rights of individuals?<\/p>\n

Murwira responded by saying that there were limits to people\u2019s constitutional rights, hence there was no turning back on the order. Murwira said:<\/p>\n

It is, therefore, very important and I want to thank you Hon Speaker for not allowing any member who is not vaccinated to come to this House physically.<\/p>\n

So to clarify the issue, it is very important that the people who are not vaccinated stay where they are while those ones who are vaccinated can interact while social distancing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Zimbabwe. Members of Parliament from across the political divide on Wednesday challenged the government\u2019s recent decision to ban unvaccinated civil servants from reporting for duty. The legislators described the move as an infringement on citizens\u2019 rights, but Higher and Tertiary Education minister Amon Murwira representing the government defended the Cabinet\u2019s decision arguing \u201cextra-ordinary […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":46775,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,1361,35,15],"tags":[1493,2189,3061,3266,548,3030,19],"class_list":{"0":"post-46776","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-all-news","8":"category-coronavirus-in-zimbabwe","9":"category-homepage-english","10":"category-twitter","11":"tag-africa-press","12":"tag-africa-press-zimbabwe-2","13":"tag-covid-19-vaccination","14":"tag-mandatory-covid-19-vaccination","15":"tag-parliament","16":"tag-vaccination","17":"tag-zimbabwe"},"yoast_head":"\nMPs Challenge Mandatory COVID-19 Vaccination Policy - zimbabwe<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Members of Parliament from across the political divide on Wednesday challenged the government\u2019s recent decision to ban u ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/mps-challenge-mandatory-covid-19-vaccination-policy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"MPs Challenge Mandatory COVID-19 Vaccination Policy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Members of Parliament from across the political divide on Wednesday challenged the government\u2019s recent decision to ban u ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/mps-challenge-mandatory-covid-19-vaccination-policy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"zimbabwe\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-09-17T15:16:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-09-17T14:09:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/sites\/14\/2021\/09\/img-6144a1755ffda.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"472\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/mps-challenge-mandatory-covid-19-vaccination-policy\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/mps-challenge-mandatory-covid-19-vaccination-policy\",\"name\":\"MPs Challenge Mandatory COVID-19 Vaccination Policy - 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