TRAVELING AND TOURING with Burzil Dube
Yours Truly will this week rather take a very brief sabbatical from usual Tonga related issues, which had surprisingly stirred interesting debate resulting in leading scholars and researchers joining this deliberations.
This retreat has, however, coincided with death of the father of Tonga researcher, Isaac Mumpande, who was also a fountain of knowledge on Tonga culture related issues.
Among Mumpande’s wishes was for the Kasamabezi (Tonga) tribe to continue championing for their rights as well as Binga development.
He completed his race on Mother Earth and it is also written somewhere in the bible that a heavenly prize awaits those who completed the great spiritual race as well as finishing the course.
May his soul rest in eternal peace.
Talking of Holy Scriptures, Yours Truly once ‘took’ to the dais during a previous travelling and touring column where he echoed similar sentiments to those of Vice President Constantino Chiwenga, who intimated of looming mandatory Covid-19 vaccination certificates.
Chiwenga, who is also Health and Child Care minister implored the public to be vaccinated against this deadly pandemic.
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He also warned that there will come a period where such a certificate would be mandatory upon visiting or touring particular places of interest.
However, when Yours Truly shared similar sentiments, all sorts of brickbats were hurled at him and also accused of ‘fighting’ a losing battle in the vice president’s corner.
The Travelling and Touring column in question appeared in The Standard of April 4 this year where such a prophetic warning was likened to biblical Noah whose cautionary advice concerning looming earthly calamity fell on deaf ears.
True to Noah’s chilling warning, the whole earth was devoured by floods of alarming proportions never encountered in the history of mankind. All those who did not heed Noah’s warning sadly met their ultimate fate-drowned.
A similar scenario is gradually happening today where those in higher echelons of power have constantly warned on the need and necessity of being vaccinated against Covid-19 whose global ripple effects are unprecedented.
“And we are the only ones, who will give the (vaccination) certificate.
“Eventually, that certificate is going to be yet another passport. When you go to the restaurant, you shall be asked to produce your passport, and when you go to the ministry, you produce it and say I am ‘OK’ and everybody will be free,” said Chiwenga in early March this year.
His prophetic words certainly came to pass as a number of European countries have already started to implement mandatory Covid-19 vaccination requirements for all and sundry.
Such measures have started to affect those in travelling and touring industries as they have to follow and implement rules of the game.
France recently ordered all its health workers to be inoculated against Covid-19 whose surge continues to be a menace among the general populace.
All health employees have to be vaccinated by September 15 this year and failure could result in potential sanctions to individuals caught on the wrong side of inoculation drive.
According to France24, French Health minister Olivier Véran said that non-vaccinated health workers will not receive a salary nor be allowed to work after September 15.
A ‘health passport’ is gradually becoming a must on all necessary movements.
The ‘health passport’ is a QR code or certificate indicating that an individual had a negative Covid-19 test, fully vaccinated or recently recovered from Covid-19.
This will also be implemented throughout France and isset to include bars, restaurants, cafés and shopping centres.
Such similar measures are also being introduced in various European countries as precautionary procedures against Covid-19 whose Delta variant has taken the world by storm.
Back home, the government has warned all unvaccinated civil servants that they will be excluded from Covid-19 insurance and other related benefits.
Not to be outdone, some local companies have also followed suit by introducing stricter measures where unvaccinated workers are sent on forced leave pending inoculation.
On job applications, some organisations insist on vaccination certificates before interviews take place as part of efforts to complement government efforts on curbing the pandemic.
Let those with ears hear.
Yours Truly is over the moon following proclamation by government on reopening of Victoria Falls and Kazungula border posts under very strict conditions.
The strict conditions are that any individual, who wants to cross either borders has to be fully vaccinated against Covid-19 and certainly no short cuts would be entertained during this mandatory exercise.
Yours Truly would be keenly following these and other latest tidings which may gradually bring relief to the tourist industry.
Meanwhile, time is nigh for strict implementation of the so-called Covid-19 passport.
Forewarned is forearmed.
There is a joke doing the proverbial rounds that even Ben 10s insist on vaccination documentation from their sugar mamas as they are not leaving anything to chance.
Interesting times with interesting counter measures.
Till we meet again in the next column.
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