大象传媒

Zimbabwe's already fragile economy is suffering as the country experiences a fourth wave of coronavirus infections. The Omicron variant is now present in the country, and the fear is that it is spreading fast. The government has announced a reduction in services and businesses have been urged to close down early for the Christmas break.

Hotelier, Mandla Mataure, who is the manager for the Chimanimani hotel in Manicaland in the eastern region of Zimbabwe bordering Mozambique, told Newsday how he has prepared for the return of restrictions.

"We had a virtual meeting revisiting some of the protocols we'd put in place early last year - trying to remind people what we need to do to keep our staff safe, whether it is sanitising when people arrive or checking on temperatures when people arrive. What's happened in the last few months is people have sort of relaxed...not just guest but also staff. So now we've said let's go back to... closely monitoring everyone who is coming in and out of our places."

"We're a smaller hotel but we've tried our best to keep people on... putting them on shift work, where they work every other week or every other day. They get paid a bit less but you're still sort of on the payroll. It hasn't been easy but we're trying to see how we can manage it."

(Pic: Mandla Mataure ; Credit: Crystal Media Inc Photography)

Show less