Continued official ban on bars and clubs creating some serious problems

Zimbabwe government’s continued ban on clubs and bars is being extended and indefinitely.

The Minister of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services, Monica Mutsvangwa confirmed the news when she announced it after the cabinet meeting.

“Cabinet remains cognisant of the need to fully open all economic activities,” she said. “However, in the face of the threat of a Third Wave, Cabinet has deferred consideration of the opening of bars and night clubs until further notice.”

On the surface, it makes sense. Clubs are a space in which loads of people gather and can transmit Covid-19 to each other. We get it. Also, with Zimbabwe’s medical infrastructure, a third wave would be wild at best. The threat is real.

The ban has been in place since the first Covid-19 lockdown in March 2020.

The thing is, as shown by evidence, clubs generally have opened during this period. Most infamously, when the late socialite, Genius ‘Ginimbi’ Kadungure met his demise, he was coming from his club. There was and has continued to be video evidence of people clubbing, even as they are banned.

Yes, there have been more active raids in recent times, but they are sporadic and people in dire need for escape will find their way back there.

And that is the thing. While most neighbouring countries have found a way to maintain employment for DJs, bartenders and other legal functionaries of the nightlife, Zimbabwe is forcing a lot the ones here to go underground and engage in nefarious activities to survive. And when things go underground, more illegal things start becoming common there, the sort which a law abiding establishment would never touch.

The indefinite ban, with what seems to be no intention of creating a path to opening based on real data and targets, speaks to the continued neglect by various administrations of this country when it comes to the consumption of art products. This is particularly so when it comes to entertainment, as DJs and the sort are often seen as afterthoughts, relegated to ‘the others’. It is even seen in how the entertainment is treated as the help at state functions, consigned to some dark room, rolled out only to entertain the high table, as if they were court jesters to have the morsels thrown at them by kings.

Perhaps it is as Rudolf Rocker famously said, “The state welcomes only those forms of cultural activity which help it to maintain its power.” Entertainment perhaps does not afford them this, and an indefinite ban with no intention of legally releasing the valve in any determinable future merely makes the point. There is no discussion points on how we get to solving this space. Just a ban.

There is no discussion point on how much we can ease the curfew more. Just a top-down, ‘this is it, we have decided, stay indoors, we make the rules and if you don’t listen to us, we will lock you up’.

Perhaps the owners of some establishments taking the risk and breaking the law are fine with it. It means those who do not have the right connections are kept out of business and they corner the market.

In a time when this pandemic is on, the need for escapism remains real. The desire to engage in all manner pagan activity still thrives. The market still persists. And it is known that if you know a guy, you can find a place to satiate. There has been a proliferation of unlicensed shebeens and other types of night spots.

And as such, the problem now being created is that the state is turning people who are intent on an honest living and their clients into criminals. And this is something to which most people on earth, should not have to resort.

The bigger danger is, when they do open up one day, how far will people have taken their criminal activity? How daring and how corrupted will be the ecosystem?