Socio-economic and security ramifications of COVID-19 in Zimbabwe

Abstract

The outbreak of COVID-19 came with serious socio-economic and national security implications across the globe. While more deaths were recorded in developed countries than in developing countries, socio-economic impacts were, however, more pronounced in developing countries than in developed countries. In this study, we examined the socio-economic and national security implications of COVID-19 in Zimbabwe. The study adopted a mixed-methods design, with 202 participants recruited from Harare Central Business District through quota and purposive sampling techniques. Findings revealed that poverty, hunger and starvation, and rising unemployment were the major socio- economic impacts of COVID-19 in Zimbabwe. In terms of security, domestic violence was considered the most prevalent crime during COVID-19, followed by corruption. The study concludes that restrictive measures during public health emergencies come with a host of negative socio-economic impacts, which require sound mitigatory measures from governments. The study recommends a number of social measures to mitigate this outcome, namely providing social grants to vulnerable citizens, implementing partial rather than total lockdowns, and limiting the powers of law enforcement agents during public health emergencies.