ZIMBABWE - How can a leader watch his people suffer ...

[Notorious Scullman]

chalk & cheese

[evo-STI-k]

No its NOT- dictator is a dictator!

we have not reached the poverty level of Zimb, but with the SIMILAR powers that be its not that inconveivable that it could be our future as well!

[Greypatch]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7760088.stm

Cholera kills close to 500

11,700 cases recorded

The latest estimated annual inflation rate was 231,000,000%, and just one adult in ten is thought to have a regular job.

[Greypatch]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7760541.stm


Harare diary: 'Too much to take'

Zimbabweans queue to get water

Esther (not her real name), 28, a professional living and working in Zimbabwe's capital, Harare, describes how the daily struggle to survive is reaching a point of desperation.

We have been very patient, waiting all this time for a peaceful solution. It is getting to be too much now.

It is beyond what anyone can face; what an individual can take.

The cutting off of the city's water when there's a cholera outbreak, the cash withdrawal limit and now the security forces becoming undisciplined.

We deserve a better life. We are not a country at war but look at the kind of life we are living. What on earth is going on?

Order of the day

People are dying in great numbers and there is no treatment because like I told you last time, Harare's two main hospitals are closed.


Zimbabwean soldier walks past a looted shop
We had always thought that the soldiers here in Zimbabwe were puppets of the state

Zimbabwe cholera deaths near 500

It is so difficult because even the smaller local clinics are closed.

In some parts of town there is raw sewage running down streets.

But you should know that some people in the poor, poor parts of the high density areas have had to live with this every day for five years now. It is just that now pictures are circulating because of the cholera crisis.

Where I stay, we had water problems even before this complete city shut-down. It was becoming the order of the day - sometimes water would run from the tap but normally, not a drop.

Now all we can do is go over to a neighbour who has a borehole.

Unacceptable

I don't think there's a living soul in Harare who trusts the Zimbabwe National Water Authority (Zinwa) to provide water that is fit for human consumption.

Zimbabweans take to the streets in search of water
Most of Zimbabwe's capital has been without water since Sunday

Absolutely everyone is boiling all their water. And because there's no power we have to make a fire to do so.

I am astounded at the people who work for Zinwa - these are people who actually get paid every month to do their job and yet they have been unable to sort out our city's water supply.

It is unacceptable.

I don't know any other country in the world where people can just come out and say they were unaware that they were running out of water purification chemicals.

It is a total lack of responsibility; like no-one even cares. I am so emotional about it. Really, it boggles the mind.

On my way home from work yesterday, everyone in the commuter omnibus I was in was shocked at the sight in town.

Many, many people walking round the city centre - carrying buckets and jerry cans, empty juice and milk bottles - trying to find water to take back to their homes; everyone going around looking for a business that has a borehole and asking if they can get water.

Puppets of the state?

When it gets it to this stage, it is unbelievable but everyone in the city is helping one another out. Everyone except Zinwa that is.

You would think that by this stage it would be normal for riots to break out. But normal is not normal in Zimbabwe; and the sight of soldiers rioting, ransacking and looting would be considered implausible...

But finally, no, it actually really, really happened.

People are so shocked that some soldiers did. I missed the greater part of the action because I work a bit out of town but by the time I got into the centre there were broken windows and looted shop fronts, although I'm not certain if the shops were looted or if shop owners emptied their shelves for safety.

The talk of the town is amazement - we had always thought that the soldiers here in Zimbabwe were puppets of the state and so this was in effect a demonstration against the state.

Some people believe it is a good thing and they weren't just ordinary citizens.

Long, expensive holiday

I heard that the first riot police who arrived on the scene yesterday afternoon were not stopping the soldiers or even the people the soldiers had encouraged to join in. People told me it was like they were smiling at the soldiers.

Zimbabwean woman weeps at funeral for her niece and unborn child, victims of a cholera outbreak
Almost 500 people so far are known to have died from cholera

It is these cash withdrawal limits that have done this. The daily limit is 500,000 Zimbabwean dollars and it affects us all whether we are a soldier or a struggling citizen. That amount cannot even buy you a loaf of bread, not even a packet of chips. It is nothing.

Your money is sitting in your bank account but you cannot reach it and what then what really rubs salt into your wound is the fact that the black market dealers carry at least 100m Zimbabwean dollars just on their person on the street, which is the daily withdrawal limit for 200 people.

But you can't get cash from them unless you have foreign currency to sell.

By the time I get into town at 0700 hours [local time/0500 GMT] the queues of people lining up outside the banks are already winding; and they queue all day - in the rain and in the hot sun - and at 1700 hours which is two hours after the banks' official closing time, the queues are still winding.

It is like they [the government] keep poking you and poking you and poking you and poking you and poking you, daring us to do something to them. It's starting to feel like that.

We have become a very angry people.

A certain teacher told me the other day that students only went to school for 23 days this year - it's too much. They have been sitting at home on one very long and expensive holiday for a whole year.

[evo-STI-k]

Take AWAY CEPEP and URP and see what our unemployment figures will be nah!

govt is fooling themselves and the people!

[eurogirl]

Take AWAY CEPEP and URP and see what our unemployment figures will be nah! Rolling Eyes

govt is fooling themselves and the people!

uh no , they would just fall into the categories they were in before , store workers , housemaids , cleaners , KFC workers , grocery workers , construction workers /helpers etc , businesses that are begging for employees currently ..

Stop hating on gov't this isn't the thread for it .

[Greypatch]

Failing Zimbabwe:

A cholera epidemic is sweeping across Zimbabwe, causing further suffering to millions of people already struggling to survive in a country close to systemic collapse as food shortages and hyperinflation continue to take their toll.


A strong odour pounces up your nose, choking it stone dry, as you drive into Harare's Mbare township past hostels and its popular market, Mbare Musika.

The stomach-churning stench is enough to kill your appetite for a week.

Raw sewage flows through Mbare Musika - Harare's rendezvous for farmers selling their produce.



East of the township, more sewage flows effortlessly into the Mukuvisi River, one of the city's main suppliers of water.

Communal toilets in the surrounding hostels hosting hundreds of families have broken down.

As pumps are not working, sewage waste from burst pipes flows from the hostels' third floor down, leaving waste traces on the windows.

There are many sick people inside, they can't walk and relatives don't have money to send them to hospital

Mbare resident Majorie
And on the walls below, a thick dark layer of waste, hanging loose on windows has been accumulating over the past months.


It is a recipe for disaster, and a health scandal, according to a local priest.

"Even now, there are many sick people inside, they are frail, they can't walk and relatives don't have money to send them to hospital, so they are left to suffer," said Majorie, a middle-aged woman carrying a child on her back.

In the streets, piles of uncollected refuse are commonplace with flies feasting on the rubbish.

In this chaos, vendors selling tomatoes, mangoes and vegetables rove around.

Customers are still available. Some buy the produce and walk leisurely, eating mangoes, alongside streams of raw sewage to their hostels.

There is nothing they can do about it.


Most imported goods have to be bought with foreign currency

In this crisis, statistics of people dying of cholera rise each day.


But it is not just killing people, it is devouring Africa's traditional norms and values.

When Ruth Huni, a woman living in Glen Norah township died last week there were just six relatives seated outside when I visited her home.

Zimbabwean funerals used to be huge affairs with hundreds of friends, family and well-wishers. But no more.

It was common knowledge she had died of cholera.

"Where are our values as Africans?" asked John Mkwananzi, her brother and a famous musician with the popular Runn Family group.

There is a feeling here that people are being punished for supporting the opposition

Budiriro resident Claudios Mkwati
"They know she died of cholera. There are many friends, even relatives, around yet they are not visiting. Out of fear. I suppose," he said.

"What are we doing to our culture, if we can't pay condolences? Cholera is there, but we should rise above the problem and respect our cultural values that bind us together," he said.

Christians are not taking chances either.

At St Peter's Catholic Church in Mbare, there is something special missing during and after fellowship.

"Our usual shaking of hands which is a sign of peace and reconciliation - our custom to do during mass, during the holy service - we had to abandon it because people are afraid it might lead to more transmission of the virus," says Father Oskar Wermter, of the Catholic Church.

"People refrain from it so we just nod at each other in a friendly manner or just clap our hands to ourselves [the] traditional [way]," he says.

After the Sunday service this week, there were hardly any hugs, handshakes, or kisses.

Raw sewage running behind the church, a few yards away, left an unsettling odour.


Rubbish has not been collected from the streets of Harare

Budiriro is Harare's worst hit township, recording close to 200 cholera-related deaths.

It is an opposition MDC stronghold.

"There is a feeling here that people are being punished for supporting the opposition," says resident Claudios Mkwati.

"Our local councillors and legislators can't do much, because the buck stops at the ministry of local government which provides the money," he explained.

The township has over 300,000 families.

Schools here in Harare are now officially closed for the Christmas holidays but most have been closed for months now.

The past schooling year has basically been one long break for the majority of pupils who have not attended a class in months because of the lack of teachers and unaffordable fees.

Most shop shelves remain empty of foodstuffs except for the few supermarkets in a position to sell imported goods, mostly available to those with foreign currency.

Their shelves are full but the items are so expensive that they are beyond the reach of most city dwellers.




http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7771184.stm

[Greypatch]

lord put ah hand..

[eurogirl]

Greypatch, my god

Did you see where mugabe "giving " food to his party supporters ?!

rellll sheit !!

[evo-STI-k]

Greypatch, my god

Did you see where mugabe "giving " food to his party supporters ?!

rellll sheit !!

hmmm and pnm supporters does get party cards and handouts???

yuh must not be blinded by politricks, open up yuh eye and see the nature of the dictorial beast!

[Maserati]

is ah curse to be living in that place yes seriously

[Greypatch]

man dat fellah really have no heart no....

btw 2nd pic is uncollected garbage on the streets

[evo-STI-k]

man dat fellah really have no heart no....

btw 2nd pic is uncollected garbage on the streets

No heart- pacemaker from CUBA , same firetruck ting!

[Notorious Scullman]

man dat fellah really have no heart no....

btw 2nd pic is uncollected garbage on the streets

No heart- pacemaker from CUBA , same firetruck ting!

Give it a res nah.

We all livin here. Yuh eh tellin us anything new, and this thread isn't even about T&T or your dream lover Patos.

Your repeated attempts to relate our conditions to those of Zimbabwe are another example of your ignorance and complete disregard for the trials of others (it's called humanity).

I'm sure I'm not the only one who hopes that one day some good will come to those people, and that maybe some good will come of you too.

[Cooper]

....just read the bold part first.



Mugabe says Zimbabwe cholera outbreak stopped


http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSTRE4BA1T320081211
By MacDonald Dzirutwe

HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe said on Thursday his government had stopped a cholera outbreak that has killed nearly 800 people and prompted Western leaders to call on him to step down.

Mugabe's announcement came several hours after South African officials declared the border with Zimbabwe a disaster area and warned that extraordinary measures were needed to control the rising number of cholera cases.

"I am happy we are being assisted by others and we have arrested cholera," Mugabe said in a televised speech in which he also attacked what he described as Western plans to invade Zimbabwe and topple his government.

"Now that there is no cholera there is no case for war."

The World Health Organization reported on Wednesday that the cholera crisis in Zimbabwe had worsened. It said 774 people had died from the easily preventable disease and 15,000 were believed to be infected.

The collapse of Zimbabwe's economy and health care system has left victims to fend for themselves and driven many to try to escape to South Africa.

"The whole of the Vhembe district has been declared a disaster," Mogale Nchabeleng, a spokesman for South Africa's Limpopo provincial government, told Reuters. The government took the decision after an emergency meeting earlier this week.

South Africa has said it has no plans to quarantine Zimbabweans crossing over to Musina or other border towns.

The outbreak, coupled with an economic meltdown, has prompted calls for international humanitarian assistance as well as calls for Mugabe's resignation from Western leaders and some within Africa.

[eurogirl]

steups wat a BUGWAAANAAA ..

no scratch tht BUGWAAANAAA's are good things


wat a pile of rottweiler sh1t

[eurogirl]

The taxis keeping Zimbabwe alive

By Andrew Walker
BBC News, Johannesburg

In a quiet street behind Johannesburg's Park bus station, Warren waits for customers for his minibus to Zimbabwe.

Buses arrive every day dropping migrant workers in the city, but not many have time to go back home because they are so busy working.

But Warren doesn't take people, he takes cargo and money to migrant workers' families.

They trust him to take sacks of maize meal, rice, oil and hard currency back home where people desperately need them.

Warren is one of around 20 bus drivers, standing around chatting and chomping on watermelon, waiting to fill their buses.

"We take things for about 20 or 30 people at a time, depending on what they want to send," he says.

Expensive

A small box can cost 200 rand ($20, £13) to send to Harare, bigger sacks cost much more.

They also take envelopes of hard currency to people waiting in Zimbabwe, for a price.

They charge a 20% commission on 1,000 rand.

But Zimbabweans don't have much choice as electronic money transfers don't reach rural areas.

And their own currency is now totally worthless, teachers can't even buy a loaf of bread with their monthly pay.

A ragged cardboard sign shows his destinations, but he'll take a delivery right to the customer's door and then phone them when he's back to say "job done".

Trust

David, a 26-year-old painter has been using these minibuses for two years to take back food for his family.

He has seven people to provide for.

"Only three are working, but that isn't enough, there's nothing to buy, nothing."

The whole system works on trust.

"It wasn't easy the first time to trust them," he says.

"I kept calling them constantly finding out how far they had got, but when my family called to say they had received it, my mind was settled."

An estimated three million Zimbabweans have gone to earn their living in South Africa, as their economy has collapsed at home.

The bus drivers are anticipating a rush in demand at the beginning of December, as people start sending things back for the festive season.

With no end in sight to the crisis, these couriers will be in business for some time.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7752492.stm

[Greypatch]

Zimbabwe has accused Botswana of being involved in a plot to overthrow President Robert Mugabe's government.

The justice minister's allegation comes a day after the US Ambassador to Zimbabwe, James McGee, accused Mr Mugabe of "criminal negligence" and warned Zimbabwe was becoming a failed state.

Writing in South Africa's Sunday Times newspaper, Mr McGee said: "What is the Mugabe regime doing? It is buying hundreds of cars so that every minister and governor can have multiple vehicles. It is buying plasma televisions for judges.

"Instead of spending scarce resources on water purification chemicals that might stop the cholera epidemic, they are manipulating currency to make a personal profit."

Mr Mugabe last week sparked uproar by claiming the cholera outbreak was over in Zimbabwe, while Information Minister Sikhanyiso Ndlovu said the outbreak was the result of biological warfare launched by former colonial power Britain against Zimbabwe.

[eurogirl]

well yes , he blaming other ppl for his follies

[Greypatch]

The commander of Zimbabwe's air force has been wounded in what officials are calling an assassination attempt.




did not know dem had working planes...

Air Marshal Shiri, who is also Mr Mugabe's cousin and a loyal supporter since he came to power, sits on the Joint Operations Command which advises the president on military matters.

The opposition Movement for Democratic Change said the JOC was behind the violent attacks on its supporters ahead of June's presidential run-off - allegations the military strongly denied.

Air Marshal Shiri was commander of the Fifth Brigade, blamed for the killing of 20,000 people in Zimbabwe's south-western Matabeleland region during the 1980s.

[ek4ever]

If the people of Zimbabwe don't like it...change it....the white people was there...things were much better...but it not right that they own 70% of the land so the black man come in to change all that...probably for moral and spiritual values...and make things better for HIS people....and what a great job he's doing for HIS people....way to go Robbie...

....the only thing that could save Zimbabwe is if they find plenty oil and natural gas there....then Uncle Sam go run in quick quick and deal with all them worthless cnuts....

[eurogirl]

The commander of Zimbabwe's air force has been wounded in what officials are calling an assassination attempt.




did not know dem had working planes...

Air Marshal Shiri, who is also Mr Mugabe's cousin and a loyal supporter since he came to power, sits on the Joint Operations Command which advises the president on military matters.

The opposition Movement for Democratic Change said the JOC was behind the violent attacks on its supporters ahead of June's presidential run-off - allegations the military strongly denied.

Air Marshal Shiri was commander of the Fifth Brigade, blamed for the killing of 20,000 people in Zimbabwe's south-western Matabeleland region during the 1980s.

20000 ppl

[Greypatch]

saddam boys looking like small fries eh

[eurogirl]

http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/mpapps/pagetools/print/news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7787819.stm?ad=1


Cholera lays bare Zimbabwe's collapse
By Karen Allen
BBC News, Zimbabwe

No one shakes hands anymore in Zimbabwe, such is the fear of contracting cholera.

The country that was once the jewel in Africa's crown, able to feed itself, heal its sick and educate its people to the highest standards on the continent, is now in a pitiful state.

Harare's main hospitals are closed, doctors and nurses are striking over their meagre "Zim dollar" pay and the country's water and sanitation services are tearing at the seams.

Manhole covers in the streets haemorrhage water because underground pipes have burst.

For many Zimbabweans, shallow wells with filthy water are the only means of quenching their thirst, despite the high risk of becoming ill. The cholera crisis which has already claimed nearly 1,000 lives, is the most potent symbol yet of Zimbabwe's collapse.

A deadly cocktail of failed services has turned a treatable disease into a major public health threat.

Nine out of Zimbabwe's 10 provinces have reported cases of cholera.

Eighteen thousand people have been infected so far, according to official figures, but that could just be the tip of the iceberg, with the World Health Organization warning that infections could treble.

Persistent neglect

It is the most vulnerable that are falling prey to the disease.

We found Cynthia Hunde laying tributes on her son's grave.

Munashe died of cholera just weeks before his first birthday.

The sad irony of this little boy's story is that his mother had gone to South Africa to find work to offer him a better life.

But when she returned to Zimbabwe she found him dying in the arms of his grandmother.

"I feel so badÂ… It's so hard to describe. When you have a son you have dreams for him. I came home expecting to find him running around the house, but that just didn't happen."

Aid agencies, relief workers and diplomats are in no doubt that cholera is a manifestation of years of infrastructural neglect in Zimbabwe.

Like food, water has been used as a political tool.




Where services function - and how scarce resources are allocated - has been subject to political influence, according to sources who have monitored Zimbabwe's decline.

Now the cholera epidemic is being used as a political tool by all sides.

The international community has raised the humanitarian impact of the disease to try to leverage support from Zimbabwe's neighbours, most of whom have remained mute to the suffering across the border.

It has been urging them to put pressure on President Robert Mugabe to step down, or at the very least find an accommodation with the opposition MDC, which would see a unity government acceptable to all sides, with a "fair" share of cabinet posts.

'Gaping wound'

Meanwhile, Mr Mugabe continues to claim that cholera is being used as a weapon of war - a pretext for Zimbabwe's former colonial masters to launch a military invasion on his country.

At a public engagement just last week, Mr Mugabe declared that "cholera is no moreÂ… there is no cholera", as news of more infections emerged.

The BBC is banned in Zimbabwe but travelling around the rural areas discreetly, I found evidence of a cholera wherever I visited.

At a clinic south of Harare, I found more than a dozen men, women and children receiving basic treatment for the disease.

These were the lucky ones.

Most of the drugs were provided by aid agencies because government supplies have run out.

As I left the clinic, a member of staff confirmed there were 15 patients there, but said that in a facility in another clinic a few miles away, staff were dealing with 600 cases of cholera.

For security reasons it was not possible to go there.

The coming of rains in Zimbabwe have made the conditions for the spread of the disease ripe.

And despite international appeals for help from aid agencies, any temporary relief that is offered is only likely to be sticking plaster covering up a gaping wound.

[slick]

this is the direct work of god...god put mugabe there

ent

and besides the good book says that sheit like this would happen anyway so why should mugabe stop the will of god?

[gencon]

http://www.tomorrowsworld.org/cgi-bin/t ... =view_comm



Zimbabwe’s nightmare … a lesson for us
By Wyatt Ciesielka

It is too easy to be overwhelmed by the statistics and not consider the agony. It is too easy to dismiss the headlines as something happening “far away.â€

[Greypatch]

Zimbabwe health crisis 'a crime'

Physicians for Human Rights wants the UN to take over the health service
The health crisis in Zimbabwe should be the subject of an investigation by the International Criminal Court, campaign group Physicians for Human Rights says.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7826304.stm



HEALTH CRISIS

Cholera: 2,204 died since August

Anthrax: Eight deaths since November

HIV/Aids: Estimated 400 deaths a day

TB: Brain-drain has practically closed the national testing laboratory which now has only one staff member

Maternal mortality: Risen from 168 per 100,000 in 1990 to 1,100 in 2005

[Notorious Scullman]

sounds like hell on earth

[Greypatch]

boi...pressure is ah understatement..

[Greypatch]

so dem basically abandon de zimbabwe dollar...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7859033.stm