Zimbabwe is slowly but surely being strangled by the Anglo-American cabal and the current "public health" crisis is a direct consequence of the sanctions.
Zimbabwe: Water crisis and cholera funerals
Harare (Zimbabwe) — "Funerals of people dying of cholera are a common feature of our daily lives," said Tapiwa Hove, a resident Budiriro, a high-density suburb of Harare. "But it seems no one cares. Sewage is flowing all over. It's like living in hell."
By Inter Press Service (IPS) | 12.04.2008
Budiriro was teeming with aid workers frantically trying to distribute water from big water bowsers to desperate residents. There is commotion and the exchange of harsh words, as children, men and women with toddlers strapped to their backs try to secure at least a bucketful of clean drinking water.
All across Harare, people tell of how healthy-looking people are dying within hours of consuming the dirty water that many residents have resorted to in the absence of clean drinking water. "People are dying at an alarming rate. There are funeral wakes in many households. The government might try to deny this, but the reality is there for all to see," said Hove.
Local rights groups such as the Zimbabwe Doctors for Human Rights estimate the death toll is already over 1000, much higher than the government admits.
And there are fears that the situation will only grow worse. "What I am afraid of is that now that the rain season has come, all faeces lying in the bushes will be washed into shallow wells and contaminate the water," health minister David Parirenyatwa told state media.
CARE International, Red Cross Society and United National Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) are building latrines, distributing medicines and hygiene kits and have taken over ZINWA's responsibility of delivering water, and repairing blocked sewers across Zimbabwe to mitigate the cholera emergency.
Most of Zimbabwe's urban areas have gone for several months without water. Many urban households are unable to use their toilets, which are completely blocked by overflowing sewage. Last month, key institutions such as the High Court and Parliament buildings in Harare had to be closed because of the acute lack of water.
Zimbabwean cities have battled to provide water and refuse collection services while the country is subject to frequent power cuts, a result of a severe foreign currency squeeze. To the daily search for currency, bread, oil and transport, Harare residents now spend much of their time looking for water. Those still fortunate enough to be in formal employment now carry with them an empty bucket of water to work every day, in case there is clean water at the work place. Those in other hard-hit areas such as Budiriro and Glen View have to walk distances of up to five kilometres to get water at local council boreholes.
Those still receiving water from the taps hardly dare risk using it. "The water comes out with a heavy smell. It's sometimes greenish in colour, other times brown. It's never helpful at all, in fact, we only use it to clean the toilet," said Tadiwa Chireya, a gardener in the upmarket suburb of Greendale.
President Robert Mugabe's government blames the water woes on sanctions that it says were imposed on Zimbabwe by Western countries. The European Union and United States have imposed targeted sanctions on senior Zimbabwean officials because of authoritarianism and human rights abuses. International donors from these countries are feeding nearly one-half of the population and in recent years have provided most of the drugs used in government health service including those that are now used to treat water and victims of cholera.
The first democratically-elected mayor of Harare, civil engineer Elias Mudzuri is just one of the experts who warned several years ago that the city's water distribution and sewage systems were on the verge of collapse and needed urgent attention. In 2004 the running of water affairs was transferred from local authorities to ZINWA.
"ZINWA took over responsibility of water provision, equipment such as cars and other engineering equipment but reneged on taking over the responsibility of repairing the infrastructure, yet it had taken away all the monetary means of meeting such responsibility which came with revenues of water usage," said a Harare City Council engineer who asked for anonymity.
Under this arrangement ZINWA would collect revenue for water usage but the responsibility of fixing and maintaining Harare's water system was left to Harare City Council engineers whose financial capacity has been drastically reduced. At one point the city council was faced with an exodus of disgruntled engineers. Many others left the country for neighbouring countries while those still in employment often refuse to take instructions from ZINWA.
Zimbabwe's Minister of Water Resources, Munacho Mutezo, under whose leadership ZINWA falls, has refused to comment on the catastrophic water shortages.
meanwhile.....
US mulls tougher sanctions against Zimbabwe
November 21, 2008
The United States Ambassador to Zimbabwe James McGee has warned of new targeted U.S. sanctions on Robert Mugabe’s government if there is no progress toward political power-sharing.
In an interview with reporters, Ambassador McGee said he saw no easing of conditions until President Robert Mugabe starts to act in good faith on power-sharing with ,the President of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change.
He said despite the economic crisis, including runaway inflation, Mr. Mugabe has been able to funnel money to key allies and maintain their support, and that getting him to yield powers will not be easy.
“He has made it clear that he is not easily going to give up power here in Zimbabwe,” said McGee. “SADC, the Southern African Development Community, clearly came out with statements saying that there should be a unity government, there should be power-sharing, and Mugabe has pretty much said that Morgan Tsvangirai would never sit in a government here in Zimbabwe with any true power.”
But he nonetheless insisted that international sanctions targeted against Mugabe, family members and close associates, have had real impact. He made clear the Bush administration is ready to move on further sanctions in the absence of a political breakthrough.
“We have additional sanctions that we are prepared to roll out, if this political impasse continues,” said McGee. “Right now we continue to look carefully at what is going on here in the country. And we feel that unless something does happen in the very, very near future we have no choice but to become more, difficult, tougher, on our sanctions.”
The U.S. envoy said there will no reductions in the U.S. humanitarian aid program to Zimbabwe, which is well in excess of $200 million a year.
McGee creditedthe government for easing financial and travel curbs on non-governmental organizations trying to distribute aid in the countryside, but said he was alarmed by conditions he observed on a recent trip to Harare from South Africa.
“It is grim,” he said. “It is very, very grim. There are a lot of people standing around, doing absolutely nothing. There are a lot of distended bellies out there among small children. A lot of people picking non-nutritious foods from trees, trying to find anything to eat. When you pass through villages, it is a total look of hopelessness on the peoples’ faces there.”
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