Thursday - December 04, 2008

Circling The Drain

Just how much worse can things get in Mugabe’s stinkhole of a country?

Zimbabwean police ‘use batons’ against doctors

Baton-wielding Zimbabwean riot police broke up a demonstration by doctors and nurses protesting against the collapse of the country’s health system on Wednesday, while scores of trade unionists were arrested ahead of marches over the cash crisis.

The country’s economy has been collapsing for several years, but now appears to have reached a stage where hardly a day passes without some new example of the consequences.

With the country in the grip of a cholera epidemic, which the United Nations said today had now killed 565 people, doctors, nurses and health workers tried to present a petition at the health ministry. [another news source says over 12,000 are infected and are spreading the disease to other countries]

But they were forcibly dispersed by the riot squad, who are well-treated by the regime and remain steadfastly loyal.

There was a heavy uniformed presence in the centre of the capital and one professional man said: “It was all over very quickly as the riot police are all over the city. It is quiet now.”

Three journalists, two from the Zimababwean weekly, The Independent, and one from the South African Broadcasting Corporation, were arrested as the demonstrations began.

In a protest letter the medical personnel said: “We are forced to work without basic health institutional needs like drugs, adequate water and sanitation, safe clothing gear, medical equipment and basic support services.

“Health workers can no longer afford to buy food and other basic goods and services.” Efforts by trade unionists holding a general strike to mount protests against the cash shortage that is crippling daily activities were also broken up, after the authorities signalled several times that they would not be tolerated.

The secretary-general of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions, Wellington Chibebe, was arrested while addressing workers in the capital, along with nine other people, the organisation said in a statement, while more than 30 were held around the country. It said 10 of its members were “heavily assaulted” by police in Harare.

Hyperinflation is raging in Zimbabwe, with the official figure for July, the latest available, at 231 million per cent and independent estimates far higher.

Good old UNICEF is doing what they can, but at this point pretty much all they can do is truck in clean water to the capital. And there will never be enough of that.

Zimbabweans are already suffering from raging inflation, food shortages and a steady decline in social services – particularly in the education and health sectors.  Now the country is faced with the total collapse of the infrastructure needed to prevent and treat diseases like cholera.

“Mainly, it’s the lack of capacity for the municipal services and the water authorities to provide safe water and refuse collection,” said Ms. Singizi.  “At the same time, there’s a collapse in the health services, which has made it impossible to treat the high number of infections.”

For the moment, UNICEF is trucking in 360,000 litres of water a day into Harare alone.  UNICEF and its partners are also providing essential items such as bars of soap, latex gloves and water decontamination tablets.

And now they’re going to try and ramp that up, with a 120 day program to try and stem what could soon be an exponential death rate. But it’s not just an uphill battle, it’s more like climbing a cliff under fire:

Zimbabwe has recorded negative economic growth for the past nine years, the situation is exacerbated by;

- a high HIV prevalence at 16 per cent;
- the highest orphan percentage in the world (one in four children are orphaned);
- food shortages -5.1 million will require food aid in January 09; and
- a steady decline of social services for the past five years.

However, in the past eight weeks, the country has seen a total collapse of its education and health system. In addition, more than 11 735 cases and 484 deaths have been reported in the worst cholera outbreak the country has experienced in recent years. The net effect on Zimbabwean children has been no schooling, a serious threat to their life, lack of health care, safe water and reduced number of meals.

“Children in Zimbabwe are on the brink, and everyone’s focus must now be on their survival,” said Mr. Monasch.

Once upon a time, when it was Rhodesia, this country was the jewel of Africa. No more. “Africa wins again”. Mugabe will not leave office until the entire country is dead. Which I guess might happen around March. And all the aid in the world will just keep their suffering going; it’s never going to get better.

Posted by Drew458     on 12/04/2008 at 02:02 PM   
Filed Under: • Africa • Tyrants and Dictators •  
• Comments (7) • Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

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Not that very many people ever read this far down, but this blog was the creation of Allan Kelly and his friend Vilmar. Vilmar moved on to his own blog some time ago, and Allan ran this place alone until his sudden and unexpected death partway through 2006. We all miss him. A lot. Even though he is gone this site will always still be more than a little bit his. We who are left to carry on the BMEWS tradition owe him a great debt of gratitude, and we hope to be able to pay that back by following his last advice to us all:

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It's been a long strange trip without you Skipper, but thanks for pointing us in the right direction and giving us a swift kick in the behind to get us going. Keep lookin' down on us, will ya? Thanks.

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