Rights groups urge release of Zimbabwe activists

http://www.iht.com

The Associated PressPublished: December 10, 2008

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa: International human rights groups are calling
for the release of Zimbabwean activists.

In a statement Wednesday, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the
Open Society Institute raise the case of Jestina Mukoko, director of the
Zimbabwe Peace Project, and three others linked to her rights group.

Witnesses say Mukoko was taken from her home a week ago, when activists held
nationwide protests against the country's deepening economic and health
crises. Police deny holding Mukoko.

Zimbabwean security officials regularly detain, harass and beat opponents of
President Robert Mugabe's increasingly autocratic rule, although the
government denies such allegations.

The Disappeared of Zimbabwe - Take Action

Demand that all abducted people in Zimbabwe are returned safe and well

Press statement on Human Rights Day

Harare 10 December 2008

10 December 2008 - International Human Rights Day

Today is of great significance as the World celebrates the 60th anniversary
of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.  Human Rights and Democracy
are Universal core values. They constitute Essential Elements of the Cotonou
partnership Agreement, a political-trade-aid pact linking the EU with 78
developing countries, including Zimbabwe. Human Rights and democracy are at
the heart of European Union's external dialogue with any third country.
Poverty reduction, the core objective of the Cotonou Agreement, can only be
achieved in a democratic environment in which the values of the Universal
declaration of Human Rights are fully respected.

The French EU Presidency and the EC Delegation to Zimbabwe  marked the
celebration of the Human Rights day, this 10th December, by organizing an
event with guests coming from all parts of the Zimbabwean society and from
the international community. At this occasion a short film, "Stories of
human rights" has been screened. On 11th December the film will also be
shown to youth groups and a discussion on human rights will we held after
the screening.

The French Ambassador Laurent Contini said "France played an important role
in the drafting of the fundamental text of the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights adopted and approved by the General Assembly of the United
Nations, gathered in Paris on the 10th of December 1948. This anniversary is
of particular significance here in Zimbabwe where Human Rights defenders and
civil society at large are not often afforded the basic dignity owed to
every human being."

At the same occasion, the European Commission Head of Delegation, Xavier
Marchal, said "I feel it is particularly important to celebrate this
anniversary in Zimbabwe. Equal rights for all, the core principle of the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, are inscribed in the Power Sharing
Agreement signed on 15 September. Only if they are fully respected, will it
be possible for Zimbabweans to find the path of recovery and
reconciliation".

Background Information

The Human Rights Day, this year, is even more relevant as it marks the 60th
anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), which
represented the first step in establishing a comprehensive international
framework for the protection of human rights.

This year 2008 also witnesses the 15th anniversary of the Vienna Declaration
and Programme of Action proclaimed by World Conference on Human Rights as
well as the 10th anniversary of the adoption by the UN General Assembly of
the Declaration on Human rights defenders.

Human Rights and Democracy lie at the core of European Union's construction.
They also constitute one of the cornerstones of the Union's external action.
They are part of the political dialogue it holds with any third country, or
through international fora such as the United Nations. They are the
Essential Elements of the Cotonou Partnership Agreement, a
political-trade-aid pact linking the Union with 78 developing countries
including Zimbabwe.

The EU is founded on the principles of liberty, democracy, respect for human
rights and fundamental freedoms, and the rule of law, principles which are
common to Member States. The EU Foreign policy objective is to promote
democracy and the rule of law and respect for human rights and fundamental
freedoms all over the world. These values are echoed in the EU development
co-cooperation policy and economic, financial and technical cooperation with
third countries like Zimbabwe

In Zimbabwe Human Rights defenders, organisations and activists are playing
a critical role with regards to the betterment of Human Rights. They deserve
very high recognition and credit for their significant and persistent
contribution in this respect, particularly in the context of the 2008
elections. Often they pay for their dedication. Their essential work should
complement the prime responsibility of any Government to promote and
implement the values that are universally recognised and which are
celebrated today.

More information available on: The EU's Human rights & Democratisation
Policy:

Http://ec.europa.eu/external_ralations/human_rights/index.htm

Contact:

EC Delegation: 04338158-164

There is nothing for Zimbabweans to celebrate on Human Rights Day

http://www.sokwanele.com/thisiszimbabwe/archives/2864#more-2864

Lawyers Stage Peaceful March

http://www.radiovop.com


HARARE, 10 December 2008 - More than 50 lawyers and human rights
activists peacefully marched through the streets of Harare before handing
over petitions to the Parliament of Zimbabwe and the Supreme Court, over the
continued abduction of civilians and human rights abuses.

For the first time in 10 years, the demonstrators had police escorts
who facilitated their free movement around Harare before handing over their
petitions.

The march was also part of celebrations to mark the International
Human Rights Day.

The marchers carried a huge banner calling on the authorities to
produce abducted human rights activist Jestina Mukoko, in court.

Other messages on placards included, " Stop Abductions Now," "We are
Zimbabweans let us Pay in Zimbabwean Dollars" and "Rule of Law not Rule by
Law".

Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights board member Precious Chakasikwa
told marchers during a short stop at the Harare Gardens around the human
rights tree, that the lawyers were only expressing concern over serious
violations of human rights that characterized the year 2008.

"Also of concern this year is the loss of economic and social rights
of Zimbabweans as people have been impoverished and rendered desperate by
deprivation of the most basic elements for sustaining life," said
Chakatsikwa.

She said the health of many Zimbabweans has been seriously
compromised.

Zimbabwe urged to end abductions of activists

The right to education

http://www.sokwanele.com/thisiszimbabwe/archives/2867

The United Nations Declaration of Human Rights categorically states that
every child has the right to education.  However, how does a nation educate
its children when its children are dying of hunger related dieases, and
cholera, and when its teachers are leaving the country in droves?

At independence in 1980 Zimbabwe's new president declared his commitment to
education with hundreds of schools being built, teachers being churned out
of the training colleges and the nation was held up as a model for the rest
of Africa in terms of literacy and further education.

But even in the heady 1980's, when the world was feting Mugabe as the
African renaissance man, Matabeleland was being held to ransom, a silent war
was being waged against the minority Ndebele people, Gukurahundi.

Elias was a student at high school then, in rural Matabeleland. This
teenager witnessed untold horrors in the region, and tragedy hit hard when
both of his parents perished in a fire which engulfed their hut set by the
feared Fifth Brigade,  while he and his younger sister watched, terrified,
unable to shout out or run to help.

The siblings had been sent into hiding by their parents when they heard
Mugabe's infamous Fifth Brigade approaching their homestead. Yet, Elias was
determined that Mugabe would not defeat him, he completed his A levels and
went on to college.  The scars run deep, but Elias became a teacher,
determined to try and help heal the damage wrought in his home province.

The 1990's were good to Elias, he became a headmaster in a rural high
school, he married and had three children.  Then came the catastrophic 2000
elections, a time when teachers were deemed enemies of the state.  Elias had
to flee his homeland.  Today he is a gardener, working in the wealthy
northern suburbs of Johannesburg trying to keep his family at home alive.
He cannot teach as when he fled his homestead in 2000 he lost his
credentials. The cycle of violence returns to Zimbabwe, again and again, and
those who suffer most are Zimbabwe's children.

In a way Elias was lucky, for at least he was able to complete his
education.  Today in Zimbabwe, with most of its schools closed, he would
have had no school to attend.  It is absurd that the Ministry of Education
insisted that public "O" and "A" levels, and the Grade 7 examinations were
held in October and November.  The fact that they took place is just another
chapter in the fairy tale that the regime loves to tell itself and its
people, that all is well in the state of Zimbabwe.

The results from public examinations written in June of 2008 have still not
been released.  When the Ministry of Education was approached for the
results, the head of a school was told that they had lost the papers.  The
2008 end of year examinations were invigilated by a handful of teachers who
were duped into believing they would be paid, but in most schools it was
Reserve Bank employees and the police who were brought in to oversee the
future of Zimbabwe's children.  It is ironic that even the future of the
nation's youth is under the control of Gono's henchman and the armed forces.

Every Zimbabwean teacher has a story to tell.  Those who remained in
Zimbabwe and managed to struggle through eight years of hell, including the
destruction wrought by Murambatsvina in 2005 are now planning their escape
as they cannot survive war being waged against them by their own "leaders".

The men and women who have dedicated their lives to the future of Zimbabwe,
to the children of our bleeding nation leave a vast vacuum with their
flight.  2009 shows no promise, but Christmas is a time for miracles.  Let
us pray and hope for a miracle in Zimbabwe.

This entry was written by Still Here on Wednesday, December 10th, 2008 at
2:14 pm

Brother of human rights lawyer among those abducted in Zimbabwe

http://www.swradioafrica.com

By Violet Gonda
10 December 2008

The centre is completely collapsing in Zimbabwe as laws continue to be
flouted with total impunity.

Reports say there have been many abductions in rural areas, but they are not
being reported because people are terrified.

The crackdown is also extending to family members of activists and civic
leaders. The Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights said Zacharia Nkomo, brother
of Harrison Nkomo, was abducted at midnight from his home in Rujeko,
Masvingo on December 5. It is reported Zacharia was taken by four
unidentified men in civilian clothes, travelling in two green-and-silver
Toyota Virgo twin cabs.

His brother is one of the lawyers working on Jestina Mukoko's case,  the
human rights defender who was abducted from her home on December 3 by 15
plain clothes men who identified themselves as police officers. However the
police deny holding her.

On Tuesday High Court judge Anne Gowora ordered the police to advertise an
alert in all the state media and to institute a thorough investigation into
her whereabouts. Mukoko's lawyer, Beatrice Mtetwa, said the police were also
ordered to report to the court at 10am everyday, starting Thursday, to
provide an update of their investigations.

Concern for her wellbeing has been growing, especially as she is diabetic
and was taken away without her medication. She was abducted while still in
her nightdress.

Completely undeterred by the global condemnation of the abductions, two of
Mukoko's colleagues were also taken from the Zimbabwe Peace Project offices
in Mount Pleasant, Harare on Monday.

On the same day MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai's former personal assistant,
Ghandi Mudzingwa, was abducted from Msasa Park, Harare. Mudzingwa is the
latest MDC member to be kidnapped in recent days. At least 17 others are
still missing.

Most of these have been missing for more than a month, a long time to have
disappeared without trace, even by Zimbabwe's appalling standards.

Tiseke Kasambala from Human Rights Watch said the Zimbabwean authorities are
clearly violating international laws and serious crimes against humanity are
taking place.

Meanwhile calls for the release of Mukoko and the others intensified on
Wednesday, as people commemorated the 60th Anniversary of the World Human
Rights Day. The Association of Zimbabwe Journalists said: "It is sad that
Zimbabwe continues to record negatives in terms of respecting the rights of
its peoples. It is shocking that disappearances have become the order of the
day, leaving many children orphaned simply because their parents or
guardians decided to tell the other side of the story."

"While the rest of the world today is celebrating milestones that have been
reached in terms of protecting people's human rights around the globe, as
Zimbabweans we sit and lick our wounds, not even knowing what the future
holds for us. We have lost our dignity all around the world and as we die
hopelessly of treatable diseases, it seems no-one really cares and more
suffering could be on the way."

Mugabe 'decimating' Zimbabwean opposition

http://www.viewlondon.co.uk

Zimbabwe's opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party says
president Robert Mugabe's government wants to 'decimate' its leadership
following a wave of abductions of its members.

Mr Mugabe's government has renewed a crackdown on human rights activists and
the MDC in a bid to silence dissent amid mounting international calls for
the 84-year-old leader to step down.

"The MDC believes there is a systematic plot to decimate the party
structures, the leadership and civil rights groups involved in compiling
dossiers of violence and human rights abuses," the MDC said in a statement
today.

The number of missing human rights activists and MDC members who have been
abducted has risen to 19, after a former aide of opposition leader Morgan
Tsvangirai was kidnapped on Monday evening.

Gandhi Mudzingwa was abducted by six armed gunmen in the capital, Harare.
Last week state agents abducted a two-year-old girl with her mother, Violet
Mupfuranhehwe, an MDC secretary for Harare, and a leading human rights
activist, Jestina Mukoko.

Amnesty International secretary-general Irene Khan said the arrests showed
the "audacity of a regime that is desperate to stay in power, no matter what
the cost".

"Behind the political crisis and health emergency, there is a worsening
human rights crisis in Zimbabwe, with the most recent development being this
unprecedented spate of abduction of human rights defenders," she said.

Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch, added: "The
situation in Zimbabwe is spiralling out of control.

"The government has made clear it can't end the humanitarian crisis and
won't end the vicious pursuit of its opponents. Regional and international
leaders need urgently to respond."

A Zimbabwe court yesterday ordered the police to investigate the abduction
of Mrs Mukoko, other human rights activists and MDC supporters.

Mrs Mukoko is the director of the Zimbabwe Peace Project (ZPP) that
documented acts of violence, intimidation and abductions orchestrated by Mr
Mugabe's Zanu-PF party and state security agents.

The abductions follow a political stalemate over the formation of a unity
government following the signing of a power sharing deal in September.

Mr Mugabe stands accused refusing to cede powers and to share key ministries
with Mr Tsvangirai's MDC to pave way for the formation of a unity
government.

In a statement, the MDC warned that the abductions "and the continued
onslaught threatens the dialogue process with Zanu-PF as the political
rights and basic freedoms of citizens is guaranteed in the Global Political
Agreement."

However, Mr Mugabe's government yesterday rejected calls for the former
guerrilla leader to step down even in the face of a political, economic and
humanitarian crisis seen by a failure to contain a cholera outbreak.

"I don't know on what basis does the president of United States, France, the
European Union, the foreign minister of Belgium in Brussels, is calling for
our president to step down," Sikhanyiso Ndlovu, the information minister
told reporters at a press conference yesterday evening.

"What authority does [George Bush] have to do so? It is totally
unacceptable, and obnoxious, and is an insult, not only to Zimbabwe, but all
African people and all African governments.

"That is a colonialist, racist attitude, which should never have found its
ugly head in Zimbabwe, or in any African country.

"The Zimbabwe government is taking serious measures to offset any threats
and any further sanctions on the people... We won this country through the
barrel of the gun and we will defend it the way we won it."
© Adfero Ltd
10 December 2008 13:37 GMT

Archbishop of Canterbury condemns "state aggression" in Zimbabwe

http://www.monstersandcritics.com

Africa News
Dec 10, 2008, 11:29 GMT

London - The head of the Anglican Church Wednesday described the situation
in Zimbabwe as a 'complete humanitarian outrage' resulting from 'state
aggression towards civil society.'

Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, said in a statement in London
that 'outside pressure' on the regime of President Robert Mugabe was now
'more necessary than ever.'

'The Zimbabwean situation is now a complete humanitarian outrage, compounded
by self-serving and self-deceiving pronouncements from those clinging to
power,' said Williams.

'We are witnessing the breakdown of health care systems and water supply, on
top of the ravages of cholera in many cities and towns. The continued state
aggression towards civil society is unacceptable, most recently against the
few doctors that remain in the country to serve an increasingly sick and
desperate population.'

His remarks came after Williams' deputy, John Sentamu, who is Archbishop of
York, openly called for Mugabe to be removed from power.

Earlier this year, Sentamu, who is from Uganda, cut up his dog collar live
on television in protest againt the Mugabe regime, saying he would only wear
it again after Mugabe had gone.

ANC demands release of abducted activists

http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=8619

December 10, 2008

By Mxolisi Ncube

JOHANNESBURG - South Africa's ruling African National Congress (ANC) has
demanded an immediate release of abducted human rights activist Jestina
Mukoko and her two workmates at the Zimbabwe Peace Project (ZPP).

Mukoko and her colleagues Broderick Takawira and Pascal Gonzo were abducted
separately last week by armed men.

They have not been seen since.

Mukoko, who is the ZPP national director, was abducted from her Norton home
in the morning last Wednesday, barefooted and wearing only a night dress.

The Zimbabwean police claim they have so far failed to find her or her
abductors. A High Court judge has ordered them to find Mukoko.

Takawira and Gonzo were seized from their Harare offices Monday morning and
have also not yet been seen.

The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) says that 18 party activists, who
include Gandhi Mudzingwa, a former personal assistant to the party's leader,
Morgan Tsvangirai, were also abducted by unknown gunmen during the past few
weeks.

The ANC has demanded that President Robert Mugabe's government immediately
determine the whereabouts of the missing activists.

".. the ANC urges the government of Zimbabwe as a matter of urgency to try
determine the whereabouts of Jestina Mukoko, Broderick Takawira and Pascal
Gonzo of the Zimbabwe Peace Project," read part of statement released by the
party's national spokesperson, Jessie Duarte Wednesday.

"Mukoko has been missing since 3 December 2008, when she was reportedly
forcibly taken from her home at dawn. Every effort should be made to
establish where these individuals are, and that they are safe."

The remarks came within minutes of a statement by the ANC's Women's League
(ANCWL).

The league said that the political crisis in Zimbabwe had "come to a point
whereby no peace loving person can keep quiet and say nothing, especially
when you see the depth of its effects on ordinary Zimbabweans especially
women and children.

"The ANCWL is deeply concerned about the disappearance of women under this
political crisis in Zimbabwe," said Sisisi Tolashe, Secretary General of the
league.

"As women we are gravely concerned about the safety of Jestina Mukoko, the
human rights activist who disappeared on the 3rd of December 2008. It is
alleged that she was abducted by 15 armed men."

Tolashe urged all Zimbabweans to march in the streets and demand that Mukoko
be brought back to her children and family safe and unharmed.

"How can an innocent unarmed woman posing no danger to anybody be taken in
that manner?" she said.

"It is important to the people of Zimbabwe and SA that they should be
assured that whoever has got a hand in her disappearance, wherever she is,
is allowed to communicate with her family and pronounce her safety for the
world to know.

"As the ANCWL we recognise the fact that in any war situation women and
children are the most affected. It is why we took a decision to convene a
meeting of all progressive women's organisations within the SADC region to
discuss the Zimbabwe crisis."

The women's league also said that it condemned the intimidation of the
citizens of Zimbabwe especially women, and demanded that the people and the
leadership of the SADC region resolve the crisis as a matter of urgency.

Mugabe's government has denied holding the activists. However, the
government has not issued statements condemning the kidnappings, fuelling
the widely-held suspicion that the abductions were state-orchestrated.

Zimbabwe's information minister, Sikhanyiso Ndlovu, however, denied
government's involvement in the disappearance of the activists.

"Why do you think that we are responsible for their disappearance? We know
nothing about that and police have said that they are out there to get their
kidnappers," he said.

No comment could be obtained from the Zimbabwean police.

Woza and Moza Commemorate Human Rights Day in the Streets of Bulawayo

Women of Zimbabwe Arise (Bulawayo)

10 December 2008

press release

Bulawayo - OVER 1,000 members of Women and Men of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA)
marched through the streets of central Bulawayo today to the offices of the
state-owned Chronicle newspaper. The peaceful group distributed flyers
calling on the so-called government to stand aside to allow the United
Nations to deal with the humanitarian crisis. Other flyers distributed by
the group demanded the immediate release of Jestina Mukoko, Violet
Mupfuranhehwe and her two-year old baby and the other pro-democracy
activists abducted in the last few weeks. They also sang custom-composed
songs to portray their message. No arrests have been reported at the time of
this release.

The peaceful protest also commemorated Human Rights Day and the 60th
anniversary of the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights under the
theme - Human Rights of Women - Human Rights for All. Zimbabweans - stand up
for the TRUTH and it will set you free of this regime.

Eight riot police, accompanied by a senior ranking officer, arrived at the
Chronicle offices after the protest dispersed. They were overheard asking
each other who to arrest. The officer was observed radioing for
instructions, whilst the others arrested the placards and newsletters and
started to follow the trail of the protest. At this time, an audit is being
conducted to check if any arrests have been made.

Both protests yesterday in Harare and today in Bulawayo were lead by
different levels of leadership to send a clear message to the regime that
even if they arrest WOZA leaders, there are others to step forward and lead.
Strict non-violent discipline was observed by all participants.

Comments overheard from bystanders in the bank queues included one woman
saying to another, "this is WOZA - and they are singing the truth - children
are crying." To which the other woman replied, "why don't you join them?"
The answer: "I am a coward".

On this Human Rights Day, WOZA would like to pay tribute to all human rights
defenders in the country, commend them for their courage and urge them to
remain resolute in the fight for a better Zimbabwe.

Text of flyers distributed by the protesters:

Today is 10 December - Human Rights Day and the 60th anniversary of the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

As we march, today we remember that thousands of us have been arrested,
beaten, jailed, abducted. Our crime seems to be that we are mothers and
sisters. WOZA leaders spent 9 weeks in jail this year. Despite this, we will
continue to defend the nation's right to food and to right to a decent life.
Where are you when we march? Where are you when we are in jail?

WHERE IS JESTING MUKOKO? She is now missing for a week. She was taken from
her home on 3 December in her nightdress and barefoot. She is the Director
of Zimbabwe Peace Project

WHERE IS VIOLET MUPFURANHEHWE AND HER TWO-YEAR-OLD BABY? Violet was one of
17 MDC supporters abducted.

WE DEMAND THEIR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

People who identified themselves as police officers abducted them from their
homes. Even though there is supposed to be a power-sharing agreement,
violence against the pro-democracy movement has not stopped. Zimbabweans,
you are also suffering by this crashing supersonic inflation. Do you have
forex to buy food? According to statistics over 600 people have died in
hospital from cholera. How many have died in their homes without reaching a
hospital? Cholera is the latest bullet fired to kill already starving
Zimbabweans - the new Murambatsvina. The so-called Government must step
aside and let the United Nations take over so we can get help.

THE TIME HAS COME FOR YOU TO JOIN PEACEFUL DEMONSTRATIONS AND DEMAND YOUR
HUMAN RIGHTS.

Woza Moya Newsletter text:

Human Rights of Women - Human Rights for All:

Universal Declaration for Human Rights 60 years after.

Zimbabweans - Stand up for the TRUTH and it will set you free of this
regime.

WOZA members are commemorating the 16 Days of Activism and the 60th
anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The truth is that
there is nothing to celebrate, human rights abuses are on the increase and
Zimbabweans are dying day by day. Politicians who call themselves the
government do not show that they care. As WOZA members expose what is
happening, they are beaten and put in jail. Their only crime is peaceful
protests that tell the truth about the plight of Zimbabweans.

What we think about the political agreement, ministerial portfolios.

Zimbabwe is now a "complex emergency", a failed state, without a functioning
government and with the destruction of the economy, the infrastructure, and
social capital. This requires an immediate political solution and we call on
the international community, and in particular the Southern African
Development Community (SADC) and the African Union (AU), to act in defense
of the ordinary citizens of Zimbabwe.

In the meanwhile we call on all Zimbabweans to refuse to recognise or
legitimise in any way any and all 'government officials', we should cease to
use the word government but refer to them as 'Zanu PF, the illegitimate
ruling party'.

About the political agreement - it remains not worth the paper it was
written on until it is genuinely implemented. Even if implemented Zanu PF's
behaviour indicates that they are not serious about sharing power. It has
been WOZA's long-term position that we require a transitional authority
whose mandate should include dealing with the humanitarian crisis as an
urgent priority, as all politicians can no longer be trusted to deal with
this catastrophe.

Should there be some form of 'unity' government we will not accept Zanu PF
holding the posts of home affairs, justice or women's affairs. Our
experiences as activists put us on the sharp edge of these posts and we
therefore know how the destructive and violent Zanu PF policies filter down
the structures of these ministries onto the baton stick that beats us until
it draws blood or into the minds of police and prison officers that jail us
while Women's Affairs officials remain silent. They are even silent about
the abduction of Jestina Mukoko, Director of Zimbabwe Peace Project.

We note the thread of gender equality running through the power sharing deal
and applaud the effort made by the mostly male negotiators. Yet as we
recently declared in the streets of Bulawayo, actions speak louder than
words. WOZA therefore encourages the selecting of a gender equal cabinet, as
we will not be silenced by empty promises.

16 Days of Activism against Gender Violence Theme: Human Rights of Women -
Human Rights for All: Universal Declaration for Human Rights 60 years after.
WOZA has also adopted the theme. However WOZA members have boycotted any
events organised or conducted by any current official from Zanu PF so called
Ministry of Women's Affairs, Gender and Community Development in line with
our view on current governance. We conduct non-violent protests all year
round to demand our rights and will continue but Zimbabweans the time has
come for you to join us as we demonstrate.

Zimbabweans you are not demonstrating enough - you spend days queuing and
only complain to one another without acting. It is heartbreaking for a
hardened WOZA activist to watch people in the queues day after day, watching
the shoulders in front of them and not thinking of doing something to change
their situation. We see that in Thailand, eight days of nonviolent
determined action by a unified mass of people resulted in the removal of
their Prime Minister. He was banned from politics by the court after he was
found guilty of buying votes. Why can't Zimbabweans learn a lesson from
Thailand and act together to stop the mismanagement of our country.

As mothers of the nation, we therefore wish to tell Zimbabweans that if they
do not ACT to DEMAND their rights, their children will judge them as
cowards. Even a frog can decide to jump out of sewerage pond because it
stinks. Do something but do it non-violently. Join ZCTU, join NCA and join
our demos to change our plight.

The Universal Declaration for Human Rights came into being because of the
work of a woman - Eleanor Roosevelt who is called the "First Lady of the
World". She was chairman of the Human Rights Commission during the drafting
of this document. It was adopted by the General Assembly on December 10,
1948. The real challenge, she liked to tell United Nations delegates in
later years, was one of ''actually living and working in our countries for
freedom and justice for each human being.'' She also said, "People have a
right to demand that their government will not allow them to starve". We
need to study the example of Eleanor and demand that human rights are
respected in Zimbabwe. But our rights will not just be given to us we have
to demand them.

International support for human rights in Zimbabwe needed immediately, says winner of 2008 John Humphrey Freedom Award

http://www.newswire.ca

    MONTREAL, Dec. 10 /CNW Telbec/ - Efforts by Zimbabwe's courageous civil
society organizations to address the current cholera epidemic and to end
human
rights abuses need the international community's immediate support, say
Rights
& Democracy and the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, winner of the 2008
John
Humphrey Freedom Award.
    Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, represented by Executive Director
Irene Petras and fellow lawyer Andrew Makoni, receives the John Humphrey
Freedom Award tonight in Ottawa at ceremony marking International Human
Rights
Day.
    While the recipients are in Canada, the humanitarian crisis deepens in
Zimbabwe. With the country's government effectively paralyzed by endemic
misrule and protracted negotiations over a new division of power between the
country's main political rivals, civil society organizations are leading
efforts to stem the outbreak of cholera and a looming food crisis that could
affect more than five million Zimbabweans.
    These organizations need international assistance immediately.
Zimbabwe's
current government has proven repeatedly that it cannot and will not address
these immense humanitarian challenges. Waiting for a resolution to the
current
political impasse before sending relief will only cost more lives.
    "Humanitarian assistance to Zimbabwe must be de-politicized. We cannot
afford a wait-and-see approach to this crisis in the hope that the
Zimbabwean
government will get back to work and tackle these problems itself. Civil
society organizations are the only hope for saving those now affected by
cholera and the millions more who face starvation in the coming months,"
said
Irene Petras.
    Meanwhile, civil society representatives continue to be the target of
enforced disappearances. Rights & Democracy joins Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human
Rights in its demand that the recent abductions of Jestina Mukoko, Director
of
the Zimbabwe Peace Project, other human rights defenders and officials of
the
Movement for Democratic Change be fully investigated, that their
perpetrators
be prosecuted and the abducted individuals be immediately released.
    International pressure must also be brought to bear on the African Union
and the Southern Africa Development Community as guarantors of Zimbabwe's
September 2008 power-sharing agreement to take immediate action to ensure
that
any party that violates the agreement is held to account. All parties must
respect the terms of the agreement, including good governance and respect
for
the rule of law and human rights.
    "The immediate identification and release of all human rights defenders
and political detainees in state custody should be a top priority of
Zimbabwe's fledgling unity government," said Rémy M. Beauregard, President
of
Rights & Democracy (the International Centre for Human Rights and Democratic
Development). "The disrespect for the rule of law that encourages these
abductions and protects their perpetrators from justice must be brought to
an
end if Zimbabwe is to be taken seriously as a democracy and its leaders
deemed
worthy of their office."
    Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights has played a leading role in the
promotion and protection of human rights across Zimbabwe since its founding
in
1996. The organization provides essential services ranging from legal
support
for victims of state-endorsed persecution to public education and human
rights
training for activists and civil society organizations working at the
community level.
    Rights & Democracy established the annual John Humphrey Freedom Award in
1992 in honour of John Peters Humphrey, the McGill University law professor
who prepared the first draft of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
This year's ceremony marks the 60th anniversary of the Declaration and the
20th of Rights & Democracy. The award recognizes an organization or
individual
for exceptional commitment to the promotion of human rights and democratic
development. It includes a speaking tour of Canadian cities to increase
awareness of the recipient's work. This year's tour visited Calgary,
Toronto,
Halifax, Montreal and finishes today in Ottawa.

    Rights & Democracy is a non-partisan, independent Canadian institution
created by an Act of Parliament in 1988 to promote democratic development
and
to advocate for and defend human rights set out in the International Bill of
Human Rights. In cooperation with civil society and governments in Canada
and
abroad, Rights & Democracy initiates and supports programmes to strengthen
laws and democratic institutions, principally in developing countries.

Tsvangirai says legitimate government can resolve crisis in Zim

http://www.swradioafrica.com

By Tichaona Sibanda
10 December 2008

MDC leader and prime-minister designate Morgan Tsvangirai on Wednesday said
the dire economic and political situation in the country can only be
addressed once a 'legitimate government' is in place.
Speaking in Botswana he told journalists: 'But the immediate intervention of
the health crisis has exacerbated the situation to the extent that it has
now become an international crisis.'
While the rest of the world is putting pressure on Robert Mugabe to step
down, African leaders continue to exert pressure on the MDC leader. They
want him to urgently resolve his differences with Mugabe about the make-up
of a government of national unity and begin working together to address the
country's economic and humanitarian crisis.

The MDC President denied that he was avoiding joining a proposed unity
government in the hope that Mugabe would resign or capitulate. But he did
not join the chorus of calls for Mugabe's removal. He said the cholera
crisis highlighted the need for Mugabe to be more accommodating in the
talks. Before the advent of the cholera epidemic Tsvangirai had last month
warned of a humanitarian disaster, unless the country's political crisis was
resolved and aid increased.
The MDC explained in a statement Wednesday that Mugabe was to blame for the
delay in forming a government, because of his intransigence over
power-sharing.
'We believe that the global political agreement signed in September laid the
basis for further negotiations but there are still outstanding issues that
need to be hammered out,' the statement said.

Among the sticking points is the sharing of key cabinet posts, particularly
the Home Affairs ministry that controls the police. Mugabe is insisting on
shared control of the ministry.

The MDC is also very concerned by the new campaign of repression and
intimidation against its activists. In the last month alone over 20
activists and human rights defenders have been abducted and their
whereabouts remain a mystery.
Tsvangirai said he held Mugabe personally responsible for the fate of a
missing MDC members and activists.

'As far as we are concerned Mugabe is responsible for upholding the
law....The fate of those people, whether dead or alive, is in his hands,' he
said.

Merkel adds voice to calls for Zimbabwe's Mugabe to leave

http://www.earthtimes.org

      Posted : Wed, 10 Dec 2008 14:27:48 GMT
      Author : DPA

       Berlin - German Chancellor Angela Merkel added her voice
Wednesday to calls for Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe to step down.
"Especially in Zimbabwe's case, we must do our very best to attain life
without the terrors of President Mugabe," she said in Berlin in a speech
marking the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

       "The excuse of national sovereignty cannot be used to shelter
the completely unrestrained commission of serious human rights breaches,"
Merkel said.

      Others demanding this week that Mugabe, 84, leave have included
US President George W Bush and French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

      As the death toll from cholera rises into the hundreds, the
demand has also been voiced by British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and
Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga. The UN says at least 746 Zimbabweans
have died of the disease so far.

US, world influence over Mugabe limited

http://www.csmonitor.com

Despite President Bush's strong words Tuesday, few levers exist to force
Zimbabwe's leader out.
By Howard LaFranchi | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
from the December 11, 2008 edition

Washington - President Bush's eleventh-hour call for Zimbabwe's President
Robert Mugabe to step down may have little realistic chance of influencing
the African strongman. But it says much about the international community's
failure to bring down the world's worst tyrants.

Mr. Bush this week joined British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and French
President Nicolas Sarkozy in declaring that the time has come for Mr.
Mugabe - one of Africa's last lions of liberation from white minority rule,
but also a despot who resists democratization - to step aside for new
leadership.

Zimbabwe, once Africa's breadbasket and relatively prosperous, is sinking
into chaos over the failure to implement a power-sharing accord reached in
September between Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai.

On Tuesday, Bush said, "It is time for Robert Mugabe to go."

But with Bush about to leave office, the international community showing
little appetite for taking a forceful stand, and the African Union shying
away from anything more than dialogue to resolve the crisis, most analysts
see little impact from Bush's words.

"It's good to hear this kind of declaration, because it shows the
international community is with the people, but it's far from enough to make
a difference," says George Ayittey, a prominent Ghanaian economist and a
professor at American University in Washington. "The regime won't be moved
by words."

Zimbabwe already stood on the verge of collapse, with a worsening food
shortage, services at a standstill, and the economy in chaos. But now, an
outbreak of cholera has affected more than 14,000 people and caused more
than 600 deaths, according to the United Nations.

Members of Mugabe's inner circle of supporters say the world - and in
particular the "white West" - is trying to use the cholera outbreak to
impose its wishes on a sovereign country.

No mechanism to deal with dictators

But what Zimbabwe may illustrate more graphically is how ineffective the
world remains at addressing the problem of entrenched dictators.

In a recent interview summing up her experience in the Bush administration,
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said she was "still really appalled at
the inability of the international community to deal with tyrants."

Singling out the cases of Zimbabwe and Burma (Myanmar), Ms. Rice said the
world remains unable to mobilize "international will" to take on tyrants.

"Condoleezza Rice is absolutely right, we don't have a mechanism to deal
with these terrible dictators," says Jeswald Salacuse, a specialist in
international dispute settlement at Tufts University's Fletcher School of
Law and Diplomacy in Medford, Mass.

The only thing likely to get a tyrant's attention is a threatening use of
force, Mr. Salacuse says. But he adds that the global opposition to the
American war to depose Saddam Hussein illustrates how little appetite there
is for internationally imposed regime change.

"There are few things these dictators worry about, and it's not the world's
disapproval," Salacuse says. "It's either intervention, or meaningful
economic sanctions that really hurt."

But others cast doubt on the effectiveness of sanctions.

"History shows it's very hard to use sanctions to get a regime to change its
behavior," says Randall Newnham, an expert in economic aid and sanctions as
a foreign policy tool at Pennsylvania State University's Berks College in
Reading. "The idea is that you make things hard for the people so that they
rise up against the despot, but generally the result has been to accomplish
the former but not the latter."

That's because "the clique around the leader" controls the levers of power
and benefits from the smuggling and other practices that arise to offset
sanctions, Dr. Newnham says.

Do smart sanctions work?

That problem has given rise to what are called "smart sanctions," he says,
which are designed to hit the regime while sparing the general population.
For instance, this week the European Union increased its "smart sanctions"
on Zimbabwe by adding 11 names to a list of regime military and other
officials barred from traveling to or dealing with EU countries.

But critics note that EU sanctions on Zimbabwe have been in effect since
2002 with evidently little impact.

American University's Dr. Ayittey says experience demonstrates that there
are only two options to influence Mugabe: a concerted effort from Zimbabwe's
neighbors or a threat of international intervention.

"If you had an African economic blockade, Zimbabwe wouldn't last a week," he
says.

Ayittey says South Africa especially, being a crucial economic lifeline for
Zimbabwe, could play an influential role in the crisis.

Yet, even though South Africa's former president, Thabo Mbeki, brokered the
power-sharing deal between Mugabe and Mr. Tsvangirai, the African powerhouse
country appears unwilling to apply any meaningful pressure on the regime.

Short of a tougher response from Zimbabwe's neighbors, Ayittey says it's
time for the international community to "stop playing politically correct"
with Africa's dictators "and their bogus accusations of white
recolonization" and intervene by force - preferably by the UN declaring
Zimbabwe a "protectorate" and deposing the regime.

Fletcher's Salacuse sees no chance of that happening. "The small countries
in particular are worried about this, they would see it as the violation of
a sovereign state," he says. "They'd say, 'If it can happen to Mugabe, it
can happen to us.' "

Join the dance - MDC told

http://www.zimonline.co.za

by Juma Donke Thursday 11 December 2008

CAPE TOWN - The opposition Movement for Democratic Change has no option but
to accept the flawed September 15 power sharing agreement with ZANU PF for
it to start reversing the deleterious effects of the humanitarian crisis
that is spreading across Zimbabwe.

Political commentator John Makumbe on Tuesday night railed against the MDC
leadership for agreeing to the "very bad deal" which essentially hands back
all the levers of power to President Robert Mugabe.

However, the agreement was "the only game in town" and the MDC should dust
off its best apparel and go to the "dance".

"This is a bad deal: a very bad deal. I wonder where these guys were when
they signed this deal. Perhaps they were in a stinking toilet. But even a
stinking toilet stops smelling if you stay in it for a long time," Makumbe
said.

He likened the Zimbabwean agreement to an equally defective Kenyan
power-sharing pact hastily cobbled together to end widening civil strife
that left an estimated 1 500 people dead. Kenya spiralled into political
violence after opposition leader Raila Odinga's followers suspected fraud
during last December's presidential poll.

Makumbe said: "Like the Kenyan agreement, this deal hands the levers of head
of state to the loser. But that doesn't surprise me because Thabo Mbeki (the
facilitator) is not given to achieving much as the ANC realised after
Polokwane."

He was addressing a seminar organised by The Institute for Justice and
Reconciliation on the current situation in Zimbabwe in Cape Town.

Makumbe shared the podium with MDC-Mutambara senator David Coltart. Coltart
said the MDC should push for speedy resolution of the sticky points that
were holding up implementation of the agreement in the hope of unlocking
frozen international development aid.

Despite the agreement's inherent shortcomings, the MDC should not walk away
from the negotiations as that would dash the expectations of millions of
hungry Zimbabweans whose hopes of survival are pinned on Morgan Tsvangirai
assuming the premiership in the proposed Government of National Unity (GNU).

Makumbe, a professor of politics at the University of Zimbabwe, described
the deal as "clumsy, with top heavy structures" that gave power to the
so-called Council of Ministers to "supervise" the Prime Minister. In a
functioning democracy, the prime minister supervises Cabinet ministers.

Additionally, the agreement was bereft of an implementation timeframe, gave
too much power to the office of the president, which powers included
appointing the prime minister; was silent on the sharing of governors' posts
and crucially, failed to allocate ministries to the feuding political
parties.

Said Makumbe: "The President exercises too much executive power, and now is
not the time that Robert Mugabe will start being a gentleman. We know Robert
Mugabe uses his powers; even that (which) he doesn't have."

The shoddiness of the whole deal was typified by the current battle between
ZANU PF and the MDC-T for control of the ministry of home affairs.

While ZANU PF has shown willingness to share this portfolio in line with the
November 9 SADC Extraordinary Summit resolution which endorsed this idea,
the larger faction of the MDC has refused to join government on these terms.

The MDC's argument is premised on the fact that ZANU PF has allocated itself
the ministry of defence and ministry of state security - the other two
security ministries in the triumvirate.

Both speakers criticised the SADC for kowtowing to Mugabe and turning a
blind eye to his brinkmanship.

Coltart charged that the SADC November 9 Resolution was an "impractical" and
"ridiculous decision".

Makumbe, added that the DNA of liberation parties in southern Africa made
them "allergic to handing over power" to people like Morgan Tsvangirai, who
have "zero percent liberation credentials".

This is why they ganged up against Tsvangirai at the November 9 summit.
Coltart, however, argued that an MDC takeover of the ministry of homes
affairs - which controls the police and the Registrar General's office - was
bound to be meaningless as both Police Commissioner General Augustine
Chihuri and Registrar General Tobaiwa Mudede were unlikely to serve an MDC
minister in good faith.

"In a crisis, both Mudede and Chihuri will side with ZANU PF because they
belong to that party. The MDC will be left high and dry. It's a nonsense
(the agreement)," said Coltart.

The senator for Khumalo, however, encouraged his colleagues in MDC-T to join
the GNU and seize the opportunity to outshine ZANU PF in service delivery
and to steady the flailing economy.

As Prime Minister and head of the government, Tsvangirai's office would be
the entry point of all development and humanitarian aid destined for
Zimbabwe.

This and the fact that MDC would control the Ministries of Finance, Health,
and Education which between them control the national budget and gobble up a
large chunk of the finances would place the MDC in the driving seat, said
the Senator.

He was sceptical about recent calls by the international community for the
ouster of Mugabe. "There is no political will in Britain to oust Mugabe and
an uprising is unlikely in Zimbabwe."

In practice, an international humanitarian invasion of Zimbabwe would be
stalled by China and Russia which routinely back dictators.

The former Communist states which wield the veto power in the United Nations
Security Council, have unfailingly used their political and legal standing
to block attempts to slap UN sanctions on Mugabe and members of his inner
circle.

Zimbabwe is also unlikely to implode in same manner as Kenya because there
was "no pressure cooker effect" in the country.

Young people who are the vanguard of such uprisings, chose to leave the
country for either Botswana or South Africa when they reached "the end of
the tether", handing the ascendancy in the political stalemate to ZANU PF
and its military generals.

Also, a small "hardcore" in the military which was bankrolling its
operations by fleecing the newly discovered diamonds in Chiadzwa, was
prepared to reduce Zimbabwe to the same level as fragmented and rudderless
Somalia.

The horn of Africa nation imploded after the 1991 ouster of former dictator
Siyad Barre. Repeated attempts to repair its democratic institutions and
restore it to full statehood have flopped.

"There are more Zimbabwean hotheads in Hillbrow (Johannesburg). The majority
(of people) left (in Zimbabwe) are physically weak and are inclined to queue
the whole day to withdraw ZW$500 000 which is only enough to pay for a
one-way ride into town," said Coltart. - ZimOnline

Zimbabwe discussed in secret SADC meetings

http://www.afrol.com/articles/31968

afrol News, 10 December - The Southern African Development Community (SADC)
is dispatching more teams to look into and formulate help strategies in
Zimbabwe's crisis, despite the country's pronounced suspicions on a
Western-backed invasion. Two secrete meetings are underway.

The regional body has called for an emergency security meeting of the SADC
Troika to be held in Maputo tomorrow, a source has revealed to afrol News.
Though not disclosing the details of the Maputo agenda, Zimbabwe's new
security concerns, as well as an alleged invasion plot, are believed to top
the meeting's agenda.

The source further said another security meeting, at a technical and
strategic level, was to be held in Botswana, though saying it was a rather
sensitive issue to be discussed and not wanting to give more details.
Zimbabwe was to be one of the issues.

Zimbabwe has pronounced its discomfort with the number of foreign missions,
casting its suspicions on what it called a planned invasion by the Western
powers.

The clarion call by Zimbabwe follows numerous calls by Western leaders as
well as some regional member states pushing an open agenda aimed at deposing
the 84 years old dictator, President Robert Mugabe.

The Harare administration spokesperson said yesterday that President
Mugabe's government would not be surprised that the UK and US, together with
the UN would lead such a military mission, but not saying how and if the
country was preparing to respond.

He also said both UK and US were going to push the Zimbabwean agenda before
the UN Security Council under the pretext of the cholera epidemic, saying
such did not warrant an invasion on Zimbabwe's sovereignty.

Open charges by Western leaders and diplomats have also seen of late,
increased UN pressure on Zimbabwe, while the regional neighbours have also
been under increased pressure to lead initiatives in the Zimbabwe crisis or
face the scorn of the Western powers.

To date, only Botswana and Kenya have come out clearly criticising President
Mugabe, wanting him to step down. Meanwhile, the majority of the Africa
Union (AU) still holds the view that the power-sharing deal is the only way
out of the Zimbabwean crisis.

The country's leadership signed the power-sharing deal in September, but the
processes leading to the formation of a unity government have stalled over
allocation of cabinet positions, even necessitating a constitutional
amendment.

While fast-tracking its presence and humanitarian impact in Zimbabwe, SADC
has said in a press statement it was also expecting an emergency report back
to its Troika meeting of health and water affairs ministers, tomorrow, in
Johannesburg, South Africa, as the outbreak was now spreading and
threatening Zimbabwe's neighbours.

Regional member states such as Botswana, Mozambique, South Africa, Malawi
and Zambia are said to be already experiencing outbreaks stemming from
Zimbabwe, though not yet at an alarming scale, while bordering neighbours,
especially South Africa and Zambia are also concerned with the influx of
Zimbabwean refugees running away from lack of services in their country.

SADC has stated that apart from helping out in the cholera crisis in
Zimbabwe, the regional body was also looking at strategies to fast-track
alleviation of the humanitarian situation in the country.

Zambia dismisses Zimbabwe intervention talk as false

http://www.apanews.net

APA-Lusaka (Zambia) Zambian Foreign Affairs and Defence Ministers Kabinga
Pande and George Mpombo, respectively, on Wednesday dismissed as false,
reports that their government wanted to stage military intervention
neighbouring Zimbabwe.

Pande and Mpombo told journalists in the capital Lusaka that the reports,
which appeared on an online publication believed to be produced by
Zimbabweans living in the Diaspora, were totally false.

The reports alleged that the governments of Zambia and Botswana were
contemplating in conducting military action in Zimbabwe to oust the
government of Robert Mugabe from power.

They described the reports as malicious and only aimed at tarnishing the
image of Zimbabwe's neighbours, adding that at no time did the Zambian
government consider military intervention as an alternative to end the
political crisis in that country.

Zambia and Botswana are however have been the most outspoken in the southern
African region on the political impasse that continues to grip Zimbabwe.

  MC/nm/APA 2008-12-10

EU releases names of Zimbabwe new travel ban

http://www.swradioafrica.com

By Violet Gonda
10 December 2008

The European Union has released the names of the 11 Zimbabweans added to the
targeted sanctions list. The updated list includes senior army and police
officials, an MP and provincial governors. They are accused of being
directly involved in the campaign of terror waged before and after the
elections

Newton Kachepa: Member of Parliament for Mudzi North.

Major Kairo Mhandu: Zimbabwe National Army

Brigadier General Sibusio Bussie Moyo: Zimbabwe National Army

Brigadier General Richard Ruwodo; Promoted on 12 August to the rank of Major
General (retired); former Acting Permanent Under Secretary for Ministry of
Defence.

Misheck Nyawani:

Columbus Mudonhi: Assistant Inspector Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP)

Isaac Mumba: Superintendent (ZRP)

Martin Kwainona: Assistant Commissioner (ZRP)

Paul Mudzvova: Sergeant (ZRP)

Martin Dinha: Provincial Governor for Mashonaland Central

Faber Chidarikire: Provincial Governor for Mashonaland West

Dr. Simba Makoni, an independent candidate in the recent presidential
elections, has had his name removed from the list. The EU already bans 168
persons - including Robert Mugabe - for human rights abuses. As well as
being barred from entering the EU, those on the list also have their
European assets frozen. The EU is also backing global calls for Mugabe to
resign.

Paul Blomfield: Take whatever action is necessary to end Zimbabwe’s suffering

http://www.labourmatters.com

By Sheffield Central Labour ⋅ December 10, 2008 ⋅Paul Blomfield, Labour’s
Parliamentary candidate for Sheffield Central and Chair of Sheffield Labour
Party, has called on the international community to “take whatever action is
necessary” to end the suffering of the Zimbabwean people and force the
Mugabe regime to step down. Paul Blomfield who was a leader of the
Anti-Apartheid Movement and the Zimbabwe Emergency Campaign Committee and
campaigned for the country’s freedom from minority rule in 1980 was speaking
at a meeting of Sheffield District Labour Party. Mr Blomfield backed Gordon
Brown’s call for an urgent meeting of the United Nations Security Council
and Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s call for African nations to intervene
militarily.

Mr Blomfield said:

“We can no longer stand back in the face of appalling and unnecessary
suffering. The international community must take whatever action is
necessary to save the people of Zimbabwe.”

“Decisive international action brought freedom and democracy to Zimbabwe,
now we need the same resolve from the rest of the world to remove a tyrant
who has abused that freedom and betrayed the Zimbabwean people.”

Paul added:

“There was such great hope when the first free elections were held. Zimbabwe
had the resources to build a prosperous economy and be a leading force for
good within the region, but Mugabe has brought the nation to its knees and
is now exporting poverty and disease to neighbouring countries. This
desperate and tragic situation cannot be allowed to continue.”

Tsvangirai casts off mounting pressure

http://www.mg.co.za/

JOHANNESBURG,SOUTH AFRICA Dec 10 2008 15:43

Zimbabwe's opposition leader and prime minister-designate Morgan Tsvangirai
on Wednesday rebuffed pressure caused by his country's escalating cholera
crisis to agree to join a unity government with President Robert Mugabe.

Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Tsvangirai and Mugabe are both
under pressure to resolve their differences over the make-up of a government
of national unity and begin working together to address the country's
economic and humanitarian crisis.

The United Nations said earlier the number of deaths in the cholera outbreak
since August had risen sharply in recent days to 746.

International and local organisations say many more are dying needlessly due
to the collapse of the country's health system.

"The toll will never be known," says Itai Rusike, executive director of the
Community Working Group on Health -- a civil-society network grouping 35
national organisations.

"Zimbabwe used to have one of the best surveillance systems in the region,"
Rusike said in a telephone interview. "But phones are not working, nurses
are not there, so their information system has collapsed ... It is very
difficult to tell how many people have died."

"These are symptoms of a failed state," he said. "Nothing is working."

British charity Oxfam agreed with estimates of thousands of unreported
deaths and says the situation will get worse with the onset of the rainy
season, which lasts until February.

"When you look at people who are already weakened by hunger, many already
weakened by HIV and Aids, and with rainy season comes malaria, and we know
anthrax is spreading; it's really just a recipe for disaster," spokesperson
Caroline Hooper-Box said in South Africa.

She said many people Oxfam interviewed in Zimbabwe say they have cut back to
one meal in three days. Some are trying to survive on insects and berries.

'Mugabe is responsible'
"We do appreciate that we are in a serious crisis," Tsvangirai said in a BBC
interview. But he placed the matter firmly at Mugabe's feet: "Mugabe must
realise he is responsible for this crisis."

Tsvangirai denied that he was avoiding joining a proposed unity government
in the hope that Mugabe would resign.

A number of Western and African leaders have, over the past week, renewed
their calls for the elderly leader to quit.

"The African leadership's call for him to go is nothing new," Tsvangirai
said, calling for "action" over words alone.

At the same time, he said, "We believe that the global political agreement
[the power-sharing deal that he and Mugabe signed in September] laid the
basis for further negotiations but there are still outstanding issues that
need to be hammered out."

Among the sticking points are the sharing of key Cabinet posts, particularly
the home affairs ministry that controls the police.

The MDC says it should run that ministry given the history of state violence
against its members.

Mugabe's Zanu-PF is insisting on shared control.

The MDC's distrust of Zanu-PF has been deepened by a new campaign of
repression and intimidation against the opposition and activists.

Tsvangirai has held Mugabe personally responsible for the fate of a group of
about 19 missing MDC members and activists.

"As far as we are concerned Mr Mugabe is responsible for upholding the law
... The fate of those people, whether dead or alive, is in his hands." -- 
Sapa-dpa, Sapa-AP

Cholera Map

 

Wednesday, 10 December 2008

The map below shows the extent of hunger and cholera in Zimbabwe. Click on the towns to read more about the situation on the ground.

Cholera in Zimbabwe Hunger in Zimbabwe

The BBC does not have permission to report from Zimbabwe, so the names of some contributors have been changed to protect identities.

HARARE: BRIAN HUNGWE

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.

Apostolic worshippers walk near a burst sewage pipe in a suburb of Harare

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.

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MASVINGO: OWEN CHIKARI

Health officials have said that at least 51 people here in Masvingo have died from cholera over the past two weeks and more than 1,500 cases have been reported.

Over 20 people starved to death in my constituency alone last month MP Tachiona Mharadze

There are strong fears that even more lives could be lost as the government has run out of the required medication to treat the affected.

Provincial medical director Julius Chirengwa said: "Although the situation appears to be under control the shortage of drugs and experienced staff still remain a challenge."

The critical food shortages which are forcing thousands of starving people to rely on wild fruits for survival is also worsening the situation because the fruits are not cleaned according to proper hygienic standards.

Thousands of patients have been left stranded because almost all the government-run health institutions here have been closed indefinitely, owing to a lack of finance.

Many people are relying on wild fruits because of food shortages

Masvingo general hospital - the province's sole referral centre - has also been closed.

Hospital superintendant Amadiof Shamu said: "We have closed all the wards and we are urging people with relatives at the institutions to come and collect them."

"I do not know where to go and what to do," said David Muyaka, a seriously ill patient who was ordered to leave hospital.

Striking doctors and nurses have refused to return to work until they are paid $2,500 (£1,690) per month.

Schools closed before the term had ended because teachers refused to work without being paid.

Policemen and soldiers were bankrolled by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe to oversee the end-of-year examinations.

Students wrote some exams in Masvingo by candlelight

However examination papers arrived late in the day at some centres, forcing students to write by candlelight.

Government officials are denying claims that at least 20 people in the past fortnight have died from starvation in Masvingo province, saying the figures are exaggerated.

Yet a legislator in Masvingo West constituency, Tachiona Mharadze, said: "People are dying every day because of hunger. Over 20 people starved to death in my constituency alone last month."

A villager from neighbouring Gutu, Edson Marima explained: "We are now living like wild animals because we search for food every day.

"We rely on edible wild fruits and sometimes eat vegetables only because we have nothing else.

"Some people are starving to death due to these food shortages."

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MUTARE: DAVID FARIRA

Thirty people have died here in Manicaland province from the cholera epidemic sweeping across Zimbabwe.

It's a serious violation of rights Trust Manda Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights

About 450 cases have been reported.

Government officials conceded they were losing the battle.

While people are battling with the cholera threat, members of the Zimbabwe National Army are going from door-to-door in poor townships arresting residents found possessing foreign currency.

Those suspected to have given accommodation to foreigners who flocked to the eastern border city to buy diamonds also fell prey to the marauding soldiers.

Those found with hard currency are taken to the police station and then driven to the Chiadzwa diamond fields to fill up the illegal mine gullies.

NGOs are distributing food to some rural areas

Once there, they are beaten up and ordered to sing songs in praise of the ruling Zanu-PF party and its leader President Robert Mugabe.

"It's a serious violation of rights," said Trust Manda, the regional co-ordinator of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights.

Teachers are still on strike, demanding decent salaries and better working conditions.

Non-governmental organisations are distributing food aid in rural areas after a failed agricultural season.

But the food aid is finding its way into the poor townships where it is being sold at hugely inhibitive prices.

Children are dropping out of school mainly because of hunger; and those that were at boarding schools are now at home because the fees are too high and there is no food any more.

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BULAWAYO, THEMBA NKOSI

Bulawayo's city health department says only eight deaths have been recorded in the city and those, they say, came from elsewhere.

There are disputes about the number of people dying of cholera

But this figure is disputed by doctors and residents.

Bulawayo's ceremonial Mayor Thaba Moyo has said those who died of cholera came from Beitbridge, the town on the border with South Africa, 380km (236 miles) south.

Health officials in Beitbridge put the latest death toll at 56 but nurses have apparently told friends that as many as 80 people have died of the disease and the small mortuary is congested with decomposed bodies.

Villagers who live on the border with prosperous South Africa are crossing every day to seek medical attention at the hospitals in Musina town, about 10km (six miles) from the border.

The scale of the disease in Matabeleland is less serious than in Harare.

The cholera epidemic is one of the symptoms of a collapsed economy and health sector.

The price of containers to carry water has escalated in recent weeks

The crisis has also forced many schools to close. A situation made worse as thousands of Matabeleland's teachers have left the country for paying jobs in South Africa and Botswana.

Villagers in southern Matabeleland have appealed for more food aid as starvation worsens in the region.

Aid agencies put the figure of the population needing food aid at three million but the government says only one million are in need.

Cholera and hunger are not the only headaches for President Robert Mugabe and his ruling elite in the region.

Their party, Zanu-PF, is struggling to prevent mass resignations of senior and junior officials in this region which supported Joshua Nkomo, not Robert Mugabe, during the 1970s liberation war and has never fully supported Mr Mugabe.

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CHINHOYI: POTERAI BAKWA

The health system here in Mashonaland West province, where President Robert Mugabe hails from, is collapsing with the provincial hospital being the last of six district hospitals to close.

We have had seven casualties in prison and 16 more are under quarantine in one cell Guard at Chinhoyi prison

For the past month, trained senior nurses and doctors have not reported for duty.

"'The provincial referral hospital is being manned by student nurses and no operations are being conducted here," said a senior doctor, who refused to be named.

He added that they had to down tools after they failed to get their salaries from banks, where there are daily cash withdrawal limits. The daily limit cannot even buy a loaf of bread.

The cholera outbreak has hit Chinhoyi prison. Seven inmates have reportedly died.

School enrolment has dropped significantly in the past year

"'We have had seven casualties in prison and 16 more are under quarantine in one cell," said a prison guard, who cannot be named for fear of victimisation.

Provincial medical director Doctor Wenclilus Nyamayaro refused to comment, saying: "It's a security issue as it involves uniformed forces and I am not at liberty to comment."

In Karoi town, 204km (126 miles) north-west of Harare, immunisation programmes for children under five years old have been suspended.

Health workers at the hospital confirmed that immunisations for polio, measles, tetanus and other normally preventable and treatable diseases have had to be suspended as they have run out of the medication.

Last week district medical officer Dr Kudzai Zimbudzi was forced to carry out pauper burials for 10 bodies after mortuary attendants went on strike. The corpses had been in the mortuary for three months - no-one had come to claim them.

Power cuts have badly affected mortuaries.

Vending is the only paying job in Zimbabwe A former teacher

Schools officially close on Thursday for the Christmas holiday but for many, going to school has not been a reality for months.

Pupils, especially in rural areas, instead spend their days gathering wild fruits to eat.

Teachers have joined the ranks of the country's starving professionals and many have turned to selling vegetables to put food on their tables.

In rural Hurungwe, teachers are not eligible for food aid.

''We are being sidelined by non-government organisations. We have to fetch wild fruits and edible roots for our survival,'' explained Sinikiwe, a teacher in remote Siakobvu, about 300km (186 miles) west of the capital, Harare.

Many in those towns have resorted to becoming street vendors in Chirundu - the border post town before crossing into Zambia - as a means of survival.

Many nurses and doctors in Zimbabwe are on strike

''Vending is the only paying job in Zimbabwe where you will not get frustrated by any employer. Government has neglected us and this year was the worst in the education sector. The army invigilated the grade seven [primary school leaving] exams. It is disastrous for the country's future,'' said a former teacher.

In Karoi, only a handful of pupils were going to school. School enrolment has dropped significantly.

In rural Zvimba, Mr Mugabe's home, the villagers are fighting with donkeys for wild fruit to eat.

If the government can defy court orders with such immunity, then they will never respect rule of law and political affiliation in Zimbabwe politics MDC lawyer Alec Muchadehama

Meanwhile, lawyers for the opposition Movement for Democratic Change are still battling to get access to 15 of their supporters who were abducted in Banket, a farming town in Mashonaland West, four weeks ago.

Among those abducted by suspected state security agencies is a two-year-old boy called Nigel who was with his mother, Violet Mupfuranhwewe.

MDC lawyer Alec Muchadehama said: "Our frantic efforts have failed to bring even Home Affairs Minister Kembo Mohadi and Police Chief Augustine Chihuri to comply with High Court ruling to bring the suspects to any police station or court.

"If the government can defy court orders with such immunity, then they will never respect rule of law and political affiliation in Zimbabwe politics."

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HWANGE: JOEL GORE

The municipality of Victoria Falls has banned the sale of mangoes and fish in the resort town in a bid to control the spread of cholera.

Selling wild fruit is also a valuable source of income

Mayor Nkosinathi Jiyane warned that anyone found selling fish, fresh or dry, and mangoes would be arrested and fined.

An anti-cholera campaign team has been formed and police are using loud speakers to announce precautions to be followed to prevent the spread of the disease.

Cholera has killed one person in Dete township and four in the urban area of Hwange despite government reports that the disease is under control.

Some residents in the province fear the disease might spread unabated with the onset of the rainy season because broken pipes have meant that a lot of business, health and education premises are now polluted with filthy and stagnant sewage.

In Hwange town, police and wildlife park rangers invaded the houses of owners suspected of selling uninspected meat.

It is feared the onset of the rainy season will worsen the cholera crisis

Their blitz has also affected the informal traders selling vegetables and tomatoes in the streets and at out-door markets.

Traditional chiefs as well as political and religious leaders are saying that people are dying of hunger because of the food shortages.

The MP for Binga South area, Joel Ghabuza, told a story of a grandmother and her two grandchildren who died after eating wild fruits they had not known were in fact poisonous.

And from reports going round, there are many other similar tales of needless deaths.

There is no food in the province and if donors fail to assist this coming year the situation will deteriorate even further.

Most families have failed to prepare for farming because there are no seeds to plant.

"Hell on Earth" in Zimbabwe

http://news.nationalgeographic.com

Alexandra Fuller for National Geographic Magazine
December 10, 2008
Author Alexandra Fuller grew up in Zimbabwe, Malawi, and Zambia, where her
family still lives. She now resides in Wyoming with her husband and three
children. Fuller is the author of three works of non-fiction, including the
memoir Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight: An African Childhood. On the 60th
anniversary of the United Nations' Declaration of Universal Human Rights,
she reflects on the disease devastating her former home of Zimbabwe.

If it was President Robert Mugabe's intention to organize hell on Earth, he
has succeeded. It's December in Zimbabwe, and that means the rains are
frequent and the sun is at its hottest. The harvest-predicted to be
ridiculously inadequate-is half a year away. Electricity is sporadic. No
garbage has been collected for months. There has been no running water in
many cities for days. Zimbabwe is a steam-bath of infection. Cholera, that
most medieval of diseases, and the ultimate indication of a state that has
failed her people, is rampant. Violence spills over. I follow every new
development because those are my people, in that hell.

Zimbabweans are not strangers to violence and terror. We once fought a
bloody civil war to decide who would control the land. Brother turned on
brother. We all lost someone in those years, and many of us learned to live
with death; it was the background noise to our lives. Villages were razed to
the ground. Yes, there were atrocities.

It was war, but it wasn't hell.

People risked death, endured heartbreak, rather than turn their backs on the
country. Always, there was an understanding that the land was worth the
fight. And in the end, when peace came, Mugabe himself put it best: "To us
the time has come for those who fought each other as enemies to accept the
reality of a new situation by accepting each other as allies."

Most Zimbabweans settled down and did just that, brought together by a
common loyalty to the earth beneath their feet. But in the last few years,
with Mugabe and his crazed henchmen in control of a diabolically
orchestrated free-fall, an estimated four million people have fled their
country. Above all, Zimbabweans are lovers of their land. No, that does not
go far enough-they are their land. For many Zimbabweans the blur between
soul and land begins in this way: They are born, and then the umbilical cord
is taken straight from the mother and planted in the earth, so that it can
take root and grow.

Pulling away from that ground causes some kind of death, a suffocation of
exile. Deprive Zimbabweans of their land, and you deprive them of air,
water, food.

And now that land has become a madman's torture chamber.

What makes this horror something we will all have to live with one day is
that we can hear the cries from Zimbabwe, and from her borders, and yet we
do nothing. News reports and desperate letters from inside the country have
been circulating around the Internet for months. In tone and in content they
sound eerily similar to the letters and warnings we have heard from other
hells on Earth: Darfur; Bosnia; Cambodia; Nazi Germany; Rwanda-before that
awful April in 1994.

In October, Hans-Gert Pöttering, President of the European Parliament,
issued this unequivocal warning: "If we do not act, we will have the lives
of hundreds of thousands if not millions of people on our conscience. Did we
not commit that Rwanda/Burundi must never happen again? However, this is
exactly the situation the average Zimbabwean is experiencing right now."

There will be an end to the crisis in Zimbabwe one day. Then we will count
that country's disappeared, her diseased, her displaced, her dead. We will
ask, "How did this happen?"

But we already know how it happened. It happened because we stood by.

Zimbabwe cholera toll jumps, Mugabe under pressure

Reuters

Wed Dec 10, 2008 4:45pm GMT

By MacDonald Dzirutwe

HARARE, Dec 10 (Reuters) - The death toll from Zimbabwe's cholera outbreak
soared to nearly 800 on Wednesday and a court ordered police to find a
missing rights activist, piling more pressure on President Robert Mugabe's
government.

The spreading cholera, coupled with chronic food shortages, has highlighted
the economic collapse of the southern African nation and prompted calls for
Mugabe's resignation from Western leaders and some within Africa.

The World Health Organisation said 774 Zimbabweans had died from cholera and
over 15,000 were likely infected, casting doubt on official assertions it
was under control. In Mozambique, officials said four people had died of
cholera in a border area near Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwe's government accuses foes abroad of using the epidemic to try to
oust Mugabe, in power since independence from Britain in 1980, and blames
Western sanctions for ruining the once relatively prosperous southern
African country.

Mugabe's critics say his policies have wrecked Zimbabwe.

There is little hope of recovery while deadlock remains between Mugabe and
opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai over implementing a power-sharing deal.
Recent abductions of government critics have added to doubts over the
agreement.

The Zimbabwe High Court on Tuesday ordered police to find Jestina Mukoko, a
former journalist and head of the Zimbabwe Peace Project, taken away at
gunpoint in Harare on Dec. 3.

"We got an order from the High Court instructing police to search for her,"
said Otto Saki of the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR), which filed
the court petition.

Police have said Mukoko is in not in their custody.

About 50 lawyers and rights activists marched in central Harare on Tuesday
and handed a position to the speaker of parliament expressing concern at
"the continued violation of human rights by the government of Zimbabwe, and
its refusal to address the country's long standing human rights concerns".

ABDUCTIONS

Scores of opposition activists were abducted and killed in the run-up to a
June presidential run-off election. MDC leader Tsvangirai boycotted the vote
after the attacks, allowing Mugabe to win the one-candidate poll.

International outrage over the election spurred a round of power-sharing
talks that led to a Sept. 15 agreement to establish a unity government. That
move has ground to a halt because of disagreement over control of key
ministries.

MDC Secretary General Tendai Biti said the opposition would continue to
negotiate with Mugabe's ZANU-PF despite attacks. He said about 30 MDC
supporters and officials have been abducted in recent weeks.

"We cannot fold our hands and walk away from the agreement, given the
collapse of the state and the suffering of the people. But it is extremely
hard to be found on the negotiating table when our supporters are
unaccounted for," Biti said.

"We will not walk away, we will look the dictator in the eye. He knows he's
got a game on his hands."

ZANU-PF and the MDC are due to meet again later this month.

Tsvangirai told CNN that the cholera crisis highlighted the need for Mugabe
to be more accommodating in the talks.

A unity government is widely seen as Zimbabwe's best hope of recovering.
Prices double every 24 hours, the currency is worthless and much of the
population has been pushed to the brink of famine.

U.S. President George W. Bush, Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga and South
African Archbishop Desmond Tutu are among those who have called for Mugabe
to go in the past week. The African Union, however, has resisted the calls
for tougher action. (Additional reporting by Robert Evans in Geneva; Writing
by Paul Simao; Editing by Matthew Tostevin)

Cholera's double jeopardy for people with HIV

Photo: IRIN

Raw sewage spills into the streets

HARARE, 10 December 2008 (IRIN) - Moses Mwedzi, who lives in Budiriro, a high-density suburb of the Zimbabwean capital, Harare, has just recovered from a serious bout of cholera.

He is also living with HIV and recently started taking antiretroviral drugs (ARVs). One morning he woke up with excruciating stomach cramps; a few hours later he was vomiting and having diarrhoea.

Mwedzi's wife, Doreni, quickly organised a wheelbarrow and ferried him to the Budiriro Polyclinic, one of the Cholera Treatment Centres set up by the government and being run with the assistance of the World Health Organisation (WHO).

At the clinic, Mwedzi and his wife were shocked when a nurse insisted he did not have cholera. "When she checked my medical history chart, she noticed that I had just recently started taking ARVs. She told me that the diarrhoea and vomiting I was experiencing could be side effects of the drugs, and encouraged me to go and see a doctor," Mwedzi told IRIN/PlusNews.

Three days later, after another bout of diarrhoea, Mwedzi was back at the clinic; this time he was admitted and spent a week there fighting for his life.

"My husband lost so much weight that the doctor has advised us he should stop the ARVs until they are certain his kidneys and liver and other vital organs are functioning well," said Doreni. "So we are back to square one; we will have to find money for liver and kidney function tests yet again."

As the cholera epidemic in Zimbabwe continues to claim lives, people living with HIV are particularly vulnerable.

Deputy President of the Zimbabwe HIV/AIDS Activist Union (ZHAU), Stanley Takaona, told IRIN/PlusNews that a number of their members had contracted cholera, and although HIV negative as well as positive people were susceptible to the disease, those with immune systems already weakened by HIV were particularly at risk and had more difficulty recovering.

"This disease leaves people completely wasted; it is very hard for many of our members to recover," he said. "Other people living with HIV have not been so lucky, but documenting deaths in this section of the population is a major challenge for us."

Cholera eclipses HIV/AIDS crisis

Dr Douglas Gwatidzo, chairman of the Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human Rights, commented that the cholera outbreak had also had the affect of diverting attention away from Zimbabwe's HIV/AIDS crisis which claims the lives of more than 400 adults every day, according to UNICEF.

Cholera is a highly contagious waterborne disease that usually occurs during Zimbabwe's rainy season and is mostly limited to rural areas with poor sanitation and no clean water supply. The disease was rare in towns and cities, where most homes had treated tap water and adequate toilet facilities.

The current cholera outbreak began in August, before the onset of the rainy season, and Harare and other cities and towns have been hard hit. The outbreak in urban areas has been blamed on the constant water cuts, poor garbage collection and unrepaired burst sewage pipes resulting from Zimbabwe's economic meltdown and the inability of the government to deliver basic social services.

Death toll increasing

On Wednesday, the UN estimated that the outbreak has already caused 746 deaths, but independent health organisations have claimed that the real figure is even higher.

Due to a lack of information about the exact symptoms of cholera, people with HIV have been coming to cholera treatment centres with diarrhoea, a common HIV-related opportunistic infection. Tsitsi Singizi, a communications officer at UNICEF, the UN children's fund, said many of these people were being exposed to cholera as a result.

"UNICEF and its partners are doing the best they can to ensure that our treatment centres stay as clean as possible, so that the next person seeking treatment does not pick up infection," he added.

According to the international medical humanitarian organisation, Médecins Sans Frontières, at least 1.4 million people are at risk of contracting the disease if the outbreak is not contained by addressing its root causes.

But, three months into the cholera epidemic, sanitary conditions in most town and cities remain dire.