Zimbabwe Faces Bleak Christmas

Food Crisis, Cholera Outbreak Weigh On Predominately Christian Nation

(AP)  At overflowing garbage dumps in Zimbabwe's capital, desperate vagrants pounced on trash bags and fought over chicken bones and scraps of discarded food. Sewage clogged streets and most shopkeepers didn't even bother with holiday decorations.

In crumbling, largely Christian Zimbabwe, where a cholera epidemic has killed more than 1,100 people, Christmas is just another day of suffering.

"There is nothing for us to celebrate. Christmas is a story of hunger," said Monica Rugare. "It is just another day of poverty, the way we are living today."

The country's Christmas tradition of city dwellers heading to the countryside with gifts of food and clothing for their relatives isn't possible this year. Annual church carol services have been subdued, if they were held at all.

On Tuesday, children found a bit of cheer playing in the stinking water gushing from a broken sewer in the impoverished Harare neighborhood of Braeside.

Ten-year-old Kudzai Urere, ignoring the warnings from cholera-conscious adults as she leaped about in the murky water, said her mother had gone to search for food and would not be home until nightfall.

When she did return, she would be lucky to bring home vegetables, not toys or candy.

In this country of glaring inequities, there are some who do have the leisure and cash for pastimes like golf, even if they can't escape the stench of chaos.

The sewage flowing down the streets of Braeside emptied into a stream already swollen by heavy seasonal rains. The foul-smelling water ran through a nearby golf course where a few players moved gingerly around it on the fifth fairway Tuesday.

Zimbabwe's chaos is opportunity for some. Stories abound of President Robert Mugabe's generals selling the state's diamonds. Another scarce, government-controlled commodity is hard currency. Those close to Mugabe can buy U.S. dollars at the low government rate and sell them on the black market for a hefty profit.

Other Zimbabweans bring in food and other goods from neighboring countries and sell them for U.S. dollars, or have access to hard currency because they work for foreign companies or have relatives abroad.

But for most Zimbabweans, the economic collapse of what was once a regional bread basket and food exporter has left millions dependent on international handouts.

Left: Cigarette and Santa hat vendors take a break in downtown Harare, Zimbabwe, Saturday, Dec. 20, 2008.

The cholera outbreak that has killed more than 1,100 people since August is blamed on the collapse of water and sewage facilities bereft of purification chemicals or spare parts. The waterborne disease should be easy to prevent and treat, but not in a country where medical supplies are scarce and all state hospitals have closed because they can't pay staff enough to cover the commute to work.

Doctors Without Borders listed Zimbabwe's health crisis and continuing economic collapse among its "Top 10 Humanitarian Crises of 2008," noting in a report released this week that life expectancy has plummeted to just 34 years of age, according to U.N figures. Because of the crisis, some 2 million people infected with the AIDS virus have been forced to skip meals or cannot afford bus fare to clinics for treatment, it said.

Critics blame Mugabe's policies, including an often-violent campaign, beginning in 2000, to seize white-owned farms and hand them over to veterans of his guerrilla war against white minority rule. Mugabe, who has ruled Zimbabwe for 28 years, blames Western sanctions, though the European Union and U.S. have targeted only Mugabe and dozens of his clique with frozen bank accounts and travel bans.

With inflation running at more than 231 million percent, the central bank has licensed shops and businesses to trade in hard currency for the sale of imported goods and farm supplies.

Innocent Zuwa, a small farmer outside Harare, said he was unable to plant any crops in the current wet season - he has no hard currency to buy seed and fertilizer. "There's nothing for me to plant. Many others I know are in the same situation in this turmoil we are in," he said.

At the hard currency stores Tuesday, there were no takers for a children's bicycle priced at $350, or a stereo system going for $650. The stores didn't even bother with the holiday decorations that have graced Harare in previous years.

The state forestry commission, meanwhile, reported 720,000 acres of woodlands were felled for firewood to heat homes and for cooking amid persistent electrical power outages over the past two years.

The Zimbabwe Teachers Association brought more bad news.

It said schools across the country lost up to 70 percent of "learning time" in the last quarter of this year after teachers' pay fell below the cost of their transportation to school. Attendance by pupils fell to below half those enrolled.

The teachers' organization said the education system, once the envy of southern Africa, was crippled by the economic crisis and a deadlock over a power-sharing deal between Mugabe and prime minister designate Morgan Tsvangirai, head of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change.

An estimated 30,000 teachers left government service since disputed elections in March, it said.

"If the environment does not change in coming days schools are unlikely to reopen next term," the teachers group said in a statement.

[bradosol]

"Zimbabwe is mine." (Robert Mugabe, 19 December 2008).

That says it all!

[spinproof]

No need to be a rocket scientist to understand that Pres. Robert Mugabe needs to step aside, few dispute that, but the question is how to implement it as peacefully as possible. Because Pres. Mugabe took issue and action against White farmers in Zimbabwe and confiscated their farms, calls from "Whites" for Pres. Mugabe to step down look tainted and he uses that taint to remain in power! The best solution is for the African continent to resolve this and South Africa is the closest to Zimbabwe and best equipped. Zimbabwe being predominantly Christian explains the extra interest from the U.S..

[spinproof]

Thugs with machine guns, ride around in pickups stealing every scrap of food, medicine or whatever they find. Don''''t even send aid, it will never get to the people who need it.

Posted by BRdeckard at 03:53 AM : Dec 24, 2008

If this is true then "gated" communities should be created with armed protection so aid can reach those who need it until a government can be put in place to restore Law and Order.

[rushlimpdrug]

Sorry cbS but it seems that no one cares about these
idiots.

And why should we?

They don''t even care about themselves.

[downsteamjim]

sockpuppet: I am surprized to see you critize Mugabe. His liberal ''share the wealth'' program sounds perfect for you, and the fact that it is a total failure should be ignored.

[fabrat1]

Sockpuppet I agree with you. It''s going to be a tough Christmas for millions anyway but do we have to see such depressing news to go with it? Maybe I''ll just turn my computer off and the tv too. I can play Christmas music and spend the day with my kids and let the news report what they want to.

[louiville2]

http://www.bob.co.za/images/grinch.jpg

[random_radar]

In Zimbabwe, when they dream of a White Christmas, they are wishing they could bring back Colonial rule.

[random_radar]

"until a government can be put in place to restore Law and Order.

Posted by spinproof at 04:21 AM : Dec 24, 2008"

There already is a government in Zimbabwe. Robert Mugabe is president and the armed thugs with machine guns are his government officials.

Who do you think is going to put a new government in? Do you have any more right to decide that than Robert Mugabe? Are you going to use force to remove him? Would that make you any different?

The business of government is force and violence. Some people talk about Law and Order, but that is a euphemism for using force and violence against anyone who doesn''t do what you want. Freedom is the absence of government force and violence.

[spinproof]

"until a government can be put in place to restore Law and Order.

Posted by spinproof at 04:21 AM : Dec 24, 2008"

There already is a government in Zimbabwe. Robert Mugabe is president and the armed thugs with machine guns are his government officials.

Who do you think is going to put a new government in? Do you have any more right to decide that than Robert Mugabe? Are you going to use force to remove him? Would that make you any different?

The business of government is force and violence. Some people talk about Law and Order, but that is a euphemism for using force and violence against anyone who doesn''''t do what you want. Freedom is the absence of government force and violence.

Posted by random_radar at 12:30 PM : Dec 24, 2008

My professional opinion is that I don''t think its any of our business! We are always sticking our nose in where its not wanted and where it doesn''t belong especially when we need to get our own house in order first, we have enough corruption and scandal in our own government to keep us busy at home rather than worrying about corruption half way around the world in Zimbabwe! This is why the U.N. does not work, it doesn''t work because we don''t use it! The U.S. should not be unilaterally criticizing Zimbabwe, the U.S. should criticize Zimbabwe via the U.N. and then let the U.N. address Zimbabwe, that''s the way it was designed to work.

[whitemale08]

keep us busy at home rather than worrying about corruption half way around the world in Zimbabwe! This is why the U.N. does not work, it doesn''''t work because we don''''t use it! The U.S. should not be unilaterally criticizing Zimbabwe, the U.S. should criticize Zimbabwe via the U.N. and then let the U.N. address Zimbabwe, that''''s the way it was designed to work.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Posted by spinproof at 02:28 PM : Dec 24, 2008


The U.S. should be unilaterily criticizing the British for using the so-called ''Commonwealth'' as blackmail to install puppet governments

so these countries have to export their precious food supply in exchange for absolutely worthless paper-Britis-pounds.

Will you honestly look at this situation in Zimbabwe, understand how ''free trade'' and ''globalization'' work?

If you did then you would see cleary that it''s the British oligarchial empire that loot Africa.

Why don''t you read the story of where remaining white-farmers who are truly patriotic to Zimbabwe were left alone because they agree to stop exporting crops to England.

[whitemale08]

The London Times reports today that Britain is going to put pressure on businesses who operate from Britain, and have dealings with Zimbabwe. In addition, former Australian prime minister, Malcolm Fraser, of the British Commonwealth has called for cutting off "the country''s electricity in an attempt to force the dictator Robert Mugabe to step down as President." (!) Fraser further goes on to say that the situation is so desperate that Zimbabwe''s neighbors must use all means short of declaring war to force change, and bring in a pro-British regime instead.

larouchepac.com

[downsteamjim]

Spinproof: Do you actually believe that the UN would ever do anything positive? I guess you believe in Santa Clause to.

[spinproof]

downsteamjim: We will never know if the UN would have done anything or not will we since in this instance the US never asked! Yes I believe in Santa, those who don''t miss the point!

[spinproof]

Whitemale08: The US can bypass the UN and criticize the British, the US has a unique and special relationship with them. The UN was established to resolve international issues and should be repaired and made to work instead of being bypassed.

[noaanhc]

Some paid hit team needs to go in there and off Mugabe once and for all.Sure cannot be that hard to kill this miserable SOB so just go in there and
get the job done.