Mugabe’s killing machine

If you feel sorry for yourself, take a look at Zimbabwe, and you’ll change your mind. Nothing is as bad as that.

Father Peter, a doctor in a small clinic about 100 miles outside of Harare, the capital city, sees death all around him.

“It’s a silent tsunami. They just die so quietly. They don’t demonstrate or cry out or stand up. They just die.”

He told the UK Times that at least eight adults and children in his village died in a three-month period, but he said hundreds more pass on unrecorded and many of those die of illness before starvation takes them.

He said the situation has reached “Auschwitz proportions.”

Do Americans really know what’s going on there?

No.

Are we concerned, or is Zimbabwe just “that country” on the other side of the world and – who cares? Besides, we’re facing hard times.

Yes – but do we realize how really fortunate we are?

Zimbabwe, once Africa’s breadbasket with a thriving economy, has been decimated under the 28-year regime of President Robert Mugabe into an economically ravaged country of starvation, deprivation and now, disease.

A cholera epidemic is raging throughout the country and, to the growing horror of neighboring countries, has spread into Botswana, Mozambique and South Africa where cholera deaths have been reported. Border cities are inundated with Zimbabweans seeking medical treatment not available at home. The Limpopo River at the border is contaminated and could spread the disease further.

Not surprisingly the Mugabe government blames the United States, Great Britain and the West for the epidemic calling it a “serious biological chemical war … a calculated racist terrorist attack on Zimbabwe.

Of course, Mugabe also begged for help as he finally declared a national emergency. The United States stepped right up and more than doubled emergency U.S. aid.

The U.S. Agency for International Development administrator Henrietta Fore announced another $6.2 million on top of the $4.6 million already provided.

What exactly happens to all that money isn’t clear.

The Mugabe government underplays the number of cholera cases and especially the death toll. Health workers are silenced, and the health ministry forbidden from issuing accurate statistics. The situation is made worse because many people don’t register the deaths of relatives.

In a bizarre move, the Harare City Council announced it would offer free graves for cholera victims!

Cholera is a disease of poor sanitation. With the country’s infrastructure in shambles because of the corrupt Mugabe government, water wells are contaminated. There’s no sanitation system left, raw sewage runs in alleys and some streets and children play in it.

The government says it doesn’t have money to buy purification chemicals or parts to repair what water system is left.

Even when people dig their own wells, that water becomes contaminated by sewage. The situation will get worse as the rainy season begins.

The World Health Organization estimates that more than 1,000 have died and tens of thousands are infected. The main culprit is a lack of potable water and adequate toilets – not really a high-tech problem.

Treating cholera isn’t high tech either – rehydration is vital as are antibiotics. But major hospitals have been closed. Clinics that are open have no supplies, little or no sanitation and, if there is water, it’s contaminated.

Doctors and nurses are few. There’s no money to pay them or to get medical supplies. When they tried to rally to call attention to their plight, military and police turned on them.

Then some military and police turned against each other in efforts to get to banks for currency because they weren’t paid. It’s reported that some of them were ultimately executed by the regime.

It’s a lose/lose situation, and the people who lose the most are the powerless citizens whose own government is killing them by deliberate neglect.

Mugabe’s government and even some western NGOs deny people are dying of starvation.

Just outside the cities people survive on berries and nuts mixed with water and weeds, making a thin soup. They might stretch that by adding tree bark or insects or cow dung.

Caritas Internationalis Secretary-General Lesley-Anne Knight reports that nearly 90 percent of households are going hungry, half the population faces starvation and 14,000 cases of cholera reported. She says people drop dead on the streets and calls it “… poverty at its most dehumanizing.” Sick people are carried to clinics in wheelbarrows.

A woman in a film screened by the Solidarity Peace Trust had a chilling comment: “Dead people are better off. They don’t need water or sadza (maize porridge). They’re just lying there nicely in their graves.”

People wait in line for hours at banks attempting to get some currency although it’s virtually worthless. Inflation is more than 240 million percent and climbing.

A new $500 million dollar note (worth $10) and a $200 million dollar bill were issued, according to the central bank, as a “convenience” to the public.

When the $100 million note was issued, it was worth $14. A week later, it was worth less than 50 cents.

That’s inflation.

Even if people had money, store shelves are empty and lines are long for what scant supplies might be available. Humanitarian food donations are diverted to government officials, the military and political supporters or are sold abroad for hard currency.

The Foundation of Reason and Justice in Zimbabwe begs for “practical support” from the outside world in Zimbabwe’s “struggle for freedom and justice.”

“War is not evil when fighting a bloodthirsty dictatorship. Zimbabwe needs a revolution.” They issued a call to all patriotic Zimbabweans.

The problem is Mugabe and his henchmen have control and the power – and the people are unarmed.

Meanwhile the outside world sends supplies and money – and makes threats which fall on deaf ears – while, as the starving woman said, “Dead people are better off.”

Merry Christmas.

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