Political poison sickening Zimbabwe : Human Rights Watch
By ACAS | 16 December 2008
An interesting new commentary from Tiseke Kasambalam, senior researcher on Zimbabwe for Human Rights Watch:
As the cholera outbreak in Zimbabwe spreads across regional borders, southern African governments have come together to discuss a regional strategy to stem the outbreak. But the cholera outbreak and other emergency conditions are symptoms of the broader political crisis in Zimbabwe. There will be no end to the suffering unless regional leaders acknowledge this fact.The world has watched this collapse as it has evolved. A recent Human Rights Watch mission to Zimbabwe documented the abusive policies, corruption and repressive governance that have led directly to the economic collapse, humanitarian crisis and growing public desperation. Poor governance, state-sponsored violence , intimidation and corruption have not only prevented Zimbabwe’s citizens from exercising their civil and political rights but have also denied them their right to satisfy their most basic social and economic needs — for food, health and clean water.
The lack of safe drinking water, which caused the cholera outbreak, is the direct result of the government’s economic mismanagement and poor governance. Many Zimbabweans have not had access to water that meets even basic sanitary requirements for almost a year now because of the poor maintenance of delivery systems.
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