Zimbabwe . . . What more is needed?

I like to post pictures on this blog that tell a story, and the one above certainly does that with a vengeance. Usually the pictures are able to brighten your day, but sometimes, as with the above, they are there to help you focus

That cholera is endemic in Zimbabwe is yet another crime that must be added to the list against Mugabe and his cronies. Not only against them but also against every African leader who openly or covertly supports his continuance in office, particularly when the wishes of the people to remove him have been so blatantly ignored.

Cholera is an acute, diarrhoeal illness caused by infection of the intestine with the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. Although the infection is quite often mild or even without symptoms, it can be severe, as is the case currently in Zimbabwe.

Cholera has been very rare in industrialized nations for the last 100 years; however, the disease is still common today in other parts of the world, including the Indian subcontinent and sub-Saharan Africa.

Although life-threatening, it's easily prevented and treated. In countries with advanced water and sanitation systems, cholera is not really a threat, but in parts of the world such as Zimbabwe where the water system is either antiquated or, as in many cases, non-existent, then the threat to human life is very real. Drawing water for consumption from stagnant pools or from rivers, streams and boreholes that have effluent seeping into them due to the lack of sewage disposal, will quickly create a problem that, although entirely preventable, quickly becomes an epidemic.

Anxious as always to move the focus away from his own gross mismanagement of the nation, Mugabe quickly blamed the UK for the cholera epidemic, saying through his Information Minister, Sikhanyiso Ndlovu, that the outbreak was a "genocidal onslaught on the people of Zimbabwe by the British". In his comments to the assembled media in Harare, Ndlovu likened the appearance of cholera in Zimbabwe to a 'serious biological chemical weapon' used by the British, describing it as "a calculated, racist, terrorist attack on Zimbabwe".

On Thursday Mugabe said Zimbabwe has contained the cholera outbreak. At the same time both the UN and Save the Children, a UK charity, warned the deadly outbreak was getting worse. A spokesman from the charity said "If anything is certain in the chaos of Zimbabwe today it is that the cholera outbreak is not under control."

Mugabe has stated that the Western powers were plotting to use cholera as an excuse to invade and overthrow him, adding that "Now that there is no cholera there is no cause for war."

Whatever the political rhetoric, the fact of the matter remains that the epidemic is worsening. Once again the Zimbabwean people are dying in their hundreds while their despotic, tyrannical leader, clinging on to power through a mixture of lies and bullying, gets fatter in his palatial surroundings. Not for him the need to draw water from wells where open sewers spill out and infect the water.

If only the world would be more caring about the plight of these people and actually do something more positive than political posturing. It's time that this tyrant was removed, not just from office but from the face of the earth. He has created hell on earth for his beleaguered people. Why not let him now enjoy hell for eternity.