The Truth About Zimbabwe (article)

This was sent to me by my friend and coworker Liz Bell in Atlanta who is currently expecting twin boys within the next month! The article certainly speaks the truth of what I've witnessed and experienced. J

Sunshine City goes dark

Ryan Truscott | Harare, Zimbabwe

15 July 2004 12:59


Living in the Zimbabwean capital, Harare, is getting harder as weary
residents battle with frequent power cuts, water shortages and the
ever-rising prices of basic goods.

Harare once boasted the nickname "Sunshine City" but in the depths of a
Zimbabwean winter, it's looking less and less that way for all
residents, regardless of their income levels.

Last week the state-run power utility, the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply
Authority (Zesa), announced it is introducing power cuts at peak periods
due to increased demand from the cold weather and Zimbabwe's inability
to find additional sources for power imports from outside the country.

Zimbabwe imports 30% of its power, much of it from neighbouring South
Africa, but has in the recent past reportedly had problems settling its
bills.

Coinciding with the power cuts, Zesa has started broadcasting
advertisements every half hour on state radio, proclaiming "Zesa: Power
to the people."

"While we sit in the dark with candles waiting for the power to come
back on and women stream out of the bush with firewood on their heads
because they can't afford electricity, the jingles go on and on and on,"
says Zimbabwe writer Cathy Buckle in her weekly commentary.

In several suburbs of the capital, streetlamps and house lights flicker
off at 6pm at night -- to be restored three hours later.

There are also cuts scheduled for three hours in the mornings.

"It's every night," moans one elderly resident of the relatively
well-heeled Avondale suburb, near Harare's main hospital.

"It was Thursday, Friday and then again at half-past six on Saturday,"
she complains. She adds that she keeps her bath "half full" to be ready
for water cuts -- usually advertised in the state-run Herald newspaper
and on public radio.

In June some suburbs had no water for almost three weeks. The
authorities blamed pump failures at the ageing Morton Jaffray water
plant, as well as a lack of crucial aluminium sulphate used to treat the
water.

A so-called "water demand management system" was brought in. This meant
cutting off supplies to other suburbs for 24-hour periods.

Harare's opposition-led city council says it does not have the funds to
maintain infrastructure. But efforts to hike rates have been blocked by
Local Government Minister Ignatius Chombo, who has also dismissed
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) mayor Elias Mudzuri.

A member of President Robert Mugabe's ruling party, Chombo last month
declared previously approved increases "unjustified" and ordered a
freeze.

The Harare city council has only held two meetings in the past six
months, says Jameson Gadzirai of the Combined Harare Residents'
Association, leaving residents concerned that civic governance is being
frustrated by party politics.

"What the residents are feeling now is that council decisions are not
being implemented because of a broader agenda being pushed by the [local
government] ministry," Gadzirai says.

There are other concerns. Public hospitals in the city are faring
badly. The privately owned Standard reported this month that corpses at
Harare's Central hospital are being rolled down the stairs from wards to
the mortuary because there is no money to repair the lifts.

Health delivery has been one of the biggest casualties of Zimbabwe's
four-year old economic downturn. Cases of kwashiorkor -- a sometimes
fatal illness usually associated with times of war and famine -- have
resurfaced.

At least 621 were treated last year in the city's clinics, according to
a report by the council's director of health, Lovemore Mbengeranwa.

Price hikes too are a worry. Although inflation rates have fallen, from
more than 600% at the end of last year to just less than 400%, prices of
foodstuffs and many basic goods continue to rise.

Faced with an outcry, the country's energetic Reserve Bank Governor
Gideon Gono last week said that "the thinking that prices ought to come
down because inflation is coming down is fallacious", the state-run
Ziana agency reported.

Gono told the conference that prices should still be going up by about
6%. But his figures do not square with prices on shop shelves: bread has
more than doubled in two months from about Z$1 200 a loaf to Z$2 900.

Meanwhile fuel queues resurfaced last week. A wearying fact of life for
many Zimbabwean drivers over the past three years, the queues seemed to
have disappeared after the authorities removed price controls.

State radio said last week's queues were due to "logistical" problems
in fuel distribution. -- Sapa-AFP