Zimbabwe's Hell

Zimbabweans can thank none other than Robert Mugabe for the hell on earth that Mugabe's economic policies have wrought.

Authorities turned off the taps in Zimbabwe's capital again this week because they had run out of purifying chemicals - even as a cholera epidemic threatened the country, claiming hundreds of lives since August.

The crisis is the latest chapter in the collapse of this once-vibrant nation. President Robert Mugabe, who has ruled for 28 years, has refused to leave office following disputed elections in March. And a power-sharing deal worked out with the opposition has been deadlocked for weeks over how to divvy up Cabinet posts.

In the township of Mabvuku, where residents have dug shallow wells in open ground, people say they know not boiling the water can make them sick, but they have no choice. There is no electricity, and wood, charcoal or other fuel to build fires is scarce and so expensive it is out of reach for most people.

"We are afraid, but there is no solution. Most of the time the electricity is not available so we just use the water," one resident, Naison Chakwicha, told AP Television News.

In the western Harare suburb of Mbare, Anna Marimbe said she had traced the deaths last week of two neighbor children to the stinking open drains where they used to play.

Residents of Chitungwiza, a densely populated township 15 miles south of Harare, sued the National Water Authority last week, saying they had been without running water for 13 months, causing an outbreak of cholera and leading to deaths.

This is a country where there was running water and proper sanitation. Mugabe's rule has decimated the infrastructure and basic services, and they are in shambles as Mugabe continues to put his personal power ahead of all else, including the survival of the Zimbabweans themselves.