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Residents toil as country slides deeper into crisis
Combined Harare Residents Association (CHRA)
December 03, 2008

Harare residents and Zimbabweans in general continue to slink deeper into the abyss of dire poverty as the country's economic and socio-political entanglement rages on. The city of Harare has witnessed a very eventful week (from Wednesday the 26th of November) which saw the soldiers rebelliously taking into the streets, looting shops, beating and taking away money from forex dealers and clashing with the police in the process.

Today (03 December 2008), the police armed with baton sticks and shields dispersed demonstrators, mainly ZCTU and other civic activists who were marching towards the central bank in Harare's central business district, calling for (among other things) the removal of cash withdrawal limits at the banks. The police also dispersed a group of about 100 health workers, including doctors and nurses, who had converged at the head offices of the health ministry to demand better working conditions, salary increases and protesting against the collapse of the health sector in the country.

The chaos in the capital city is abundant evidence of a failed state with Cholera death toll also on the rise, the are more deaths still being recorded in Budiriro, Glenview, Glen Norah, Highfields and isolated cases in other parts of the city. More than 300 people have died of Cholera in Harare which houses Budiriro, arguably the epicentre of the current Cholera outbreak in Zimbabwe. The city's water supply and sewer reticulation system is still in shambles, in the hands of ZINWA whose perpetual failure (as also witnessed on the 29th of November to the 1st of December when the whole city ran dry) continues to threaten the more lives in the city and across the country.

Poverty is at its best in the city, with the Christmas approaching and most in the low density (where most shops have licenses to sell in forex and have a high income clientele) are out to spend, most low income families can hardly put a decent meal together. The prices are just forbidding and those who do not have access to foreign currency (mainly US$ and South African Rand) are at the mercy of hunger. The central bank's decision to increase the bank withdrawal limits are only but temporary measures which will yield massive diminishing returns as the decision itself to start with, is a stark indicator of the country's runaway inflation and will further fuel the run-away prices again, as the economy sinks further down.

CHRA realizes the need for a basis for a long term solution to the country's myriad of economic and socio-political crises and an end to the populace's untold suffering and will continue to mobilize and urge Zimbabweans to speak out on the crisis to play a part in the solution of the country's crisis. The Association stands in solidarity with those Zimbabweans who have continuously stood against the de facto government's unsustainable policies and use of law enforcement agents to suppress the people. Residents demand a responsible, respectful, transparent, accountable and democratic government now!

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