Jan Raath visits the only camp provided for the millions thrown out of their homes by Mugabe:
The densely-packed camp occupies about five acres of steeply sloping land bulldozed to clear the bush. The Government has provided no water, no electricity, no sanitation – nothing except the land, which it seized from a white farmer.
Shacks made from ropedtogether plastic sheeting, plywood, corrugated iron or any other scrap material — even an upside-down boat — stand against each other in unequal rows.
Around each shack are wardrobes, lounge suites, mattresses and other possessions salvaged from the demolitions, bundled up in plastic and piled high. There are heaps of firewood and broken building material. Cooking fires smoulder. When the wind blows, sand gets into everything.
“At night you hear the children coughing,” said Partson Mkondo. “You breathe in dust and smoke while you are sleeping. The toilets are messy, and there are people with diarrhoea.”
The camp has 44 pit latrines, one for every 114 people. The only sources of water are large green bowsers supplied by the United Nations Children’s Fund, along with blankets and plastic sheeting for shelter.
The children have no schools and few of the displaced men have work. Aid agencies are the main source of food.
It’s a familiar story, from Sudan to North Korea: Western aid is all that prevents disaster on an epic scale; clearing up after the ruthless policies of leaders for whom all that matters is holding on to power and the elimination of opponents. Feed the starving, and thereby play along with a brutal regime, or ignore what’s happening and – maybe – encourage the regime’s overthrow. No choice really: we know it, and so do the Mengistus and Mugabes and Kim Jong Ils.
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