Harare

Nine people have caught cholera in two poor townships in Zimbabwe’s capital, Harare, most likely from drinking contaminated water in shallow wells due to a breakdown in municipal services. The official Herald newspaper reported on Tuesday that nine people from Tafara and Mabvuku townships were admitted to hospital after drinking contaminated water.

A handful of army doctors struggled to cope with emergencies at Zimbabwe’s largest public hospital on Monday as regular doctors pressed on with a five-week strike that has all but paralysed public medical care. Officials said there are about seven army medical personnel at Harare’s Parirenyatwa Hospital doing a job normally carried out by more than 120 doctors.

Zimbabwe’s main trade union body has given President Robert Mugabe an ultimatum to improve the economic fortunes of workers or face unspecified action. Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions said it had given Harare till February 23 to come up with strategies to reverse Zimbabwe’s economic decline.

A leading Zimbabwean politician warned journalists on Friday against forming an independent media council without the approval of the government, which has closed newspapers and arrested reporters. The government introduced tough media laws five years ago, imposing state permits on local reporters.

Zimbabwe’s striking doctors on Thursday threatened to quit and leave the country en masse if the government did not urgently move to end a six-week strike that has paralysed state hospitals. Hospital Doctors Association president Kudakwashe Nyamutukwa said that locally trained doctors were in demand in neighbouring countries.

Zimbabwe’s government ”abandoned” its court case against Mail & Guardian chief executive Trevor Ncube on Thursday after it had prevented him at the end of last year from renewing his passport, claiming he was not a citizen of Zimbabwe.

Only white farmers who have shown goodwill to President Robert Mugabe’s government will be allowed to keep their farms, Zimbabwe’s security minister was quoted as saying on Tuesday. ”Zimbabwe’s security forces have been directed to identify white farmers who have shown goodwill towards the government,” Didymus Mutasa told the Herald newspaper.

White farmers have no future in Zimbabwe and the government will seize more land from the last few white farmers, Lands Minister Didymus Mutasa said at the weekend. ”Only the lucky ones among the outgoing [white] farmers” could hope to keep their farms, said Mutasa.

A leading Roman Catholic rights group in Zimbabwe urged the government on Sunday to address the grievances of striking state doctors, saying their weeks-old action was hurting poor patients. ”The strike by junior doctors has caused untold human suffering and loss of life to many,” the Catholic commission.

A Russian business delegation is due in Zimbabwe on Sunday to sign a deal worth -million for the construction of mini hydro-power stations. The delegation, from Russia’s Turbo Engineering, was expected to sign the deal this week for the construction of 17 power stations on small dams around country.

Doctors at Zimbabwe’s state hospitals have rejected a government offer to hike their salaries and vowed to press on with a crippling strike, an official said on Friday. ”As the situation stands now, we are still on strike,” Kudakwashe Nyamutukwa, president of the Hospital Doctors’ Association, said.

Plans by the opposition to mobilise Zimbabweans to block President Robert Mugabe’s bid to extend his decades-long rule could be met with overwhelming brutality from a government determined to hang on to power at any cost, analysts said on Thursday.

The Zimbabwe government this week ordered 15 of the few white farmers remaining in the country to vacate their properties, despite announcing earlier this month that it was in fact calling back expelled farmers to help resuscitate the collapsed agricultural sector.

Zimbabwean authorities will block protests planned by the opposition against President Robert Mugabe’s bid to extend his nearly 27-year-rule, a senior minister was quoted as saying on Thursday. ”They have a programme of protests all the time,” Security Minister Didymus Mutasa told the privately owned Financial Gazette weekly.

The Zimbabwe government regrets the killing of a gold miner by police last week, but will continue to arrest people suspected of illegal mining and dealing in precious minerals, the country’s home affairs minister was quoted as saying on Thursday. A total of 24 890 people have been arrested since November 21.

A senior Zimbabwean judge on Monday urged the government to step up funding for the country’s crumbling judiciary to halt burgeoning corruption in courts. ”Reports have reached my office and the office of the chief justice that support staff are engaging in corrupt practices,” said Rita Makarau, Judge President of the High Court.

Zimbabwe’s biggest sewage plant has broken down, sending tonnes of raw effluent into a major river and polluting the water supply of the capital, Harare, city authorities said on Monday. Harare’s Firle sewage plant has been down since last week and requires at least Z-billion to fix, a huge burden for a country already in the grip of its worst economic crisis in decades.

The national executive committee of the larger faction of Zimbabwe’s opposition Movement for Democratic Change party will meet on Friday to discuss possible reunification of the splintered party as well as moves by the ruling Zanu-PF party to extend President Robert Mugabe’s term to 2010.

Zimbabwe’s top policeman has urged the government to fix the country’s bleeding economy instead of relying on the police to end lawlessness. Police Commissioner Augustine Chihuri said the police were overstretched and virtually unable to carry out their duties, as most officers had been deployed on special government operations to restore law and order.

At least 3 000 people have joined a new rush for emeralds in eastern Zimbabwe, a few months after diamonds were discovered in the area, it was reported on Friday. In July, villagers in impoverished Marange district discovered diamonds and sparked a massive diamond rush.

Senior doctors at Zimbabwe’s state hospitals have joined junior doctors in a strike over pay that has left patients stranded at the country’s major medical centres, unions said on Friday. The junior doctors first began their industrial action last week when they limited the number of patients that they treated, but the action soon escalated into an all-out strike.