Zimbabwe's Cities Swimming In Garbage As Economic Woes Continue - Reuters

[hatrack]

HARARE - "Garbage is piling up uncollected in Harare as Zimbabwe struggles with a deep economic crisis that has also left major towns short of water and electricity. The Harare city council said on Tuesday rubbish had not been collected in several townships and suburbs of the capital for three weeks because of a national shortage of fuel and the expiry of contracts for some private garbage collectors.

Critics say the city's mounting problems mark a grim new stage of Zimbabwe's long-running political and economic crisis, which many blame on President Robert Mugabe's government. "They have not collected refuse here for two months, and we are sick and tired of their excuses," said one frustrated resident, pointing to a heap of rubbish in Harare's densely-populated Mbare township.

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Mugabe's ZANU-PF won 78 out of 120 contested parliamentary seats in elections last month which the opposition charges were rigged. But the party lost most parliamentary contests in major towns -- which have borne the brunt of the economic crisis -- to the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), a pattern also seen in earlier elections.

Most petrol stations in the capital Harare ran dry this week, while the state electrical utility has warned of power cuts due in part to lack of spare parts to maintain generators. Food is still available in city stores -- albeit at prices sharply higher than before the election -- but officials say the country risks serious shortages amid a drought and inadequate supplies of seed and fertiliser. Zimbabwean voters told Mugabe about their problems with deteriorating public services during his campaign drive in the opposition's urban strongholds. The 81-year-old leader pledged he would help, but said the fault lay mostly with the opposition-controlled city councils.

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http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/30583/story.htm

Does that the attitude evident in that last sentence sound familiar to anybody?

[bemildred]

1. One man's garbage is another man's breakfast.

You do have to wonder how much longer Robert can hang on, and
what will follow him.