Update to an earlier post, part two

An update to this post and this post from last week.

They fiddle... - Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai refused to meet with President Robert Mugabe on Monday because, it was said, he was furious that the government has refused to issue him a passport and provided emergency travel documents, good for just one trip, only the night before the scheduled meeting. His party called this an insult which could not be ignored.

On Tuesday, Tsvangirai hinted he might refuse to attend another regional summit scheduled for Monday, one aimed at saving the recent power-sharing accord, even though this one is to be held in the Zimbabwean capital of Harare. A representative of Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change said the party was trying to decide if it could "trust" Mugabe.

However, on Thursday Tsvangirai confirmed he would attend.

So is the Mugabe government trying to gratuitously insult Tsvangirai? Quite possibly. Consider that he apparently turned in the document some months ago so pages could be added to it. The government, however, has not returned it, using the preposterous argument that it had run out of passport paper - even though ordinary Zimbabweans who are prepared and able to pay a high fee can get a passport within 24 hours.

How much of this on both sides is maneuvering during political hardball and how much is just dumb ego is hard to tell, but my money is on a fair amount of the latter.

...while their nation burns - In addition to the total economic collapse suffered by the people of Zimbabwe, there is a new affliction: cholera.

Eleven more people have died in a new outbreak of cholera, an acutely infectious disease, in northern Zimbabwe, state media reported on Tuesday.

The daily Herald newspaper quoted the local civil protection unit in the run-down former agricultural town of Chinhoyi as saying that the deaths had occurred in the last three weeks, while 500 had been treated for the disease.

Earlier in October, health officials confirmed that 16 people had died in the dormitory town of Chitungwiza on Harare's outskirts. ...

"The widespread outbreaks of diarrhoeal diseases, including cholera, across Zimbabwe, resulting from the catastrophic breakdown of urban water supply and sanitation services will dramatically worsen with the rainy season which begins in less than a month," warned Gregory Powell, the chairperson of the Zimbabwe Child Protection Society, warned.

"A toxic combination of under-nutrition and diarrhoea is likely to result in the deaths of thousands of children, and many more into acute, severe malnutrition."

This undoubtedly is part of the reason that Jacob Zuma, the head of South Africa's ruling African National Congress Party called on Mugabe and Tsvangirai to consider the plight of the poor in their discussions.

"I think what we can do is just to remind our brothers and sisters that, look, Zimbabweans in the meantime are suffering. Their suffering could only be relieved by them, and it is their responsibility as the leaders to ensure that they instill confidence to the Zimbabweans, even to their own leadership," Zuma pointed out.

I wouldn't hold my breath, Mr. Zuma.

Footnote: The wolves are circling, the snakes are coiling and hissing, just waiting for the moment to strike.

As the global financial crisis unfolds and more questions are asked about excessive deregulation, the World Bank and others are preparing economic policy prescriptions that will throw open Zimbabwe’s economy to the whims of the world markets. ...

Zimbabwe’s current political woes started after the government adopted a structural adjustment programme backed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in 1990. The resulting socio-economic downturn culminated in large-scale job losses and a massive rise in the bread price, among others, which provoked social upheaval and, eventually, an electoral challenge to the ruling ZANU-PF.

It seems like déjà vu as various actors are gearing up with similar policies for the country’s "economic revival".

With the same sort of advice, specifically agreeing to "internationally accepted norms of sound macro-economic management," price and exchange rate "liberalization" (that is, no regulations, no price controls, no exchange rate controls), and respect for "property rights" (no land redistribution, no nationalizations, and, based on previous examples, slashed taxes and reduced public services) which includes "revisiting" a law that requires all businesses have at least 51% ownership by Zimbabweans - that is, open wide the doors to the same sorts of international investments that have drained other developing nations and thrust them into permanent debt.

Something about carnival sideshow barkers is running through my mind just now.