With all the bad news coming out of Zimbabwe -- elections being rigged; pro-democracy activists being murdered, or imprisoned, beaten, tortured with scalding water and "simulated drowning" (I wonder where they got that idea); a widening cholera epidemic killing by the thousands; widespread hunger, malnutrition and starvation; impossibly high inflation; 94 percent unemployment; and hopelessly corrupt and brutal police -- it's nice to be able to report, out of this land of anguish and despair, some good news.
Zimbabwe's permanent President, Robert Mugabe, whose diminished vigor has not lessened his iron grip on power, is having an 85th-birthday celebration -- a real blow-out. It's a feel-good moment for the entire country!
It is the 85th birthday of President Mugabe this month and the zealots of his Zanu (PF) party are determined that it should be an occasion that their great leader will never forget.
In recent days they have been out soliciting "donations" from corporate Zimbabwe and have drawn up a wish list that is scarcely credible in a land where seven million citizens survive on international food aid, 94 per cent are jobless and cholera rampages through a population debilitated by hunger.
The list includes 2,000 bottles of champagne (Moët & Chandon or ’61 Bollinger preferred); 8,000 lobsters; 100kg of prawns; 4,000 portions of caviar; 8,000 boxes of Ferrero Rocher chocolates; 3,000 ducks; and much else besides. A postscript adds: "No mealie meal" — the ground corn staple on which the vast majority of Zimbabweans survived until the country’s collapse rendered even that a luxury.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/...
But of course some prefer to give to Mugabe in cash. Folks are being urged to send "donations" of between $45,000 and $55,000 to a US dollar bank account (because Zimbabwe dollars are essentially worthless).
In an unrelated story: in early December the United Nations predicted a "worst case" scenario for Zimbabwe's public-health catastrophe: 60,000 cases of cholera, a disease that can kill within four to six hours. That worst-case estimate was too low; the number of cholera infections in Zimbabwe swept past 60,000 last weekend. The epidemic has killed more than 3,300 people so far. The World Health Organization now expects between 32,000 and 55,000 more cases.
Oh, and by the way, the life expectancy for women in Zimbabwe is 34, the lowest life expectancy in the world.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/...
Personally, I think life expectancy could be improved if Zimbabwean women would just eat more lobster and caviar, and drink champagne instead of polluted water.