madam president if colleagues could think for a moment about their worst nightmare it would not even come close to what is happening to the people of zimbabwe
once a prosperous country it has been turned on its head by its president
the country is collapsing no governance no jobs hyperinflation no food no health service and the breakdown of the sanitation system is now creating a cholera outbreak
a week ago zimbabwean president robert mugabe said the cholera outbreak had been arrested
he claimed western powers wanted to use an epidemic as an excuse to invade zimbabwe and topple him
however south africa has declared most of its northern border with zimbabwe a disaster area as the disease spreads over with refugees and oxfam has warned that the situation in zimbabwe could get a lot worse
today's reported figures show that one one hundred and eleven lives have been lost and the disease is spreading
there are twenty five hundred and eighty-one cases of cholera
cholera is a highly infectious disease caused by a bacterium which creates an intestinal infection
symptoms include diarrhoea and dehydration
in its most severe form a sudden onset of acute watery diarrhoea can lead to death by severe dehydration and kidney failure
it can kill healthy adults in hours
to give an example of the impact the disease is having on the population i want to tell parliament about cynthia hunde's son munashe
munashe died of cholera shortly before his first birthday
cynthia had gone to work in south africa to try and provide a better future for her son as there is no work in zimbabwe leaving munashe in the care of her mother
when she returned to her mother's home she found munashe dying in his grandmother's arms
interviewed by the bbc she said i feel so bad it's so hard to describe
when you have a son you have dreams for him
i came home expecting to find him running around the house but that just didn t happen
please colleagues support this resolution condemning zimbabwe and please help innocent victims like munashe
