Soldiers Shut Down Chitungwiza Hospital During Mugabe Visit

SW Radio Africa (London)

Tererai Karimakwenda

12 May 2011

Several patients are reported to have suffered in agony after military officers shut down Chitungwiza hospital during a visit by Robert Mugabe. The incident took place on March 25th when the ageing ZANU PF leader opened a Renal Unit at the hospital.

According to the Zimbabwean newspaper “a woman was forced to give birth in a car” and a man with a broken arm suffered for almost the entire day of Mugabe’s visit. The paper said medical staff were ordered to wait for Mugabe to address them while patients suffered and lives were put at risk.

The pregnant woman said she was denied access to the maternity ward by armed soldiers who ordered her to “return after Mugabe’s visit”.

Observers have criticized the closure of an institution that provides crucial health services, saying many people were put at risk unnecessarily.

This is of course not the first time Mugabe has behaved as if he owns the country. He is known to regularly commandeer an entire plane from Air Zimbabwe when he travels outside the country. On these occasions passengers are left stranded at airports in order to accommodate the ZANU PF leader.

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