It is the worst epidemic of the disease to hit the country, and the media debated the causes, and ways and means to contain it.
The public media, taking a queue from government, blamed the disease's outbreak on Western sanctions imposed on the country in the aftermath of its controversial land reforms widely opposed by the big powers.
They argued that the country had been unable to import medicines and maintain health infrastructures because of the sanctions, resulting in the cholera outbreak, among other health-related difficulties.
But the private press gave a different version or explanation for the epidemic, profusely blaming government for paying lip-service to pressing health and other social problems over the years.
It said the disease was a result of government's under-investment in sanitation infrastructure in towns and cities, such as sewerage and piped water, most of which has broken down, leading to the cholera outbreak.
In most cities, the sight of raw sewerage spewing out of broken down pipes is co mmon, which, coupled with the lack of clean water supplies, brewed the deadly cholera epidemic the country is experiencing.
The private press argued that government overlooked investment in these essential social services, and the health sector in particular, over the years which had led to the epidemic.
It said the cholera epidemic could only be tackled with a change in the governance of the country, implying a new pair of leadership hands was needed.
But the public media argued only the lifting of the sanctions could enable Zimbabwe to address the myriad of social, political and economic problems it was facing, including the cholera disease.
Harare - 06/12/2008
Pana
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