10 Zimbabwe: A five point human rights agenda for the inclusive government demand loyalty in rural areas. People suspected of supporting the then opposition parties were denied access to cheap maize sold through the state-owned Grain Marketing Board (GMB). In the run-up to the 27 June presidential election thousands of rural farmers’ food reserves were plundered or destroyed as a punishment for supporting opposition parties. The government also effectively blocked access to food aid ahead of the presidential election by banning the field operations of humanitarian organisations between 4 June and the end of August. Health – public hospitals and clinics are in need of major rehabilitation following many years of neglect by the state. Most health centres are barely functioning – with malfunctioning equipment, no medicines and with health workers on strike over poor working conditions and low wages. Where health institutions are still functioning, most patients cannot afford transportation to get there. Private healthcare is unaffordable for the vast majority. The situation is so severe that a cholera outbreak that began in August 2008 has killed over 3,300 people and the death toll keeps rising. Efforts to counter the epidemic, which has spread to all 10 of Zimbabwe’s provinces, have been undermined by a shortage of safe drinking water, inadequate sanitation, the collapsing healthcare infrastructure, and the high drop out rate of underpaid health workers. Education – Many teachers have left for neighbouring countries often to do menial jobs in order to support families back in Zimbabwe. Children living in poverty in Zimbabwe are losing out on their education. In January 2009, most public schools failed to open as teachers were on strike over poor salaries or could not afford transport to work. Housing – Hundreds of thousands of people who were forcibly evicted during Operation Murambatsvina in 2005 continue to live in destitution. Forced evictions are a gross violation of human rights and contravene a number of international and regional human rights treaties to which Zimbabwe is a state party. Operation Garikayi/Hlalani Kuhle, ostensibly the government’s attempt to remedy the effects of the forced evictions, did not benefit the victims of the evictions. The programme was exposed by Amnesty International as a public relations exercise which benefited civil servants and others connected to the former ruling party. Few houses were built compared to the number of those destroyed, and of those that were built many were uninhabitable, lacking doors, windows, toilets and access to clean water. Amnesty International urges the new government to: Ensure non-discrimination in access to and distribution of food, including grain sold by the GMB. Humanitarian organisations providing food and other aid should have unimpeded access. Urgently take steps, including through seeking international cooperation and assistance, to strengthen health services. Prioritise the provision of a minimum essential package of healthrelated services and facilities for the whole population and the development and adoption of a comprehensive national health plan. Ensure the realisation of the right to education, in particular the right to free and compulsory primary education through the improvement of material conditions for teaching staff and the Amnesty International February 2009 Index: AFR 46/009/2009