parties to the Agreement bickered over the allocation of ministerial positions. Without a substantively legitimate government in place, policy interventions to address the gargantuan problems were knee-jerk and at worst ad hoc leading to the outbreak of a devastating cholera outbreak which has so far claimed close to 900 lives. Evidence of the decline is clearly demonstrated by the government’s failure to contain the spread of an otherwise easily preventable disease and to deliver on basic services such as clean water, drugs, electricity, refuse collection and repair of burst sewer pipes. As the year drew to a close all sense of national pride took a serious dent with the declaration of the cholera outbreak as a national emergency. A team of health experts from the United Nations and SADC arrived in the country on 8 December 2008 to assess the impact of the epidemic as assistance in the form of drugs; water treatment chemicals; water drips and vaccines started pouring into the country from the European Union, Namibia and Tanzania. The presence of the SADC and UN teams ironically came on the backdrop of the refusal of entry visas to a team of members of the Elderly group comprising former United States President Jimmy Carter, former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan and human rights activist Graca Machel who is the wife of former South African President Nelson Mandela on a fact finding mission to assess the country’s humanitarian crisis2. Concomitant with this deleterious situation, Zimbabwe’s human rights record coming on the backdrop of the violence that preceded the June 27 presidential election runoff took a dent that triggered a crescendo of international outcry following the abduction of prominent human rights defender and director of the Zimbabwe Peace Project (ZPP) director Jestina Mukoko. Mukoko was abducted from her home in Norton, about 40 km west of Harare by armed men who sped off with her in an unmarked vehicle on 3 December 2008. She has not been seen since raising fears on her safety. While the nation was battling to come to grips with Mukoko’s ordeal, two of her workmates were abducted almost in similar fashion seven days later from the ZPP offices in Harare. Mukoko was reportedly bundled into the vehicle in her night dress and bare footed. Family members expressed great concern on her circumstances as she is on medication which she is supposed to take three times a day. These developments vitiate against the letter and spirit of the September 15 Agreement more so at a time when the key political parties had just agreed on a draft Constitutional Amendment No 19 Bill which is expected to consummate and legitimise the formation of the inclusive government with MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai as Prime Minister. In terms of Article XVIII of the GPA which deals with security of persons and prevention of violence, parties to the Agreement pledged to acknowledge that violence dehumanises and engenders feelings of hatred and polarisation within the country3. The media, especially the state-controlled, has not helped matters in that regard by continuing to spew hate language post the GPA which speaks and commits the political leadership on the The World Food Programme estimates that about 50 percent of Zimbabwe’s estimated 13 million people face starvation in a country with a world record inflation of 230 million percent, 80 percent unemployment and shortages of basic commodities that are not easily accessible by the poor majority in an economy that has since been dollarised in desperate efforts to contain the runaway inflation. 3 Under the Agreement, the parties pledged to work together to ensure the security of all persons and property and to refrain from using abusive language that may incite hostility, political intolerance and et hnic hatred or unfairly undermine each other. 2 3