Cholera aggravates Zimbabwe collapse

Imagine living in a country with 231 million percent inflation, a failed power-sharing agreement, closing schools and hospitals, and an astronomical emigration rate of refugees into neighboring South Africa.

Now, add a cholera epidemic that has left more than 300 people dead and thousands more sick. And President Robert Mugabe, instead of ending the crisis, seems to be using it as an "excuse to clamp down on everyday life," according to SW Radio Africa.

Power sharing talks were set to reconvene today under former South Africa President Thabo Mbeki's mediation, but serious disputes remain about the allocation of ministries between President Robert Mugabe and his opposition-party prime minister, Morgan Tsvangirai. In a sign of his unwillingness to yield power, Mugabe accussed a delegation of "elders," including Jimmy Carter, Kofi Annan, and Graça Machel (the former wife of Nelson Mandela) of trying to oust his government. He refused them entry to the crippled country.

But after everything else, it might be cholera that pushes the limits of how far failed this failed-state can go. South Africa is doing its best to keep the cholera on one side of the border, but further collapse could send an flood of refugees where there has always been a trickle. That would further destabilize a politically shaky South Africa in the midst of its presidential transition.

It's time to change our rhetorical terms on Zimbabwe. No longer on the brink of collapse: over the edge.