In response to the cholera outbreak in Zimbabwe, the United States is planning to provide the country with $600,000 in assistance.

So far, the outbreak in cholera has forced the Zimbabwean government to call forth a national state of emergency. However, it is ill-prepared to actively deal with the outbreak.

On Thursday armored cars patrolled the streets of Zimbabwe's capital and residents rushed to the banks after limits on cash withdrawals were lifted in the inflation-ravaged African nation.

JOHANNESBURG - Piet Rampedi of City Press newspaper reports that South African citizens are also falling victim to the cholera epidemic - not only Zimbabweans as SA officials are claiming.

The Rt Rev Dr Sebastian Bakare is currently on a speaking tour of Australia. The Bishop arrived from Stockholm Sweden where he received a Human Rights Award. I had the opportunity to interview Rev Bakare in private without the distractions of the media.

As if the government of Zimbabwe has more than its hands full in dealing with a cholera break, now it has to deal with an anthrax outbreak.

Almost 10,000 cases and over 400 deaths due to cholera have now been reported in Zimbabwe since the current outbreak of the disease.

South Africa's Vaal river -- the only fresh-water source for 10-million people in the country's industrial heartland - is so polluted you can walk across the sewerage waste...' warned a water-engineer this week.

Pongo hosts shows on the London-based SW Radio Africa, where he broadcasts to Zimbabwe and takes calls from "citizen journalists" about what's going on in the country.

Thabo mbeki, the former president of South Africa, is due in Harare for further talks aimed at breaking the political impasse in Zimbabwe.