LOCATION Harare

SPEAKER Mark Canning

DATE 24/08/2009

Mark Canning, UK Ambassador to Zimbabwe, was interviewed on the BBC's World at One on 24 August.

Read the transcript

Martha Kearney (MK):  Six months ago Zimbabwe was in crisis with thousands of people dying from cholera, mass unemployment and inflation running at two hundred and thirty one million per cent.

In February a power sharing Government was formed between Robert Mugabe’s Zanu PF and the MDC led by Morgan Tsvangirai.  So have things got any better?  I’ve been speaking to the UK’s Ambassador to Zimbabwe, Mark Canning, in his first interview since taking up the post in Harare in July this year.

Zimbabwean state doctors began a strike there last week over pay.  I started by asking him to assess the state of affairs in the country now.

Mark Canning (MC):  Well I think the health situation along with the general humanitarian challenges are very serious.  I mean the challenges that face this new Government which has been in place since February are massive.  I think in terms of cholera as you say there was a very significant outbreak last year, a hundred thousand people were affected, over four thousand died.  I think the general sense is that people are better prepared for the return of cholera with the rainy season later this year, but I think there is little doubt that there, there will be a return of it.

MK:  And how worried are you by humanitarian problems in Zimbabwe as a whole?

MC:  Well the humanitarian situation, you know, continues to be challenging.  I mean, we have been putting a great deal of effort in to education, in to water and sanitation of course which bears directly on, on cholera and on health more generally.  The UK has been backing this inclusive Government to the tune of a hundred million dollars and that is going in to those priority areas.

What we’re trying to do is to improve the delivery of these key services, whether it’s health, education, water and sanitation.  So we’re putting a great deal of effort in to putting in place the measures that will make any return of cholera easier to deal with, but I think it is likely this problem will come back sadly.

MK:  Isn’t it going to be very difficult to deliver those vital public services when people who work for the public sector are being paid so little?  I mean that’s the doctors’ grievance.

MC:  Well it is, but you’ve got to actually go back to February to see the scale of the challenge that was facing this Government when it came in.  If you go back to that point, this country was on the point of collapse, inflation was running at millions of per cent, prices were doubling every twenty four hours as recently as November of last year.  All basic services had collapsed, schools were closed, hospitals, clinics.  Over half the population required food aid.  You had violence and intimidation ongoing in the countryside and, and overall the country was on, as I say, on the point of collapse.

Here we are six months on and there’s actually been a remarkable improvement.  Inflation’s come down to single digits.  Essential services have been restored, schools are open, hospitals and clinics.  Civil Servants, doctors, nurses are being paid in a way that they were not.  Sound economic policies have been brought in.  Now the salaries that the Government is able to pay to doctors and others are of course not as much as they would want and that’s what, as I understand it, has precipitated that strike.  But looked at in the round it’s been a fairly significant record of achievement since February.

MK:  You’re obviously keen to put a positive gloss on what’s been happening, but there are serious tensions aren’t there within the power sharing administration.  I mean only yesterday there was a walk out from a meeting of Cabinet members.

MC:  No, I mean you’re absolutely right on the economic front there have been some significant achievements.  On, on the political front in areas of governance, human rights the going has been a lot tougher.  We’ve seen some positive steps.  We’ve seen for example the readmission of the BBC a couple of weeks back.  We’ve seen the launching of a process of constitutional reform.  But there is a great deal more to be done to improve governance to eliminate political violence and that is going to take some time I think to address.

MK:  What are your concerns about governance and violence?

MC:  Well I think obviously the, the level of violence that we saw last year has decreased, but one is still seeing instances of farm seizures.  One is still seeing examples of what you, you could call politically targeted use of the judiciary.  No, so one would not deny that those things need to be done.  But looked at from the economic perspective and in many ways that’s the starting point, there’s been a significant improvement on that area but there’s work to be done in other areas as you say.

MK:  And how would you assess the relationship now between Mugabe and Tsvangirai?

MC:  Well the inclusive Government is, is, you know, it’s at the six month point now.  They’ve notched up some successes.  There are huge challenges that remain, not least in the humanitarian sector.  But I mean if you speak to the Prime Minister himself he believes that the Government has made some significant progress.

MK:  Mark Canning, the British Ambassador to Zimbabwe.

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