Thirty years of authoritarian rule and mismanagement by Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe's president, have left the country's economy and infrastructure in tatters, unable to provide the kind of basic healthcare, hygiene and sanitation that could easily have stopped the waterborne disease in its tracks.

Until those problems are remedied the threat of cholera will remain. With an economy ravaged by hyper-inflation, and a bad healthcare system, basic utilities such as sanitation and water provision have fallen into total disrepair.

The hope is that with Mugabe's Zanu PF party now sharing power with the Movement for Democratic Change party of Morgan Tsvangirai, Zimbabwe's prime minister, the country can be brought back from the brink.

The international community may also need to do some soul-searching. The US and the European Union, Zimbabwe's main donors, have adopted a wait and see approach before releasing any funds for economic reconstruction.

The United Nations is the principal humanitarian relief agency in Zimbabwe. Should it have done more to get Mugabe's regime to face up to its responsibilities?

A disturbing report by Andrew Geoghegan.

This episode of People & Power airs from Wednesday, April 08, 2009 at the following times in GMT: Wednesday: 0600, 1230; Thursday: 0130, 1400, 1930; Friday: 0630; 1630; Saturday: 0330, 2030;  Sunday: 0030, 0530; Monday: 0830.