When will SA "close" the border w/ Zimbabwe to reduce their exposure to cholera? As a government "responsible" for the welfare of their people, can they afford to allow this deadly disease to cross into their country?

Of course they can! They have hospitals that are still open and have the necessary drugs to fight such a disease. Then again, they also have a police force that obeys the rule of law and doesn't ignore court orders to produce prisoners. They also have store shelves that are full of foodstuffs and are priced in readily available SA Rand!

Question is: will SA close their border with Zimbabwe to protect their people from cholera?

Of course SA will not close the border. Two reasons; firstly cholera is easily controlled ( if it were not, it would be a different story) and secondly the political and economic fall out resulting from a border closure would not be worth several hundred or even several thousand deaths in the minds of the SADC power brokers.

Katz, I agree with you that treating contaminated drinking water using chemicals can easily solve cholera. Closing the border is not necessary and not helpful to the situation. My concern is anti-Zimbabwe sentiments will again lead to xenophobia, as Zimbabweans once again stream into South Africa. This is another reason why Zimbabweans should be convinced by now that Robert Mugabe should be removed from power because of failure to care for his people and on the basis of human rights violations in Zimbabwe. There is no way that Mugabe will reform anything in Zimbabwe, even if Tsvangirai would go along with the national unity Gov’t as many Zimbabweans seem to believe. Everything in Zimbabwe is so political that even delivering water treatment chemicals has to go thru zanu-pf and with the Mafia stealing and selling the chemicals. We are now reaching the levels of Somalia and other failed states.