A day after Deputy Health Minister Edwin Muguti claimed the cholera epidemic was under control, he made an apparent u-turn in telling journalists on Thursday that the outbreak will worsen, 'with the onset of the rainy season.'

On Wednesday government refused to declare the outbreak a national disaster despite independent reports putting the death toll at over 3000. With a tight lid on the actual number of people affected the regime has only confirmed the number dead at over 380 with around 9000 cases having been treated. Water shortages and the unavailability of water treatment chemicals have ensured the disease spreads rapidly.

Our correspondent Simon Muchemwa says the country has already experienced significant rainfall in November and because of open sewage in the different suburbs, cholera gems were spreading easily. Muchemwa spoke to a doctor working for the United Nations Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) who confirmed that a few weeks ago they had already recorded more than 880 deaths from the epidemic countrywide. Muchemwa also told Newsreel that government was determined not to face the humiliation of admitting they were failing to deal with the crisis.

The disease meanwhile is also beginning to affect neighbouring South Africa. On Thursday Durban's RK Khan Hospital confirmed it admitted two Zimbabwean brothers last Sunday. They are currently conducting tests to detect the disease. The two have been living and working in Durban but had visited Zimbabwe from the 7th to the 21st of November. Many Zimbabweans have also been traveling to South Africa seeking treatment for the disease. Several border towns in South Africa have reported a total of 187 cholera cases and 3 deaths. Even truck drivers from Zambia and Mozambique have been affected. Other South African provinces affected include Gauteng, Kwa Zulu Natal, Mpumalanga and Western Cape.

While the Zimbabwean government plays politics over the cholera deaths, Beitbridge Hospital alone reported 63 cholera deaths and is admitting an alarming 200 patients per day. So bad is the situation South African health officials have deployed their National Outbreak Response Team across the border in Musina to deal with the influx of infected people. Health Minister Barbara Hogan told journalists in Pretoria, additional doctors, nurses, epidemiologists and medical supplies have been sent to the area and three treatment tents were erected to deal with the outbreak at Musina Hospital. Although South African officials say the outbreak is under control World Health Organization representatives warned the disease could spread rapidly.