Baby crushed to death in sugar queue


By Violet Gonda
09 August 2005

A 3-month old baby was crushed to death while strapped to its mother's back at a sugar queue in Chinhoyi this past weekend. The terrible tragedy happened as desperate people started pushing and shoving in order to get better positions in a queue for much needed sugar.

The queue was at a store belonging to ZANU-PF MP for Chinhoyi Faber Chidarikire. Our contact there told us despite the presence of police and soldiers who man the queues, people are becoming more and more disorderly out of desperation. This usually results in many injuries. It's reported that many people are spending the night in fuel and food queues as the food shortages worsen.