The low-income suburb has been the hardest hit by an epidemic that has killed more than 2 000 people since it began in August last year.
How are you feeling now? Tsvangirai asked an eight-year old girl, trying to cheer her up. But the young girl appeared disinterested either because she was too shy with all eyes set on her or because she was just too weakened by disease.
Health workers at the institution said that although there were few people in the wards, the outbreak had not yet been brought under control, contrary to frequent claims by President Robert Mugabe's government.
And the evidence abounds that cholera is still wrecking havoc among Zimbabweans. At the outpatient section at the camp, a woman in her early thirties narrated how she and her two children had been having running stomach for the past week.
My other child is now admitted after doctors said he had contracted cholera, she said, the mention of he ill child appearing to drive her close to tears.
(Xhead) Man-made crisis
Addressing journalists after the tour, Tsvangirai said that he wanted problems around the formation of a power-sharing government resolved soon so that it can begin to find solutions to the plight of many Zimbabweans, most of them man-made.
Well, it's quite a pathetic situation. Of course this situation has been with the people for the couple of weeks behind but you can see visible strains of people still suffering from cholera, he said.
Cholera is a man-made crisis (worsened by) the negligence on the part of government to provide necessary facilities, said Tsvangirai.
We want to thank those NGOs that have come in to support but it shows the decline of the health delivery system, unfortunately a lot of Zimbabweans have paid the price with their lives, added the opposition leader.
A deal to form a unity government between Tsvangirai and President Robert Mugabe appears to be unravelling as the two leaders wrangle over control of ministerial posts and other top government posts.
On Monday, regional leaders failed to nudge the two parties to form a government but called for a special summit of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) in South Africa on January 26, in another effort to break the deadlock.
Similar meetings have failed to persuade the rivals to agree to implement the pact, which is seen by many as the best chance of rescuing Zimbabwe’s economy and humanitarian crisis that is also seen in acute shortages of food and basic commodities.
(Xhead) MDC ready for unity government
Tsvangirai said he was ready to form a unity government to tackle Zimbabwe's crisis but said such a government could only function effectively if Mugabe's ruling Zanu (PF) party agreed to cede some of its power instead of wanting to incorporate the opposition party as a junior partner in government.
Yes forming a government which is functional can respond to some of the problems the people are facing but what we have here is totally different. We have a party which has lost an election, which has accepted to negotiate but does not want to cede power in line with the power-sharing ideals.
It's very unfortunate that we keep on dragging this issue on matters that the SADC itself has guaranteed that these are on the agenda even at the time of signing the global political agreement, he said.
Why is it difficult for Zanu (PF) to appreciate that this is the essence of sharing power not of dominating, not of trying to make the MDC a junior partner, not of trying to co-opt but genuine power-sharing.
So yes, we are committed to the agreement but subject to the resolution of these outstanding issues and I'm hoping that SADC will appreciate that the MDC is not the one that is obstructionist in the formation of this government, said Tsvangirai.
(xhead) MDC defeated Zanu (PF)
The MDC defeated Zanu (PF) in parliamentary elections on March 29 winning 100 seats in the 210-member lower house of Parliament, while Mugabe's party won 99 seats. Mutambara's faction of the MDC won 10 seats with one seat going to an independent.
Tsvangirai defeated Mugabe in a parallel presidential election but fell short of the margin required to avoid a second round runoff vote.Â
Tsvangirai later withdrew from the June 27 runoff poll because of state-sponsored violence against his supporters, leaving Mugabe to win the vote as sole candidate. But Mugabe's victory was rejected by the international community, forcing him to enter a power-sharing deal with Tsvangirai and Mutambara.
Analysts see little hope of economic recovery in Zimbabwe without a unity government while some have called for the holding of free elections to choose a new government.
The cholera epidemic is the most visible sign of a deepening economic and humanitarian crisis that is also seen in acute shortages of food and basic commodities, deepening poverty and the world's highest inflation rate of more than 231 million percent. – ZimOnline