'We're calling on all citizens,' said Riovoarilala Rakotondrabe, putting the final touches on a giant poster announcing a massive community clean-up for the coming Sunday. 'Since we are in the midst of the rainy season, the city administration has recommended that each fokontany [the basic administrative unit at the neighbourhood level in Madagascar] should carry out collective cleaning,' she said. Rakotondrabe is local head of the association charged with maintaining water infrastructure, hygiene and sanitation.

The exhumation exercise being carried out by ZANU PF in the Mt Darwin area has received strong criticism from civic groups, that say the rest of the country has been excluded and the careless handling of bodies is disrespectful. They say the exhumers are also missing the opportunity to collect important information about the victims. Strongly worded statements were issued by the Solidarity Peace Trust, the Crisis Coalition and the MDC. Under the theme of 'healing the dead', ZANU PF has claimed that the bodies they are displaying in photographs and on state television were victims of the liberation war and were massacred by the Rhodesian army. But experts have said the appearance of some of the bodies shows they could have died much more recently.