Petina Gappah

''If I vote yes in the referendum," an old woman from Gutu in rural Zimbabwe said to her son, "will that mean that I am saying yes to Robert Mugabe? And if I vote no, am I voting no to Morgan Tsvangirai?" In Zimbabwe, the process of voting on a new constitution cannot be separated from the personalities that dominate Zimbabwe's politics.

A key component of the agreement that brought together Zimbabwe's feuding political parties in a unity government in 2008 was a new constitution to be put to the public vote. On Saturday Zimbabweans had that vote. The state-owned Sunday Mail, which greets all government initiatives with unbridled enthusiasm, reported that "most polling stations recorded high voter turnouts".…  Seguir leyendo »

On April 18 1980, the last outpost of empire in Africa died. From Rhodesia's ashes rose a country that would take its place among the free nations as Zimbabwe, the last among equals. And men and women leapt to embrace this dream called Zimbabwe.

In the long war against the settler regime that preceded independence, the guerrillas kept up their morale by evoking this dream in song. Smith - just hit him on the head until he sees sense, dzamara taitonga Zimbabwe / until we rule a country called Zimbabwe. The struggle for Zimbabwe lit up the imagination of people around the world.…  Seguir leyendo »