Channel 4’s Jon Snow was thrown out of Zimbabwe in the eighties. With Mugabe out of power, Snow is back. Snow who is married to a Zimba...
Channel 4’s Jon Snow was thrown out of Zimbabwe in the
eighties. With Mugabe out of power, Snow is back.
Snow who is married to a Zimbabwean renowned academic,
Precious Lunga wrote :”For where once arriving at Harare Airport as a foreign
correspondent was a nail-biting experience, these days the sparsely populated
arrivals hall is ordered and relaxed. Flights are equally sparse and rarely
full. But it’s here that the country’s biggest immediate crisis becomes
apparent.
An entry visa costs $55. But does anyone have the $5 that
the immigration officer needs to give change for the $60 proffered by the
passenger in front of me? Someone in the queue finally produces some change.
The dollarization of the currency a decade ago has proved a disaster. The
introduction of the ‘Bond’ note to make up for lack of dollars has been no
solution either. Having started at parity, it now trades at anything up to 1
Bond 50 cents for the dollar. You feel the consequences everywhere you go.
But these days, spirits in Zimbabwe are high. The old
despot is gone, and that alone has raised hope. The fact that a lot of his old
muckers are still around seems to do little to weaken it. Some of Mugabe’s old
cronies are in post but no longer in power.
The whole country appears to accept that power will flow
only once ‘free and fair’ elections are held. Where once police set road blocks
at intervals all over the country as a means of political control and providing
themselves with pocket money, today there are none to be seen – to the palpable
relief of the people. Today in the cities – Harare, and Bulawayo – once again you
suddenly notice police officers holding up the normally wayward traffic to
escort children across once ignored crossings to school.
Mugabe’s removal and getting rid of the road blocks have
combined to add to the sense of freedom and wellbeing, even if the dire
economic conditions are unchanged.
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