Zimbabwe: Queues of Despair
If a Martian landed in Harare, Zimbabwe’s capital today, he would certainly be taken aback by the length and number of human queues.
Like garden worms, the human queues twist and turn throughout the city, blocking traffic as people wait to get a chance to get money from their bank accounts.
The queues start early in the morning and last well into the night. As long as people think there is a faint chance to get a hold of their cash, they remain huddled in the queue.
If anything, human queues have become an additional indicator of the collapse of the Zimbabwean nation state, in particular, the financial system.
Due to a multi-billion percent inflation, the Zimbabwean government is no longer able to meet the paper money needs of its citizenry. Read more
Too cool, Thabo Mbeki
A cool move from Thabo Mbeki.
On Sunday evening I listened to Thabo Mbeki give his exit address. I was stunned that with just six months to go, the ANC had seen it fit to “recall him”.
Ok, in the last ten or so years that he has held office I have had my serious beef with Mr Mbeki.
His stance on HIV/AIDS. His stance on Zimbabwe. His apparent aloofness toward the common man. All these things made me think he was not the right man to be leading South Africa.
However, to his credit, Thabo Mbeki presided over South Africa’s longest period of economic growth. He was also, as far as I can tell, a man of integrity. As a friend of mine said, “Thabo Mbeki is many things, but corrupt is not one of them.” Read more
Does ZanuPF need its own Sarah Palin?
I didn’t bother listening to anything the Republicans were saying up until August 29th when John McCain announced Sarah Palin as his pick for Vice President. My first reason for stopping was that this was a major point in the Presidential race, as had been Obama’s pick of Joe Biden barely a week earlier on August 23rd.
A young beautiful female Secretary General or Vice President would help ZANU (PF) not only to raise money, but to give a fresh youthful image to the line-up of party personalities.
The second reason I stopped was that I had never heard of this woman. I immediately googled her- as did millions of other people.
The third reason I stopped was that after googling, I found some pictures that made me ogle. I’m not saying Hilary Clinton, Margaret Thatcher and Angela Merkel are not pretty, but they are not exactly model material and in my head they make up the picture I have of a female politician in the west.
Then came Sarah Palin. Like I said I ogled. This was no politician. This was a beauty queen who at 44 years of age still looks like she could enter a pageant and win.
The thing is- and here’s the thing- I was not the only one who ogled. Around the world MILLIONS of people took second and third looks at the Sarah Palin pictures that came out in papers and on websites- and that’s what has made all the difference. Read more
