Harare and Dinner with Mugabe

Harare, Cape Flats, South Africa

This neighborhood, I found out, was well known as the most dangerous in all of south africa.  Though, just like everything in South Africa - the best and worst, the most dangerous and the safest, the ugliest and the most beautiful, are all defined neatly along color lines.  

So, while the black township of Harare was well known as the most dangerous to my Koi San ("colored" being the local label) driver, my  Xhosa (black) security staff all knew it as being a perfectly safe neighborhood.  It would be Athlone, the "colored" township that was the seat of organized crime - and therefor, the most dangerous.  

Everything breaks down this way, which, given the country's history, is no real shock.  And even though there is fear across the board about whats happening in Zimbabwe - the causes of the economic woes in the country are a result of a mad dictator if you are white, or western sanctions if you are black.  Mugabe is a freedom fighter in the flats and a corrupt dictator in the city bowl.  I thought Mugabe would be something the world could agree on.  How very wrong I was.  

I've been reading this book, written by a white woman, because it purports to chart the history of Mugabe from freedom fighter to dictator, and reveal all the shades of grey in between.  Hopefully, I can learn a little bit myself and have a more educated opinion about the whole thing.    In the meantime, whatever you think of Mugabe, a stark reminder of the crisis that country is in can be had by checking out the exchange rate on a daily basis and seeing how many zeros are added everyday to the price of a loaf of bread.  Looks like they are headed toward a cool quadrillion (thats 15 zeros), according to this article.  

And while you contemplate all that chaos, check out this little green bird on a Harare Tin Roof.  Cute.