Zim

When you visit a place which receives so much media coverage like Zimbabwe it's hard to know what you're really seeing driving around its capital and meeting some of its people.

And Christmas is a strange time anyway - lots of the Diaspora had come back so the shoppers and holiday makers were out in force. The Victoria Falls Hotel was full to bursting -but perhaps with Chinese tourists rather than the Europeans or Americans. But inflation meant that the price of petrol or bread, say, were in free fall. And according to statistics a low income family of five needs Z$350,000 a month to buy basic foodstuffs but the average labourer is paid around Z$8000.

Does all of this really come down to one man? Why is it recently that he's been ostracised when he's been talking about the Land Issue since the 80's? Why does the criticism and sanctioning only come from outside the country, can the structures within really be so weak? These are the kind of questions I asked myself.

It's so hard to make pronouncements, and why should I?

The welcome I received was warm and gracious and the landscape breathtaking. And however hard life becomes, there's always beer.