The Tragedy In Zimbabwe Is Not For Sale

Thus, I was totally flabbergasted to read, in the Mmegi / Monitor (March 12, 2007), two facile and painfully simplistic, not to mention insulting, interpretations of the tragedy in Zimbabwe. Making it worse is the fact that these two obnoxious articles were written not just by Africans but by Batswana, who are, in all manner, our very own people, our neighbours. For, you see, Botswana and Zimbabwe share more than geography, economy and culture.

Someone, identifying himself as a Monitor 'Correspondent', gathered a couple of friends one weekend, drove, for the very first time, to Zimbabwe to some obscure place near Bulawayo, bought some beers and drove back to Botswana the very same day. From this hardly half-day-long excursion, the enlightened correspondent concluded that the Zimbabwean problem lies in excessive alcohol consumption. Zimbabwe, he says, is "a nation of hopeless drunks."