Zimbabwe: Beyond "The House Hunger."

As a student of Zimbabwean literature written in English, I have, for over two decades, been investing a considerable amount of time, effort and nervous energy in agonising about Zimbabwean historical experience. I, therefore, feel for my brothers and sisters who are in the eye of the storm and at the receiving end of batons and pincers wielded by political sadists.

I subscribe to the view that the personal is political. At a personal level, I made a costly tactical error of myopically fastening my hopes on that single Zimbabwean election day of 29 March 2008. On that Friday, I thought "this was it!" I forgot that Pamphlet No 1 cautions against regarding the vote as a magic wand. In a heady mixture of excitement, expectation and anxiety, I got carried away and acted in a particularly reckless manner.