When Mugabe married Zimbabwe

by Suzan Abrams

Captioned is a picture of Robert Mugabe on his wedding day. I had written this little rhyme in about 10 minutes for a thread on the Guardian Books Blog.

Mugabe was Zimbabwe's tsunami,
he stole the wealth of a tired country.
He ate its bread, he grabbed the property,
he chose a young sweetheart for his greedy honey.
Mugabe will go now to where *Hatcliffe lives,
begging for a second election...begging for belief.
But the poor will ask what's happened to the crops,
and offer stale beer from ramshackle *bottle shops.
He'll feed them nothing as they leave him something.
oh Mugabe, he's eerie...they'll sing to be free.

*******

*Hatcliffe : poorest village on the outskirts of Harare. (21 km north).
*bottle shop: a shanty bar where locals meet to drink beer.

Picture courtesy of AfricanCrisis