Zimbabweans Speak: 'We Want Change'
Rising prices, empty shelves: Zimbabwe at a crossroads.
HWANGE, Zimbabwe, April 7, 2008, — -- American journalists are not welcome in Zimbabwe, so we entered the country as tourists, crossing the border from neighboring Zambia.
The difference between the two countries is immediately clear.
Zambia is buzzing with a vibrant tourist trade. Zimbabwe is a country that has come to a complete stop.
The first sign comes on the roads. Heading inland toward the town of Hwange, in western Zimbabwe, we drove along the main road for nearly an hour without seeing a single car.
That's one measure of the economic collapse here. Very few people have the money to buy gas and, beyond that, there's very little reason to travel: no business, exports, or tourism.
When we arrived in Hwange, the hardship was even clearer.
Inside the main grocery store, the shelves were empty. Store employees told us suppliers hadn't come for months. The one thing they did have was cheap cane liquor. We found a bakery with no bread and a butcher with no meat. I wondered why they bothered staying open.
The people here blame Zimbabwe's president, Robert Mugabe. He has ruled this country for 28 years — first, seen as a hero for winning independence from Great Britain, but later as a ruthless dictator known to have slaughtered opponents and presided over the dissolution of the Zimbabwean economy.
Zimbabweans have waited more than a week for the results of the presidential election between Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai, the leader of the opposition. The opposition has claimed victory but Mugabe and his ruling ZANU-PF party are using every tactic they can to delay the results and — opposition supporters increasingly worry — steal the election.
Now, there's talk of a possible run-off election.
There's no doubt about who won the initial round in Hwange. Local election results showed more than 8,000 for Tsvangirai, just 16 for Mugabe.
"I tell you, people are struggling in this country," local opposition supporter Bernard Staddon told us. "They're struggling, and they can't take it anymore."
