The New York Review of Books just published an excellent report and analysis of recent developments in Zimbabwe by the former Newsweek Africa correspondent, Joshua Hammer.
Here’s Hammer describing how election results were made public:
“After two days of silence, announcers on state-run television began appearing on air every few hours to read off the winners of parliamentary seats, three or four constituencies at a time; then the station returned to a surreal mix of US sitcoms, Japanese calligraphy shows, Chinese kung fu movies, even a 1970s documentary about the science of monkey behavior.”
The rest here. [The piece also details the dubious roles of elected leaders in the Southern African region -- with two exceptions Ian Khama of Botswana and Levy Mwanawasa of Zambia -- in propping up Mugabe's rule]
* I was surprised by this article as I thought Hammer’s previous published work in the NY Review of Books–a review of former Zimbabwean journalist Peter Godwin’s memoir–was way off the mark.
