Portrait of a self-made lunatic

This, truly, is a political abomination. Dirty Harry, in the now-classic Magnum Force, once quipped that "a man's got to know his limitations." Stretching this line all the way to Zimbabwe, and we have here the caricature of a man who is at once belligerent, dangerous and stubbornly clinging to the last political lifelines of a country that he has essentially destroyed.

The inflation is at 100,000 percent; this will likely change within a matter of days, for the worse. Up to one-third of the adult population is HIV-positive, and after government-sanctioned stigmas and silence, trickles of aid are but scratching the surface. Policemen are jailed for professing sympathies to the opposition Movement for Democratic Change -- yet they must uphold the President's rule. Food, fuel, water...all necessities, are in acute shortage.

But Comrade Mugabe thinks it is all Britain's fault. His next election promise: "[The British] still have companies here and we have not yet touched them...Four hundred British companies and so they must take care. After elections we will look into that." The only hope lies in the fact that these upcoming presidential elections -- slated for this week -- will be the most contentious and serious threats to the man's rule. Let us, therefore, do just that, and hope.