Product Description

After 25 years in power, Robert Mugabe is under increasing pressure to step down and allow democratic reform in Zimbabwe. Amnesty International rates the country among the worst for torture and abuse of human rights, the Commonwealth has suspended Zimbabwe's membership, and even in Africa there is growing outrage at what some see as a rogue state. In the past five years, millions of words have been written about the tragedy - including more than a dozen books - but few have focused on what might happen when freedom comes. As things stand, schools and hospitals have collapsed, a third of the population lives in exile and 3 000 people die of AIDS every week. Once Africa's second-biggest exporter of food, 70 per cent of the country lives under conditions of famine in the wake of violent land reform. What will it take to rebuild Zimbabwe? This gripping, incisive book discusses many relevant issues and asks serious questions, including:Will 4 million exiles go home to a country with 80 per cent unemployment? Should there be war-crimes trials? Can the economy be revived? Where will the billions of dollars come from that are needed to put things right? "What Happens After Mugabe" is meticulously researched, with material drawn from hundreds of interviews inside Zimbabwe and among exile communities in Britain, the US and South Africa.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #110886 in Books
• Published on: 2005-05-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 192 pages

About the Author
Geoff Hill started his journalistic career in Zimbabwe. He spent eight years with Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation, and in the past 20 years he has worked in Australia, the USA, Britain, Zimbabwe and several other African countries. He is currently Africa correspondent for the Washington Times. Hill is the first non-American to receive the John Steinbeck Award for short-story writing, and he also won the 2000 Commonwealth Short Story Award for Africa.

Customer Reviews

superb book
easy to read and enlightening - some of the challenges facing Zim I wouldn;t even have thought of like no chalk in classrooms!! Woudl be wonderful if this was the start of a new era in African history and some of ideas in book were implemented.

Interesting
There are two key aspects to this book. The first is an erudite description of the current chaos in Zimbabwe. There have been several books that have done this, so it's really the second aspect of this book which gives it its distinctiveness. This is the author's (Geoff Hill's) hypothesis of what would be the best way for Zimbabwe to convalesce when the despotic Mugagbe period eventually ends.

Hill covers a number of areas and deduces a number of arguments. Some of them are reasonably simple such as the idea of getting teachers from abroad to help restore the educational system. Some of them a little bit more sophisticated such as his suggestion of getting rid of Zimbabwe's Grain Marketing Boards. And some rather complex such as his argument that the UN shouldn't necessarily grant title to many rural people living and farming on a particular plot of land. Despite the arguments from several UN agencies that granting title could offer people a chance to get loans (as it would provide them with colateral) if they default on their loan they would be in a worse position then where they began - this happened in Andhra Pradesh, India. The style of argument when a comparison is made to something similar in another state (including Angolia, Brazil, Nigeria, Chile amongst others), is made several times throughout the book. There are two positives to this approach: firstly it makes the book a more interesting read as it's not just a book about Zimbabwe, secondly the author's arguments come across as reasoned and objective.

This book is not written in an academic style (with numerous references for every point a la Chomsky), but more in a free flowing prose that makes it easier for the reader get through what is essentially a heavy subject. Overall, it's an enjoyable read, educational and thought provoking.

An Easy Read
Everyone who has ever spent any time studying academic works will tell you how academic authors suffer from a love of long words and unnecessary language. This book is gem, i read it cover to cover in a matter of hours and was able to grasp every concept whilst doing so. Hill may not be a political scientist, but his work raises some very core questions and is a great start for anyone who wants to understand the problems faced by Zimbabwe today. A great and very enjoyable read!