One of the most appalling tyrants of modern times, Robert Mugabe, may have gone but little else seems to have changed in Zimbabwe.
'Free and democratic' elections have been held but have been accompanied by the same scenes of violence as before. Days of rioting, opponents hustled away by police, claims and counter-claims about vote rigging; it's all as if Mugabe had never left the scene.
Whatever the truth, it's clear that many Zimbabweans believe that there has been foul play and that the voting, and its results, have been subject to manipulation. In such circumstances mistrust will endure and the state will continue to subdue all opposition in any way that it can. If that means police brutality, manufactured charges, false imprisonment or even murder, so be it.
Emmerson Mnangagwa has said that his victory in the Presidential election paves the way for a new beginning for his beleaguered country but isn't this the same old tosh that was spouted by Mugabe, over and over again ? As a former associate of Mugabe's, is not Mnangawa just another old man who fancied grabbing the limelight, and the power, before it was too late ?
Zimbabwe, as Southern Rhodesia, may not have been perfect but it was surely a lot better than the appalling cess pit of corruption, violence and murder that it has become.
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