SUVs and Mugabe

Went with His Royal Highness today to look at SUVs - we'll be changing our car in August as by then it will be three years old and in anticipation of little feet hopefully in 2008 - and to help transport family members now - we've decided to go for an SUV. Not very environmentally friendly I know . . .

Now HRH just loves the Audi Q7 but at 40 thousand pounds plus - I don't think so! So we went to look at a Hyundai Santa Fe - a 'steal' at 22 thousand for an 07 model. It was really nice!!. If you get a chance, go look at one. The three years is up in August - I'll tell you what it's like then if we still go for it.

On a completely different plane - things in Zimbabwe are going to hell in a hand basket eeeh? Something seems to be changing though and maybe there's a chance that Mugabe will be overthrown. It's a crying shame what he has become. He's never been a saint, but from my reading, and talking to Zimbabweans - he used to have the country's best interests at heart and was serious about keeping the wealth of the land for the black people and not the white folk to owned nearly everything. There's a lot of history behind some aspects of his attitude and actions - if you can, read the summary of the Lancaster House agreement which pertains to Zimbabwe's independence in the early 80s. It's very revealing. But he's lost his natural mind if he thinks that taking the farms from the white people in the way he did has helped his land. He needed a much better game plan and there is no excuse for causing the suffering of his own people and living in luxury for himself.

A former friend who is Zimbabwean posits that his second wife who is a lot younger than him and has a distinct taste for the high life - has contributed greatly to his terrible behaviour. Fair point to an extent- but that can't explain everything. Bottom line is he has lost the plot and needs to go. It will take generations to repair the financial chaos but I hope that the recent rumblings of discontent in areas you wouldn't expect (Southern African politicians) signal he beginning of the end of the misery.