The Race Is On to Rule the New Zimbabwe

The Race Is On to Rule the New Zimbabwe
Pedestrians walk past a campaign poster showing Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa during the ruling party’s launch of its election manifesto, Harare, May 4, 2018 (AP photo by Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi).

A distance of more than 400 kilometers separates Harare, Zimbabwe’s capital, from Bulawayo, the country’s second-largest city and industrial center. Unless you can afford a plane ticket, and most Zimbabweans can’t, the best way to travel between the two is to drive six or seven hours on a narrow highway, often longer if you hit a pothole, a police roadblock or a traffic jam. There is also a train that links the two cities, but it is in a state of considerable disrepair, running slowly and never on time.

Nelson Chamisa wants to do the trip in just half an hour. On a bullet train.

Listen to Simon Allison discuss this article on WPR’s Trend Lines Podcast. His audio starts at 15:15.

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