inflation

We asked an activist living in Harare to start our day of blogging by writing a piece on the day in a life of someone living in our capital city. We wanted to highlight typical day to day experiences of living in our country, a place where democracy is something we fight for, and wish for, daily battle.

Our activist works in a middle management position in a large organisation, and in this blog he assumes the viewpoint of a church mouse, comparing the lives of two people he works with, and knows well. The disparity in income and position in our country is wide, and it is very obviously so in Harare where government officials, foreign diplomats and big business live alongside the unemployed struggling to survive in an informal sector. The disparity in this item is nothing compared to the vast gulf between them and government elite.

Had our blogger taken on the task of comparing the Zanu PF elite to the director, it would be the director who looked impoverished.

Living in the capital city of any African town is supposed to be fun and superior to that of the provincials. Londoners, Parisians and Hararians normally look down upon their "poorer" cousins from the provinces. Whether it is true or not, Hararians no longer have a reason to look down upon their fellow countrymen.