When Winners Are Losers

In 2008/9 Zimbabwe was on the verge of complete collapse: no food to buy in the shops, no money in the banks and a currency denominated in trillions, quadrillions and septillions. Hunger was widespread and cholera rampant. The Zimbabwean Electoral Commission took five weeks to announce that the 2008 elections were too close to call and ordered a second ballot. An orgy of violence against opposition supporters left hundreds killed, thousands fleeing the country and a quarter of a million people displaced from their homes. When Winners are Losers recounts the events of the five years that followed when the opposition formed a Government of National Unity with Zanu PF in order to stop the violence and suffering. A currency of worthless Zimbabwe Dollars was replaced by US Dollars and SA Rand and an economy on the brink began to recover. A brief window of hope had opened, but only until the next election.