People of the South

Morgan Tsvangirai has been the subject of much speculation and anecdote, and of books by others. This is his account of himself, written with T. William Bango, but very much in his own voice. Even the intonations and phraseologies are Tsvangirai’s, so I imagine Bango was copy-editor to a type-script drawn from dictation by Tsvangirai. It is a huge 663-page book, which suggests it has been copy-edited but not edited in any normal sense. This renders Tsvangirai’s account somewhat baggy and it would have been a tense and tight read at half the length. However, its length does allow Tsvangirai’s reflections and descriptions full rein and, of the two, it must be said that the book is one of descriptions first and foremost. Tsvangirai describes his side of the momentous events of contemporary Zimbabwe and, as such, provides an extremely valuable first-hand account – the text of a key player and, clearly, a momentously courageous one