Inside Mugabe’s World

South African writer Heidi Holland is one of the last non-Zimbabwean journalists to have interviewed Robert Mugabe. She spent two hours with him last December after pursuing the Zimbabwean president for months. This is her description of that encounter. While I waited outside Robert Mugabe’s office in the foyer of State House, his spokesman hissed at me to get to my feet. Jumping up, I followed the frozen gaze of a dozen officials who stood to attention suddenly. Behind my chair, Zimbabwe’s president had appeared in a doorway, motionless and staring straight at me.

Heidi Holland, South African writer