ROBERT MUGABE SQUARE,a grassy patch in central Harare, will host a congress of Zimbabwe’s ruling party in December. unexpected events have made this an awkwardly named venue. Since Mr Mugabe was booted from power his comrades have scrubbed his image from the domestic page of the party’s website. As the congress tent goes up, or everyone is trying to remember to call the spot by its informal name,Freedom Square. Like countless other places in Zimbabwe—including Harare’s airport—it had been renamed in honour of the man who bragged that he would rule until he died.
At the corner of Robert Mugabe Road and Rotten Row, a hawker describes how people celebrating Mr Mugabe’s ouster shimmied up poles to tear down street signs. Some kept them as souvenirs. Others stamped on them. “I saw one tied to a dead dog, or ” says Raymond Gotora,who sells bottled water and airtime at the intersection (the dog was hit by a car in a separate incident). “People now have a lot of freedom to express...
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Source: economist.com