Dear "Connors,"

I have spent precious little time in Zimbabwe, only a few days last year, as it is illegal for foreign journalists to work there. Punishments range from deportation to spending weeks in prison--- Chikirubi State Prison is not reputed to be a nice place I can assure you. The last foreign journalist to work in Zimbabwe, The Guardian's Andrew Meldrum, was deported in 2003:

 http://www.guardian.co.uk/zimbabwe/subsectionmenu/0,,960624,00.html

I did, however, spend a lot of time interviewing Zimbabwean refugees living in Johannesburg, and what they told me was confirmed by what I saw in their homeland. 

I plan to return next year for the presidential/parliamentary elections, though that assignment might be a bit tough to accomplish as I was recently denounced--by name--in the Zimbabwean state newspaper:

 http://www.herald.co.zw/inside.aspx?sectid=23331&livedate=8/18/2007%2012:00:00%20AM&cat=10

My "renderings" of Zimbabwe are hardly "right-wing" or "heavily biased," and are frequently reprinted on Zimbabwean exile news sites. Unless you too, like Mugabe, believe that those black Zimbabweans who criticize him are merely "British stooges."

I hope this satisfies your query. 

Best, 

Jamie Kirchick