Hanging by a Thread: A Peacebuilder's Quest to End Zimbabwe's Political Conflict
Chinhanu, Edward
Synopsis "Hanging by a Thread: A Peacebuilder's Quest to End Zimbabwe's Political Conflict"
The book is a desperate S.O.S. call by a Zimbabwean peacebuilder, Edward Chinhanu, to the world to help resolve his country's political conflict, which has spanned 40 years, and has torn it apart. Poverty and begging are widespread, especially now that there's no power, energy and money to buy these. The book is an expose of how young, well-educated, intelligent and world-exposed citizens survive in a dictatorship and military rule, and how such a government treats such people. During Mugabe's reign all literature that criticized him or his way of doing things was heavily censored, banned or sent one to prison. This is the first ever collection of some events during the Mugabe and his successor, Emmerson Mnangagwa's era in Zimbabwe, by a participant activist during that time. The events in these stories are mostly the personal experiences of the writer. Edward's experiences and perspective briefly sum up what Zimbabweans went through, under Robert Mugabe and Emmerson Mnangagwa. A few of the stories have a link to Edward's popular column in The Manica Post newspaper, Letter from the Ghetto, which he ran between 2003 and 2009, before it was unceremoniously stopped. The events and stories in this book teach anyone in power at any given time to promote peace, happiness and industry for the good and continued improvement of the human race. The writing of the book saw many desks, from Ecocash queues, money dealer queues, combi seats and queues, hospitals, tuckshops, banks, ZESA and farms. This is a rich book that best summarises Zimbabwe, what the people have, how they live and how they die. Lastly, the book is about one of the last dictatorships on the African continent. It opens up close issues about Zimbabwe and its people than you ever imagined you knew. It follows real, raw events from ordinary, peace loving, patient and lovable Zimbabweans on the ground, their daily grind under the rule of Robert Mugabe and Emmerson Mnangagwa especially between 2000 and 2019. .The book is also a freedom call to the younger generation of Zimbabweans. They should know that a better life than the one they are currently living is possible. However, it cannot come while they rest on their laurels. They have to engage, and it starts now. The book is written and read on two levels. On the first one, one can enjoy the experiences, escapades and adventures of ordinary Zimbabweans as they manoeuvre the road of life in a harsh socio-economic environment, and on the second, vigorously explores the pertinent issues of human rights, democracy, peace, justice, military rule and others.
