Communicating with friends and colleagues in Harare, I am hearing the following (all quotations are direct from people I have communicated with, but I hope you’ll forgive my granting of anonymity in light of the circumstances):
- Get out of your minds your 1970s African coup cliches.
- Most of the streets in suburban Harare (and Harare is an enormously suburban urban area — so also dump your western conception of suburbs) are perfectly easy to navigate. There is no excess of police, the military is not rolling tanks down the streets.
- There is a sense of unease. For example, the University of Zimbabwe remains open, but end-of-year exams have been postponed.
- There is a sense of “relative calm,” but also a sense of fear.
- Honestly, no one knows what is happening politically.
People are scared and uncertain, but the fact is that there has been a constant sense of fear and uncertainty in Zimbabwe for more than a decade.