Since the election itself, we have watched, in slow motion, the frantic backpedalling of ZanuPF to steal the elections after the fact.

We have all watched Zimbabwe’s slide from prosperous neighbour to failed state in the past 8 years. There was much wringing of hands by western countries - watching another African basket case grow from what was a functioning economy with educated populous.

Granted - there was a lot of unfinished business from independence -particularly about transfer of ownership of land to black Zimbabweans. There were a few attempts to deal with it, but it became a political football, and a very convenient scapegoat for ZanuPF to rally the peasant population when it was convenient to do so.