Exhausted Zimbabweans mark Mugabe’s death with ambivalence as they battle difficulties of daily life

A great outpouring of ambivalence greeted the death of Robert Mugabe as Zimbabweans struggled to make sense of the legacy of a man who fashioned their state and then did his best to destroy it.

With Zimbabwe mired once again in economic crisis, in part as a result of his disastrous financial policies, many seemed too exhausted to form a coherent opinion about the president who led them for 37 years.

In the bread and fuel queues of Harare, the capital, there was regret, sometimes even sadness that the old man was finally gone at the age of 95. Yet there was little evidence of spontaneous grief. 

The flags were not even flying at half-mast. Because of electricity rationing most could not even watch…

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