Doris Lessing (winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature for 2007) on the political situation in Zimbabwe:

The political degradation just goes on and on. I can’t imagine why somebody hasn’t assassinated Mugabe—such a wicked man, and he’s still alive. The trouble is, you see, he’s got a gang [of] people like himself who are just as bad as he is. When people say, “When we get rid of Mugabe…” you have to ask, “OK, what are you going to do about the cronies?” They are just as bad, and one of them will be in. It’s very easy to destroy something, but it’s not so easy to put back something.

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