Thread by @Gurdur

1/ Just a few words on what's happening in #Zimbabwe. Mugabe is out, & Grace Mugabe is out. That may not mean all that much.

2/ Mugabe was venerated (wrongly) by his faction; that explains the #Zimbabwe army's reticence about deposing him. Grace Mugabe was OTOH widely despised, because of her own actions.

3/ The main man behind the deposing of the Mugabes in #Zimbabwe is Mugabe's former strongman. IOW, every bit as guilty in oppressing the Ndebele, dissidents and others. Every bit as corrupt.

4/ Will #Zimbabwe now improve? I wouldn't hold my breath. The country is in enormous economic hardship - b/c of Mugabe - & of course the Ndebele feel very strongly about the decades of oppression. The Shona show no regret.

5/ For those who do not know Zimbabwe:
roughly 16% of Zimbabweans are Ndebele; the huge majority are Shona. A genocidal war against the Ndebele was carried out on Mugabe's orders in the 1980's, and there has been some recurrence of oppression.

6/ #Zimbabwe: "the average life expectancy for men in 2006 was 37 years and for women was 34 years of age, the lowest in the world at the time".
Because HIV, and poverty caused by Mugabe's politics & corruption

7/ 20% of those aged between 15 and 19 had HIV in 2005.
HIV is widely under-reported in #Zimbabwe, & it doesn't get much international aid for fighting HIV - because Mugabe & his cronies kept stealing all aid money.

8/ #Zimbabwe has massive, rich natural resouces. It *could* make an amazing economic recovery - if the old kleptocratic system is swept away.
That's a big if. A lot of youths were recruited into the kleptocracy enforcement groups.