Palaver Finish

Hove is highly regarded as a novelist poet and essayist in Zimbabwe and internationally. A politically engaged writer he has also turned to journalism. This timely volume brings together a series of articles which have previously appreared in his weekly column in The Zimbabwe Standard. Hove publishing in Zimbabwe believes the voices of the nation's politically engaged writers - in tune with the mood of the people and the times - are crucial in the current climate of political violence and censorship. To outside media and observers trying to ascertain the truths of the political situation his writings offer insights from a black Zimbabwean writer and critic. Hove writes for and about Zimbabwe from a perspective that acknowledges recent history and debates around culture tradition and democracy. His criticism is uneqivocal his portrayal of Zimbabwe's politics damning and unforgiving. His case is that Zimbabwe is a police state which has inherited pre-indepedence totalitarianism; members of the Government are in politics for reasons of personal gain - they are unsophisticated poorly educated and have no notion of public office. He believes that the army and police - whom he compares with those of apartheid South Africa are the politicians' personal weapons committing acts of crime and terrorism in the President's name and in their own.