The people of Zimbabwe are entering 2009 facing a plethora of problems – many critical such as a cholera epidemic which has claimed some 1,600 lives and severe food shortages on top of a political crisis that has intensified despite a September pact for a unity government.
Then there's is the economy or what is left of it, ravaged by hyperinflation measured not in double or triple digits but in the sextillions - 60,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 percent by the estimate of Harare economist John Robertson in a recent interview with VOA.
For help looking into 2009, reporter Patience Rusere of VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe turned to MacDonald Lewanika, chairman of the Crisis In Zimbabwe Coalition, and commentator Jonah Nyoni of Bulawayo. Nyoni said said the national crisis came to a head in 2008, predicting that Zimbabweans will reach the limit of their patience in 2009.
