IT WAS JANUARY 2000 in Harare, Zimbabwe. Master of Ceremonies Fallot
Chawawa was in charge of drawing the winning ticket for the
national lottery organized by a partly state-owned bank, the
Zimbabwe Banking Corporation (Zimbank). The lottery was open to
all clients who had kept five thousand or more Zimbabwe dollars
their accounts during December 1999. When Chawawa drew the
ticket, he was dumfounded. As the public statement of Zimbank put
it, “Master of Ceremonies Fallot Chawawa could hardly believe his
eyes when the ticket drawn for the Z$100,000 prize was handed to
him and he saw His Excellency RG Mugabe written on it.”
President Robert Mugabe, who had ruled Zimbabwe by hook or
by crook, and usually with an iron fist, since 1980, had won t
lottery, which was worth a hundred thousand Zimbabwe dollars,
about five times the annual per capita income of the countr
Zimbank claimed that Mr. Mugabe’s name had been drawn from
among thousands of eligible customers. What a lucky man! Needless
to say he didn’t really need the money. Mugabe had in fact only
recently awarded himself and his cabinet salary hikes of up to 200
percent.
Chawawa was in charge of drawing the winning ticket for the
national lottery organized by a partly state-owned bank, the
Zimbabwe Banking Corporation (Zimbank). The lottery was open to
all clients who had kept five thousand or more Zimbabwe dollars
their accounts during December 1999. When Chawawa drew the
ticket, he was dumfounded. As the public statement of Zimbank put
it, “Master of Ceremonies Fallot Chawawa could hardly believe his
eyes when the ticket drawn for the Z$100,000 prize was handed to
him and he saw His Excellency RG Mugabe written on it.”
President Robert Mugabe, who had ruled Zimbabwe by hook or
by crook, and usually with an iron fist, since 1980, had won t
lottery, which was worth a hundred thousand Zimbabwe dollars,
about five times the annual per capita income of the countr
Zimbank claimed that Mr. Mugabe’s name had been drawn from
among thousands of eligible customers. What a lucky man! Needless
to say he didn’t really need the money. Mugabe had in fact only
recently awarded himself and his cabinet salary hikes of up to 200
percent.