To be born a Zimbabwean is a gift and a curse. This tiny, landlocked, teapot shaped country is one of broad geographical variety and colour. The heady tropical climate paints her landscape with indigenous beauty that has to be experienced at least once in a lifetime. Her natural beauty, her climate, her rich warm earth, her scents, her wildlife, her languages, her music, her people, all are wrapped into your soul and never leave, no matter how far away you travel. Zimbabweans have just been freed from a tyrant who held them to ransom for riches beyond their wildest dreams, for himself and his henchmen, one of whom is their supposed liberator.

'Free, free, free at last' said Thabo Mbeki in 1994.

Rest assured, the euphoria felt in Zimbabwe today is just as great as that of South Africa's at the time Mbeki announced South Africa's freedom. The 21st November 2017 brought shock, disbelief, then a gradual dawning that this time, this time, the longed-for rumour was actually true. Mugabe has gone. Along with his hated wife and family. The Mugabe's are out. The laughter, the shouting, the screaming, the weeping, the overwhelming sense of relief cannot be captured in words, nor even images. However, be assured that every Zimbabwean, wherever they currently live, is in a flux of absolute joy, anguish at not being with family to celebrate, terror that it has been a mistake and outside intervention from the African Union or SADC may reverse their current reality, and an underlying, as yet almost unacknowledged, fear of the man who engineered this moment in our history - "The Crocodile" Emerson Mnangagwa.

Emerson Mnangagwa “The Crocodile”

Mnangagwa is one of the men who loyally served Robert Mugabe for over 30 years. His power is indisputable as evidenced by the mobilisation of the entire army through his relationship with the country’s Generals. Why has it taken him so long to engineer this longed for change? Because he was being pushed aside by “dis’Grace” Mugabe.

It took the political ambitions of a power crazy woman to finally mobilise change in the regime that Mnangagwa served loyally and ruthlessly, for a long, long time.

How will Mnangagwa react if July 2018 elections do not go his way?

We know he has served Mugabe and himself for decades.

We know he engineered so much terror in the country that the MDC eventually refused to participate in the last elections, as too many supporters were ruthlessly hunted and many disappeared.

Where is Itai Dzamara? Mnangagwa probably knows

Itai Dzamara was a brave and wonderful man who stood up for the poorest of the poor in his home country. He has been missing since Sept 2015 after being forced into an unmarked vehicle whilst staging a lonely, peaceful, protest against Mugabe. His family have no idea what has happened to him.

Like all Zimbabweans, my heart is singing with joy and every fibre of my homesick body wants me to pack my bags and rush to rebuild my home nation. My heart tells me that this time it will be different, that we will finally be welcome in our homeland.

But ... my head reminds me that I had my passport forcibly removed after being out of the country for five years. A country I left to seek medical help for my very, very sick baby. Medical help that was unavailable in Harare at that time. My head reminds me that one should never stand in the water to fish in “crocodile” infested rivers.

And so we wait in hope

Hope is all we have right now. Hope that a crocodile can change his scales. Hope for free and fair elections in 2018. Hope for all the scatterlings of Africa. Hope that we can go home.