'We are Zimbabwe'

'L'etat c'est moi' (I am the state) was a remark by King Louis XIV that reflected the despotic regime before the French Revolution, when the people lived in poverty, lorded over by a rich aristocracy.

Now we hear the same thing from the Zanu PF elite. 'We are Zimbabwe' was the response of Grace Mugabe's son and son-in-law to protests when they illegally seized three properties in Harare. In effect: 'you can do nothing about it. We can do whatever we want.'

Court documents about Grace's purchase of a $1.3 million diamond ring last year – said to be a birthday present from Mugabe – showed the complete contempt with which the Mugabe mafia regard the rule of law.

The properties belonging to a Lebanese diamond dealer were seized in a dispute after Grace decided she didn't want the ring after all. Perhaps the diamond was too small.

Among the questions we want an answer to are: how was Grace able to send the $1.3million to Dubai from her Harare bank despite exchange controls? When she decided she didn't want the ring, how could she so confidently order the repayment to be deposited in a Dubai bank account rather than returned to Harare – when this amounted to illegal externalisation of money?

This episode will not amuse people queuing for hours outside banks trying to withdraw their own money to buy food. But it will show them why there are no dollars in circulation. Perhaps they must just accept that this is their fate under Zanu PF:  there is no corruption or illegality by the masters if they own the state.