By guest host Anthony Brooks:

Once upon a time Zimbabwe was the breadbasket of Africa, its charismatic leader, Robert Mugabe, one of the heroes of post-colonial African independence.

But today, Zimbabwe is an economic disaster — with inflation running above a thousand percent. Farmlands lie fallow, food shortages are rampant. And The U.N. says half of Zimbabwe’s population will be in urgent need of food by this summer. Yet Mugabe clings to power subduing political opponents with corruption, intimidation and torture.

The latest news of Zimbabwe’s plight comes from reporters Alexis Bloom and Cassandra Herman, who snuck in posing as tourists with a camera hidden in a backpack. They filmed opposition leaders, dissidents and ordinary people struggling for survival in a ruined country.

Hear about documenting fear and desperation in Zimbabwe.

Guests:

Cassanda Herrman , producer

Alexis Bloom, correspondent for Frontline

Geoffrey Nyarota, Founding Editor of Zimbabwe’s Daily News, Visiting Professor of Political Studies at Bard College, and author of “Against the Grain: Memoires of a Zimbabwean Newsman.”