Robert Mugabe meets Ronald McDonald? It sounds about as likely as the Zimbabwe president retiring to become a beekeeper in Sussex.
Yet a publicity stunt involving Mugabe clutching a burger beneath the golden arches of McDonald’s emerged as a real possibility. The world’s biggest fast-food chain has its eye on Zimbabwe as a potential new market for its outlets, according to media reports that McDonald’s did not deny.
The South African media and marketing website Bizcommunity said McDonald’s first aimed for Zimbabwe in 1999 only to be thwarted by the country’s economic crisis. But the site quoted a statement from McDonald’s international franchising saying it is now ready to try again.
The arrival of the Big Mac in Zimbabwe could be seen by optimists as the ultimate sign that daily life is close to “normal.” Since its unity government was formed two years ago, the economy has stabilised, gleaming shopping malls have opened and the national team is poised to return to Test cricket. And this month, buyers spent $72m on the country’s controversial diamonds.