"Many Zimbabweans, paradoxically, both despise and admire him. Charismatic, well-educated and genuinely clever, he is not merely a thuggish clown like Uganda's Idi Amin. His commitment to improving schools for all Zimbabweans is widely known. Less noted is his personal role in doing so: even as president, the former schoolteacher took time to give lessons to staff at State House, teaching some who have since become ministers. Though the country is ruined, Zimbabwe's streets still throng with boys and girls in neat school uniforms."