海角大神

This time 37 years ago, the Moyo family had a lot to celebrate.

Their country, Zimbabwe, became independent that April, and to great international fanfare it inaugurated its first prime minister聽鈥� a charming and bookish former freedom fighter named Robert Mugabe.

Then, barely four months later, the family rejoiced for a second time聽鈥� at the birth of their daughter.

They named her Bekezela, an Ndebele word meaning patience.

In the course of her life, that has proven to be a virtue Ms. Moyo has often needed, as she lived through the transformation of the bright Zimbabwe of her childhood into something far dimmer.

She has called on that patience each time she handed over an entire month鈥檚 earnings to pay her children鈥檚 school fees聽鈥� all, she thought bitterly, so they could attend schools that were a shadow of the one she graduated from two decades ago. And she has been patient during each of her pregnancies as she packed the many things the hospital could not provide 鈥撀燽ed sheets and food for herself; needles, hand soap, and gloves for the nurses.

She called on her namesake virtue, too, on the crossing from Zimbabwe to South Africa, as the Limpopo River sloshed up to her chest and she prayed hard that she would not see a crocodile. And she was patient once again in the following weeks as she walked for miles from hair salon to hair salon in downtown Johannesburg asking if they had any openings for a stylist.

But on Tuesday night, there was suddenly one important thing she didn鈥檛 have to be patient about anymore.

As lawmakers in Zimbabwe鈥檚 parliament debated a motion to impeach Mr. Mugabe 鈥撀爓hose stunning fall from power聽began when army tanks moved quietly into the capital early last week聽鈥� the country鈥檚 justice minister suddenly rushed towards the stage with a letter in his hand. He whispered something to Parliament鈥檚 speaker, Jacob Mudenda, who opened the note and, smiling broadly, began to read.

鈥淚 Robert Gabriel Mugabe in terms of section 96 (1) of the constitution of Zimbabwe,鈥� he began, 鈥渉ereby formally tender my resignation as the President of the Republic of Zimbabwe with immediate effect.鈥�

The chamber erupted. Outside, within minutes, it seemed a country-wide dance party had begun, as Zimbabweans flooded public spaces in jubilant celebration. A thousand kilometers away, Moyo heard the shriek of vuvuzelas and the staccato pop of fireworks exploding outside the window of her Johannesburg apartment. Below, entire blocks of the inner city聽鈥� an area popular with migrants聽鈥� had broken into a spontaneous block party.

Moyo herself was skeptical. The next Zimbabwean president, after all, will be Emmerson Mnangagwa, Mugabe鈥檚 former deputy and a career-long loyalist of his party, ZANU-PF, who will be sworn in Friday. Mugabe鈥檚 removal was set in motion by an early November political purge in which Mr. Mnangagwa himself was fired聽鈥� a sign to many that the president鈥檚 wife, Grace Mugabe, was positioned to inherit his rule聽鈥� but his rise hardly seems a recipe for radical political change.

But like many Zimbabweans, in this strange moment of suspension between the country鈥檚 past and its future聽鈥� between Mugabe and whatever happens next聽鈥� Moyo allowed herself a flickering moment of hope for the Zimbabwe to be.

Things could change, she thought. 聽Things could be better.

Basic aspirations

Indeed, as analysts the world over scramble to guess at the country鈥檚 path post-Mugabe, Zimbabwe鈥檚 citizens are imagining their own聽鈥� taking stock of hopes that, in many cases, they long ago gave up believing could become reality.聽聽

For some, that means thinking seriously for the first time about what life might be like under a democracy, where presidents come and go at the whim of voters.

Many in Zimbabwe, indeed, are optimistic that changes in the region in the last four decades will mean their next leader will be forced to be more accountable than their last one. Mugabe was the last remaining African president from the independence era, a strongman who ruled in some ways in the mold of the colonial government that preceded him聽鈥� by violently crushing dissent and muzzling civil society. (In a recent statement on Zimbabwe鈥檚 crisis, Amnesty International placed the number of people 鈥渢ortured, forcibly disappeared or killed鈥� by the Mugabe regime in the 鈥渢ens of thousands.鈥�) He also routinely rigged elections and, in the early 2000s, set Zimbabwe鈥檚 economy into freefall when his government seized most of the country鈥檚 commercial farms聽鈥� which were largely white-owned聽鈥� in a campaign to return land to black Zimbabweans.

鈥淚 envision a future of responsible, credible leaders, regardless of their liberation war credentials,鈥� says Presia Ngulube, a political activist in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe鈥檚 鈥渟econd city,鈥� who notes that the country鈥檚 youths have become increasingly important in politics in recent years. 鈥淲e need a government that has love for the people and helps make their lives better.鈥�

But many Zimbabweans also have hopes for the future that are several degrees more basic聽鈥� a revealing window into just how far the country has fallen under Mugabe鈥檚 nearly-four decade rule.

鈥淚 just hope there will be more jobs for people,鈥� says Priscilla Dlomo, who works part-time as a maid in Johannesburg.

Several years ago, she says, she came home to her family鈥檚 house in Bulawayo to find her parents collecting stacks of her old clothes. They were preparing, they told her, to take them out to the countryside to barter with farmers for corn. They still had money聽鈥撀爐rillions of dollars in fact聽鈥� but rampant hyperinflation meant that it shrunk in value between morning and the afternoon of the same day, and anyway, there was almost nothing left in the stores to buy.

So when she imagines the Zimbabwe she would like her daughter, now 18, to live in, it鈥檚 simply a place where such humiliations are a distant memory.

鈥淔or her I鈥檇 like to see her be able to finish school and to find a good job,鈥� she says. 鈥淪o she can have an easier life than mine.鈥�

Even for ardent supporters of Mugabe, of which there remain many in Zimbabwe, the prospect of change is in some ways a refreshing one.

鈥淲e have a new leader who is willing to work with every Zimbabwean,鈥� says Gift Muchena, a ZANU-PF supporter and informal trader in Harare, speaking of Mr. Mnangagwa. Mr. Muchena says that toward the end of Mugabe鈥檚 rule, even supporters like himself recognized that pointed political infighting in the party had prevented them from always ruling effectively. 鈥淲e are looking forward to a rejuvenated ZANU.鈥�

For now, all of these possible futures still jostle for space. There is no longer a President Mugabe here, and there is not yet a President Mnangagwa. There is only Zimbabwe聽鈥� cautious, hopeful, and unsure.

鈥淚 feel good about the future,鈥� says Ms. Dlomo, the maid in Johannesburg. 鈥淎s long as Mugabe is gone, I think things will improve for all of us.鈥�