Zimbabwe yearns for change of any kind

Driving around Zimbabwe, one can hardly tell the country is in the middle of the biggest political crisis since independence.

In one town, a man in his 20s invites me to his shop and tries to convince me to buy a silver necklace. "It costs twenty dollars," he says. "But for you I can make that fifteen."

He offers the discount rather half-heartedly. "You see, people don't want to spend money on thing like these; the economy is really doing badly."

The once-promising African country has sunk into an economic abyss.

The government was forced to abolish the country's currency in 2009 because of hyperinflation, and introduced more stable foreign currencies such as the US dollar.

Inflation peaked at 79.6 billion percent in mid-November 2008.

On Wednesday this week, the government published the latest inflation rate showing a 2.24% year-on-year rise for the month of October. Some economists, however, say the new figures are a gross underestimate.

It's no surprise then that many Zimbabweans almost instantly warmed to the military's move to take control of the country, and confine President Robert Mugabe to his official residence.

"The military has done a good thing," says one bookseller. "They will ensure we get a transitional government."

He is firmly convinced that Mr Mugabe's 37-year rule is coming to an end.

There has been a sudden change of tone in the country, and the sense is that many Zimbabweans have been yearning for change.

Any change, it seems, would do.