For a visitor to the dispatch office of a local trucking company the casual xenophobia of the industry came as a shock. Truck driver Willie, a Zimbabwean, shrugged expressionlessly as his boss joked: “Willie is going to show you where he sells our diesel along the road, aren’t you Willie?”

“Nice guys these drivers,” said another, “but they’re Africa’s worst thieves”. To the visitor, it was a poisonous situation. The bosses said long haul companies like theirs hired Zambian or Zimbabwean drivers because these northerners were more reliable, trustworthy and helpful, and above all they shared the language of officialdom in Zimbabwe, which saved a lot in fines.