Empress Gold

For twenty years, the Goddards have struggled through the uncertainties of war, political upheaval and now, faced with mounting pressure from a corrupt government, they are forced to make decisions that will change their lives forever. As Managing Director of the Empress Deep gold mine, Lee Goddard rolls into play the final ball of an already dangerous game. Fostered by rampant avarice and political uncertainty, life in Zimbabwe is worthless – only the elite survive. For a fortune in gold and tribal treasures, some are willing to sell the very soul of an emergent country.

... With an artist’s passion, Ephraim Thebisa, with a single sweep of his swagger stick encompassed the full extent of the panorama.
‘To a painter of pictures, the ultimate canvas – and yet no one has ever committed their skills to its reproduction.’ He looked to Rex for an opinion. ‘Why do you think that is, comrade? Why does no one chance to record for posterity this magnificent image of our own, mother Africa?’
Before Rex could reply, Thebisa cut back in.
‘Because they are afraid, comrade – frightened off by the damning sneer of our own brutality. Every democratic country beyond our borders is sick of the subterfuge. That Zimbabwe has propagated a monster is a powerful, God-given truth. Western governments look upon our way of governing the masses as an impossible, dictatorial dream; repugnant even.’ He threw the swagger stick onto a chair and without looking up finished off the drama of his introduction. ‘The sad thing is, comrade, we have no say in what is happening. We do what is asked of us or like the conjurer’s assistant, we will simply be made to disappear.’