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The Fifth Floor

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Faranak Amidi presents global stories from the Fifth Floor, home to the BBC’s 40 Language Services.

Faranak Amidi presents global stories from the Fifth Floor, home to the BBC’s 40 Language Services

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The Fifth Floor: Living with Mugabe

Documentaries

School children holding an image of Robert Mugabe’s face (Credit: EKESAI NJIKIZANA/Getty Images)

01/12/2017 GMT

Living with Mugabe

BBC World Service - The Fifth Floor, Living with Mugabe

Optimism, disillusionment and now a new era.  Reflections on the Mugabe years

Life in Mugabe's Zimbabwe; Mauritania's new anthem; Afghan film; blockbuster Chinese book trilogy; sorry is the hardest word; Egyptian scholar or bellydancer?  With David Amanor.

After 37 years of the Mugabe regime, Zimbabweans are adjusting to life without him.  Most of the population have only known his rule, and he had become part of the fabric of the country.  Two  BBC Africa Zimbabweans - Kim Chakanetsa and Stanley Kwenda - share memories of the Mugabe era and the moment when it ended.

Mauritania: ringing the changes 
This week the Mauritanian president Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz opened a new chapter for the country when he unveiled a new flag and a new national anthem. Both were approved in a referendum which also abolished the parliamentary upper house, the Senate.  But the opposition isn't singing along.  Amira Fathalla of BBC Monitoring has been following the story. 

A Letter to the President
This film by Afghan Roya Sadat caused a stir when it premiered in Kabul a few months ago.  The story centres around a police chief Soraya, a woman at the height of her career who gets into a dispute with her in-laws and ends up facing the death sentence.  BBC Afghan's Karim Haidari takes up the story.

The Condor Trilogy
These books by Hong Kong author Jin Yong have sold over 100 million copies, and feature epic fights, evil villains and young love.  The Condor Trilogy is set to be translated into English, so how well will the stories travel?  Howard Zhang of BBC Chinese is a fan. 

Saying Sorry  
Iranians were surprised this week by an apology: Vice President Eshaq Jahangiri said sorry for going into the tent of an earthquake victim without removing his shoes.  Ehsan Amertousi of BBC Persian TV has been asking his audience why Iranians find it so hard to say sorry.  And is it any easier in Uzbek, Swahili, Spanish or Thai?  Answers from Diloram Ibrahimova, Peter Musembi, Alejandra Martins and Sucheera Maguire.

Scholar or bellydancer?
If you speak Egyptian Arabic you'll know there's a strange linguistic link between scholars and bellydancers.  The male and female versions of the same word have rather different meanings, as Marwa Mamoon in Cairo explains.

Image: School children holding an image of Robert Mugabe’s face
Credit: JEKESAI NJIKIZANA/Getty Images

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