Zimbabwe Tickets Prices are $10 Billion!!

This is just beyond crazy ...

According to South Africa's Football365 website, fans wishing to watch Zimbabwe's 2010 World Cup/African Cup of Nations qualifier against Namibia on Sunday will have to fork out up to $10 billion for a ticket.

This isn't a joke. This is ridiculous!

The cheapest ticket is pegged at $1.5 billion!!!

However, those not keen to seat with the povo (a loose term referring to the common people of that country - to use Zimbabwe liberation struggle parlance) will have to pay either $5 billion for a seat in the Upper West stand or $10 billion for the VIP arena.

A full house is expected at the Rufaro stadium as a country ravaged by political turmoil and hyperinflation welcomes the opportunity to escape, albeit temporarily, the hardships of everyday life and finds reprieve in a game of football.

Zimbabwe pulled off one of the surprise results of the opening round of the 2010 qualifiers by holding Guinea to a goalless draw last weekend.

They will be hoping to build on that result by getting the better of early group leaders Namibia, who beat Kenya 2-1 in the opener last Saturday.

The match between the two African rivals, who both go by the same moniker - Zimbabwe simply known as 'The Warriors' and Namibia as 'Brave Warriors' - is accorded derby status. Bragging rights will also be at stake.

MY POV: Inflation has dragged this country's dollar way, way down. Having a derelict like Robert Mugabe in power doesn't help. While I don't intend to make this a political blog and stoke the flames, I do think he's an awful politician and a virtual dictator ...

Ok, with that out of the way, let's also say that $10 billion Zimbabwe dollars is worth about $1.69 American dollars ...

Still, take a look at this article about the Zimbabwean economy ... according to the article, a loaf of bread now costs what 12 new cars did a decade ago.

Inflation rose 1,063,572% in May ... ridiculous ...

The economic decline has been blamed on the collapse of key agriculture sectors following the violent seizures of farmland from whites. Mugabe claimed the seizures begun in 2002 were to benefit poor blacks, but many of the farms went to his loyalists.

Let's hope Zimbabwe does better in World Cup qualifiers than they've done in politics. The people there deserve that, at least ...