The title '' Dinner with Mugabe '' relates to an encounter between Holland and Robert Mugabe in 1975 when a friend brought him to her house for a secret dinner as he was about to leave the country to fight the white minority government of Rhodesia during the Bush War . Yet Holland was significant as a white journalist to have secured a 2 ½ - hour interview with Mugabe as Zimbabwean president in December 2007 . It took 18 months to secure the interview . In the book Holland explores the transformation of the man she met in 1975 with his present state . She also looks at his relationships with those such as his first wife , Sally , Lord Soames , the last British Governor ; Denis Norman , a white farmer who held several portfolios in his early governments as well as with Ian Smith , the last Prime Minister of Rhodesia . She also questions the President on controversial issues such as Gukurahundi and land reform in Zimbabwe . Several excerpts of the book have appeared in the international press and it is published by Penguin South Africa
Gukurahundi
Gukurahundi
Heidi Holland