"Of course Mugabe is a monster; of course he's guilty as charged. I'm no apologist for Mugabe, but I think we actually have to get smart now and creative and work out how to move on."

Figuring out just exactly who Mugabe is and what makes him tick has been author Heidi Holland's pre-occupation since 2005 when she first started writing 'Dinner with Mugabe: The untold story of a freedom fighter who became a tyrant'.

Holland has met Mugabe twice. The first time was in 1975, as he was about to escape over the border into Mozambique, when she agreed to host a clandestine meeting between her activist friend Ahrn Palley and a mystery guest. Although Holland had little actual contact with Mugabe, her respect for the freedom fighter grew when he called the following day to enquire about the safety of her toddler.

Thirty years later — with the Zimbabwean economy in freefall and the devastating effects of autocratic rule inescapable — Holland had the chance to meet the man once more. This time, it was under the watchful gaze of George Charamba, the man charged with keeping journalists out of Zimbabwe, security agents and a huge banner shouting 'Mugabe is right'.

A cardboard villain

In trying to reconcile these two contradictory figures, Holland spent three years interviewing everyone she could who had in some way touched on Mugabe's life. Her extensive list of interviewees includes a diverse range of characters — Mugabe's brother Donato, his nemesis Ian Smith, British aristocracy Lord Carrington and Lady Soames, guerrilla fighter Edgar Tekere and Mugabe's right-hand man in the catholic church Father Fidelis Mukonori, to name but a few.

"I think the fact that I was talking to so many old people was a disadvantage on one hand because they were keeling over, but at another level, I think that old people tell the truth. So I think that's why a lot of interviews were really quite candid."

Holland discussed each of the interviews with three psychologists — a white South African woman, a black Zimbabwean man and an Irish psychologist who specialises in emotional intelligence. The result of this labour-intensive process was a psychoanalytical biography of Mugabe, which tries to understand why Mugabe behaves as he does.

'I don't make enemies'

So, what makes Mad Bob tick? Why in the face of incontrovertible evidence to the contrary does he claim that all is well in Zimbabwe? And is he even aware of his own monstrosity?

"I don't think in his view there is a bad Mugabe. The thing about him is whoever is in front of him is either good or bad. So he has a very simplistic view of the world in that way. You are either for him or against him. He is the all or nothing man.

"He can't tolerate difference. It's my way or no way. He lives in this reality bubble where he can only be right, he can't be wrong."

In her interview with Mugabe, which appears at the end of her book, Holland asks him whether he felt misunderstood and his answer is telling.

"I don't know whether one is misunderstood. I think people around me understand me very well. But it's the world outside that doesn't seem to understand... And I don't make enemies, no. Others may make me an enemy of theirs but I make no enemies. Even those who might do things against me, I don't make them enemies at all. No."

Exposing Western hypocrisy

While he may have made many enemies in the Western world, Mugabe is not without support in Africa. More specifically, he is not without the support of African leaders. Africa has, undoubtedly, failed the people of Zimbabwe by refusing to put pressure on Mugabe.

"I think that they colluded with Mugabe because they had a lot of sympathy or empathy with his position. I think there's a little Mugabe in many black leaders. I think they admired the way he spoke to the West. I think people like Mbeki would like to talk like that to Western leaders, but he's got too much to lose. Mugabe unfortunately believes he has, well, he has nothing to lose. He's prepared to go for broke.

"I think that they like the fact that he exposes Western hypocrisy. And he does. The tricky thing about Mugabe is that underlying almost everything he says is a truth. So, he's not actually — people laugh at him as though he is talking rubbish — but a lot of the time he is not actually talking rubbish. And he's quite clever too. He puts a spin on it. He's a bit of a showman when he gets going."

Solving the Mugabe problem

Holland is not hopeful about the outcome of the presidential run-off scheduled for June, but she does believe that a solution to the Mugabe problem can be found if people are willing to let go of the morality issue and compromise.

"I think Mugabe will win on his own terms. If he doesn't win by intimidating people, then he will just change the rules — that's what he does. He'll change the rules and either have a coup or something. I don't see Mugabe going.

"I think he is busy getting revenge now against his rural people, because they are the ones who let him down. He's at war now with his own people. Full on. He'll stop at nothing, Mugabe, and that's why one has to act smart with him. You can't just keep saying he's awful. He is awful! We all know that, but how do you deal with it?

"I think that there is an opportunity for the British to actually get re-engaged there, in the interests of Zimbabwe, Africa having failed. Because underneath Mugabe's apparent hatred for Britain, is his love for Britain... It has the intensity of a family quarrel and I think that's all it is.

"The British don't want to re-engage... it has suited them. But now that Africa has failed, let's not waste any more time on that because people are dying... I really think there is an opportunity for the British to be big and to get involved."