"They're thirsting for a figurehead," added Sharon.

This time around there are a few things we would do well to remember in the run-up to his proposed visit. First, Tyson is a human being. He is not a "monster", a "beast" or an "animal" as he was described in January. The rhetorical value of such descriptions is clear. They cast Tyson as a race apart. He is the ultimate "other". And since he does not follow our moral code, we do not have to apply it when referring to him. It is the opening salvo in the broadside of white supremacy. First dehumanise, then demonise - a perfect formula for promoting the bestial and relegating the cerebral, not just in Tyson in particular, but black men in general.

And then you are off into urban wilderness. Just as you think you have left the city and entered the low trees and high skies of the veld, small conurbations pop up.

Across town, a white farmer, his shorts pulled up high to reveal sinewy legs ruddied by the sun, sits in a cafe tucking into eggs, bacon and beans. He has already had to leave his farm in fear of squatters. Unless the MDC wins the forthcoming elections, he insists, he will have to leave the country.