Sliding backwards again

摘要

The potholes on Melbourne Road in Southerton, an industrial district of Harare, Zimbabwe's capital, are bone-jarring. A van outside the J. Lyons factory, a surviving outpost of a once-grand British company, is being loaded with jars of processed food. Otherwise the street is quiet. The offices next door have whitewashed windows; the gates of the factory opposite are firmly shut. The empty buildings belong to Reckitt Benckiser, an Anglo-Dutch company whose brands, including Dettol disinfectant and Nugget shoe polish, span 60 countries-but no longer Zimbabwe. The Reckitt factory there closed before Christmas and has not reopened. Many other local firms have done the same.