Amna Nawaz:

The International Monetary Fund says Zimbabwe's inflation rate is the world's highest, at 300 percent. Many blame the political and economic turmoil on former President Robert Mugabe.

The anti-colonial icon was at the forefront of Zimbabwe's independence in 1980. But he clung to power for nearly 30 years, presiding over the decline of what was once one of the continent's most prosperous countries. He was ousted in 2017.

Hope that Mugabe's successor, President Emmerson Mnangagwa, can reverse the decline is running thin. The government is now scrapping a plan to remove grain subsidies next year, a move aimed at shielding Zimbabweans from the rising food costs.

For more on all of this, we turn to two men who know Zimbabwe well.

Gerry Bourke is the Southern Africa spokesman for the United Nations World Food Program, the lead international agency working to alleviate the food crisis in Zimbabwe. He was just there last week. And Harry Thomas Jr. had a 34-year career as an American diplomat and served as the U.S. ambassador to Zimbabwe from 2016 to 2018.

And welcome to you both. Thank you for being here.

Gerry, I do want to begin with you.

Sixty percent of the country's 14 million don't have the food to meet their basic needs. You were just there. Tell me what you saw and heard from families on the ground.