»ÆÉ«ÊÓƵ

Studies in National and International Development (SNID) Presents: Gerald Chikozho Mazarire, Midlands State University

The Elephant in the Room: Zimbabwe’s Interregnum and Its Build Up (2017-2018): A Historian’s TakeZimbabwe has been in a state of anxiety for the past year in what seemed to be the promise of a transition from a dictatorship to a democratic order. Indeed, the ‘New Dispensation’ that began as an aspiration following the deposition of Robert Mugabe in November 2017 is slowly becoming an illusion as the different perspectives of a new Zimbabwe have been viciously fought out by various forces since then. The litmus test of Zimbabweans’ commitment to such a transition, the July 30 2018 election, has predictably produced a disputed outcome. A groundswell of emotions erupted in post-election violence that have ripped the nation apart. This paper offers a historical view of the process leading to the current stalemate in Zimbabwean politics tracing the roots of the country’s political culture to the strategies and tactics employed by ZANU PF in general and Robert Mugabe in particular to maintain a stranglehold on power for almost four decades. 

   /snid/lectures