100 Editions on: Democracy in Zimbabwe

By Archie Phillips In the week Palatinate went to its 800th edition of print, the world had its eye on the events unfolding in one country: Zimbabwe. From 14th to 21st November 2017, Zimbabwe’s then-President, Robert Mugabe, was toppled in a bloodless military coup. The build up to the uprising – in which the Zimbabwean Defence Forces (ZDF) surrounded Harare, Zimbabwe’s capital, placed the 93-year old President under house arrest, and replaced him with Emmerson Mnangagwa – was initially one of simple succession. Mnangagwa had been Mugabe’s ally and protege since the country’s 1960s War of Independence, yet a few weeks earlier had been poisoned at a political rally – his supporters claimed it was carried out by the President’s wife, Grace Mugabe, via a dairy farm she controlled. Grace Mugabe, along with the country’s other Vice-President, Phelekezela Mphoko, attributed the claims to the Mnangagwa faction’s plan to destabilize the country. President Mugabe fired Mnangagwa officially on 6th November 2017, leaving Grace Mugabe as the only legitimate successor. On the day of Palatinate’s 800th edition, ZDF armoured vehicles were stationed at key locations around the capital, and a government minister from Mugabe’s party, the ZANU-PF, was arrested. A week later, on the 21st November, it was announced Mnangagwa would be sworn in as President, as he pledged “the beginning of a new unfolding democracy”. A week later, on the 21st November, it was announced Mnangagwa would be sworn in as President, as he pledged ‘the beginning of a new unfolding democracy’ British prime minister Theresa May welcomed Mugabe’s resignation, stating that it “provides Zimbabwe with an opportunity to forge a new path free of the oppression that characterised his rule.” Mugabe’s career had been spent fighting white minority government in the country, and when he succeeded, pursued education and healthcare reforms, as well as mainstream supply side policies which ran contrary to his professed socialism. From 2000, he encouraged black Zimbabweans to violently seize white-owned farms. His racial policies impacted food production: famine, hyperinflation, and foreign sanctions followed. Criticism that ensued during these years was waved away by the ruling party through successful electoral campaigns mired in violence and fraud. The international community had once hoped that the end of Mugabe’s reign would bring about a new era of democratic stability and the rule of law. One hundred editions of Palatinate since anf just under a decade of rule later, the situation presided over by Mnangagwa is far from that vision. The ZDF coup that instituted Mnangagwa moved quickly and tactically. Tendai Biti, the veteran opposition politician, has spoken of “a coup, a slow coup that is unfolding in Zimbabwe”, namely the proposed constitutional amendments of the ruling Zanu-PF party to give Parliament – rather than voters – the right to elect the President and to extend his term from five to seven years. The proposals aren’t the first signs of political repression and power consolidation for the Zanu-PF – in the run up to the hearings, the opposition says, the police banned more than a dozen of their meetings Public hearings in March over the amendments descended into a jostling commotion which both major parties blamed each other for causing. For the opposition, the proposals aren’t the first signs of political repression and power consolidation for the Zanu-PF – in the run up to the hearings, the opposition says, the police banned more than a dozen of their meetings. Whether or not the amendments pass in their current form, they have already done something more corrosive than any single constitutional change: they have confirmed, for many Zimbabweans, that the promises made in November 2017 were never going to be kept. For Biti and others who lived through Mugabe’s final years in power, supreme control is wearing a different mantle – “They are making the mistake that Mugabe made. That of closing [the democratic] space absolutely.” As Zimbabwe heads to elections, Zimbabwe will see whether political history does indeed repeat itself. Image credit: Al Jazeera English via Flickr Email