The History and Political Transition of Zimbabwe

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xxiii

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2. Introduction: Transition in Zimbabwe: From Robert Gabriel Mugabe to Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa: A Repetition Without Change

   • Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni, Pedzisai Ruhanya

   Pages 1-22

3. Colonialism, Nationalism and Political Culture

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 23-23

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   2. The Political Culture of Zimbabwe: Continuities and Discontinuities

      • Rudo Gaidzanwa

      Pages 25-50

   3. The Zimbabwean National Question: Key Components and Unfinished Business

      • Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni

      Pages 51-84

   4. Opposition Politics and the Culture of Polarisation in Zimbabwe, 1980–2018

      • Zenzo Moyo

      Pages 85-115

   5. Understanding Zimbabwe’s Political Culture: Media and Civil Society

      • Stanley Tsarwe

      Pages 117-132

4. Identity, Militarisation and Transitional Politics

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 133-133

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   2. The Identity Politics Factor in Zimbabwe’s Transition Politics

      • Bekezela Gumbo

      Pages 135-154

   3. The Ethnicization of Political Mobilization in Zimbabwe: The Case of Pro-Mthwakazi Movements

      • Samukele Hadebe

      Pages 155-180

   4. The Militarisation of State Institutions in Zimbabwe, 2002–2017

      • Pedzisai Ruhanya

      Pages 181-204

5. Social Media, Democracy and Political Discourse

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 205-205

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   2. The Media and Politics in the Context of the “Third Chimurenga” in Zimbabwe

      • Philip Pasirayi

      Pages 207-219

   3. Social Media and the Concept of Dissidence in Zimbabwean Politics

      • Shepherd Mpofu, Trust Matsilele

      Pages 221-243

   4. The Tabloidization of Political News in Zimbabwe: End of Quality Press?

      • Wellington Gadzikwa

      Pages 245-272

6. Post-Mugabe Economy, Gender and Operation Restore Legacy

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 273-273

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   2. Primitive Accumulation and Mugabe’s Extroverted Economy: What Now Under the Second Republic?

      • Toendepi Shonhe

      Pages 275-298

   3. The Idea of a New Zimbabwe Post-Mugabe

      • Sylvester Marumahoko, Tinashe C. Chigwata

      Pages 299-329

   4. Misogyny, Sexism and Hegemonic Masculinity in Zimbabwe’s Operation Restore Legacy

      • Lyton Ncube

      Pages 331-357

   5. Foreign Direct Investment in the Post-Mugabe Era

      • Mkhululi Sibindi

      Pages 359-387

This book is the first to tackle the difficult and complex politics of transition in Zimbabwe, with deep historical analysis. Its focus is on a very problematic political culture that is proving very hard to transcend. At the center of this culture is an unstable but resilient ‘nationalist-military’ alliance crafted during the anti-colonial liberation struggle in the 1970s. Inevitably, violence, misogyny and masculinity are constitutive of the political culture. Economically speaking, the culture is that of a bureaucratic, parasitic, primitive accumulation and corruption, which include invasion and emptying of state coffers by a self-styled ‘Chimurenga aristocracy.’ However, this Chimurenga aristocracy is not cohesive, as the politics that led to Robert Mugabe’s ousting from power was preceded by dirty and protracted internal factionalism. At the center of the factional politics was the ‘first family’:Robert Mugabe and his wife, Grace Mugabe. This book offers a multidisciplinary examination of the complex contemporary politics in Zimbabwe, taking seriously such issues as gender, misogyny, militarism, violence, media, identity, modes of accumulation, the ethnicization of politics, attempts to open lines of credit and FDI, national healing, and the national question as key variables not only of a complete political culture but also of difficult transitional politics.

• Zimbabwean political culture
• politics of transition
• nationalism
• Chimurenga Aristocracy
• Robert Mugabe
• Identity politics
• Emerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa
• ethnicization of politics
• opposition politics

• Archie Mafeje Research Institute, University of South Africa, Pretoria, South Africa

  Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni

• University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa

  Pedzisai Ruhanya

Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni is Research Professor and Director of Scholarship in the Department of Leadership and Transformation (DLT) in the Principal and Vice-Chancellor's Office at the University of South Africa, and is also the 2019 Visiting Professor at the Johannesburg Institute of Advanced Study at the University of Johannesburg, South Africa.
Pedzisai Ruhanya is a Postdoctoral Fellow with the University of Johannesburg's School of Communication, South Africa, and the director of the Zimbabwe Democracy Institute.

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