Abstract
Barely a year after Zimbabwe’s long serving President Robert Mugabe was ousted through a military coup which replaced him with his erstwhile trusted ally and vice president Emmerson Mnangagwa, the army shot six civilians caught up in the crossfire of protestors alleging ZANU PF electoral theft of the 2018 July 30 polls. Although the military has always been in the background of Zimbabwe’s politics in general and the ruling ZANU PF affairs in particular, the shooting of protestors incident which occurred on the 1st of August 2018 left the world shell-shocked on the prospects of any peaceful change of government or even transfer of power, confirming to all and sundry that Mugabe could have exited the political stage, but the system he presided over for 37 years is still intact, if not even more perfected in the aftermath. This has since rekindled debates on the feasibility of regime change in Zimbabwe and in that context the validity and essence of having an election in the first place if any outcome unfavourable to ZANU PF and its candidate is likely to witness the unleashing of armed soldiers and the subsequent killing of citizens in the process. With the security sector involved in politics in contrast to the old adage that politics lead the gun, it thus comes as a paradox that for the umpteenth time, regime change in Zimbabwe shall remain an elusive dream.
Highlights
On 13 November 2017, the Commander of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces General Constantino Chiwenga called for a press conference whose central objective was denouncing President Robert Mugabe's sacking of his vice president and long-time confidant Emmerson Mnangagwa
The Lancaster House Agreement gave birth to a constitution whose longevity was only terminated in 2013 after a new constitution was crafted by the three parties which were in a coalition government (Note 2) comprising of Zimbabwe African National Union Patriotic Front (ZANU PF) led by Mugabe, Movement for Democratic Change (MDC-T) led by Mugabe’s main challenger Morgan Tsvangirai as well as a splinter MDC group led by Arthur Mutambara (MDC-M) (Note 3)
Zimbabwe Unity Movement (ZUM) gained its strength from the disclosure of widespread corruption scandals, the deteriorating economy and increasing unemployment, which mobilised against ZANU PF, the very people Mugabe had proclaimed as favoured by the government, students and trade unions in the urban areas (Cowen & Laasko, 2002)
Summary
On 13 November 2017, the Commander of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces General Constantino Chiwenga called for a press conference whose central objective was denouncing President Robert Mugabe's sacking of his vice president and long-time confidant Emmerson Mnangagwa. Events of the unfolding week pressed Mugabe to announce his resignation following the impeachment proceedings that had started early morning of November 21. With the visible military-ZANU PF conflation the new political order, toppling ZANU PF from power in the immediate, precisely in the aftermath of the ZANU PF 2018 electoral victory is to a greater extent proving to be an elusive dream
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