Song, patriotism and (il)legitimacy

Abstract

The transition from Robert Mugabe to Emmerson Mnangagwa presented the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) with arguably the best opportunity since the advent of independence in 1980 to embrace an inclusionary political ethos. With an unmatched repute for economic mismanagement and power retention in southern Africa, ZANU-PF even had some of its fiercest critics on its side in November 2017 when it terminated Mugabe’s presidency. However, the approval that ZANU-PF registered when it dethroned Mugabe turned into dissent within less than five years, leaving many to wonder what must have happened for the party to earn the nation’s trust and lose it so quickly. This chapter grapples with post-Mugabe Zimbabwe’s quandary of patriotism, legitimacy and transition that manifests in ZANU-PF’s attempts at discursive (re)branding through song. It explores how the grammar of patriotism and legitimacy found expression in song and participated in ZANU-PF’s endeavours to (re)package itself as reformed using examples drawn from selected songs by Jah Prayzah and Chief Shumba Hwenje. The chapter argues that both Mugabe’s ouster and Mnangagwa’s claims over ‘Second Republic’ and/or ‘New Dispensation’ identities are steeped in the discursive power and aesthetic appeal of song.