Mnangagwa’s Zimbabwe: Crisis? What Crisis?

Helliker, Kirk; Mazarire, Gerald Chikozho

doi:10.1177/0021909620986583

Cited by 7 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 4 publications

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“…COVID-19 was seldom framed as an existential threat and invisible enemy, with war-like language used to mobilise against the unseen enemy. 25 The capability of the country to ‘fight’ the virus was also premised on the national leadership with impeccable war credentials and a track record of tact and resilience in dealing with monumental challenges. In May 2020, the then vice-president, himself a veteran of the liberation struggle, remarked:…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…While this securitised framing is consistent with global trends, of particular interest in the Zimbabwean context is the use of military and war metaphors in framing the disease. COVID-19 was seldom framed as an existential threat and invisible enemy, with war-like language used to mobilise against the unseen enemy 25. The capability of the country to ‘fight’ the virus was also premised on the national leadership with impeccable war credentials and a track record of tact and resilience in dealing with monumental challenges.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Governing a pandemic: biopower and the COVID-19 response in Zimbabwe

Mhazo

Maponga

2022

BMJ Glob Health

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IntroductionThe extraordinary explosion of state power towards the COVID-19 response has attracted scholarly and policy attention in relation to pandemic politics. This paper relies on Foucault’s theoretical differentiation of the political management of epidemics to understand how governmental framing of COVID-19 reflects biopolitical powers and how power was mobilised to control the pandemic in Zimbabwe.MethodsWe conducted a scoping review of published literature, cabinet resolutions and statutory instruments related to COVID-19 in Zimbabwe.ResultsThe COVID-19 response in Zimbabwe was shaped by four discursive frames: ignorance, denialism, securitisation and state sovereignty. A slew of COVID-19-related regulations and decrees were promulgated, including use of special presidential powers, typical of the leprosy model (sovereign power), a protracted and heavily policed lockdown was effected, typical of the plague model (disciplinary power) and throughout the pandemic, there was reference to statistical data to justify the response measures whilst vaccination emerged as a flagship strategy to control the pandemic, typical of the smallpox model (biopower). The securitisation frame had a large influence on the overall pandemic response, leading to an overly punitive application of disciplinary power and cases of infidelity to scientific evidence. On the other hand, a securitised, geopolitically oriented sovereignty model positively shaped a strong, generally well execucted, domestically financed vaccination (biopower) programme.ConclusionsThe COVID-19 response in Zimbabwe was not just an exercise in biomedical science, rather it invoked wider governmentality aspects shaped by the country’s own history, (geo) politics and various mechanisms of power. The study concludes that whilst epidemic securitisation by norm-setting institutions such as WHO is critical to stimulate international political action, the transnational diffusion of such charged frames needs to be viewed in relation to how policy makers filter the policy and political consequences of securitisation through the lenses of their ideological stances and its potential to hamper rather than bolster political action.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Governing a pandemic: biopower and the COVID-19 response in Zimbabwe

Mhazo

Maponga

2022

BMJ Glob Health

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“…Nevertheless, as Nyambi et al (2022) argue, specificities in the Zimbabwe case deserve scholarly attention. Of significance here is the convergence among scholars that it was a military coup motivated partly by historical, ideological and political beliefs and economic interests (Helliker and Mazarire, 2021;Moore, 2022;Nyambi et al, 2022;Tendi, 2019). Others have convincingly argued that the coup was also a response to a feminine threat to patriarchal and masculine character of state power paused by Grace Mugabe (Bhatasara and Chiweshe, 2021: 229).…”

Section: The Fractious Race To Succeed Mugabementioning

confidence: 96%

Intra-Party Cohesion in Zimbabwe’s Ruling Party after Robert Mugabe

Zamchiya

2023

Journal of Asian and African Studies

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Some mainstream political scientists apply the trilogy of exit, voice and loyalty in studying intra-party cohesion. This approach applies more neatly in liberal than in repressive contexts. I therefore make three modifications to enhance the trilogy’s descriptive and explanatory power in an authoritarian context using the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union Patriotic Front (ZANU PF) after Robert Mugabe. First, there is need to integrate non-voluntary exit as party members are mostly expelled against their will in a context where there are limited livelihood opportunities outside party-state patronage and defection is ruthlessly punished. Second, voice should be understood as predominantly expressed over preferences for personalities in internal power distribution rather than over policies. Third, loyalty is not always to the party institution to promote unity but to individuals or factions. From this positioning, ZANU PF is predominantly a non-cohesive party characterised by ephemerally organised leader-follower groups largely seeking power and patronage.

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“…In addition to forming the PAC and as part of his co-option strategy toward critics, Mnangagwa used his executive powers to make the Political Actors Dialogue (POLAD), a coalition of 2018 election losers minus Nelson Chamisa, leader of the Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC), the country’s largest opposition political party, and himself (Helliker and Chikozho Mazarire 2021 ). As with the PAC, POLAD brings together some of ZANU PF’s most vocal opponents, including Thokozani Khupe, Douglas Mwonzora, and Lovemore Madhuku.…”

Section: Explaining Mnangagwa’s Zanu Pf Regime’s Stance: a Political ...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Zimbabwean civil society survival in the post-coup environment: a political settlements analysis

Dendere

Taodzera

2023

Int Groups Adv

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The political environment in post-independence Zimbabwe has been very hostile for interest groups, particularly since 2000 when civil society actions and opposition political activity formidably challenged the power and dominance of the ZANU PF party. However, the 2017 ouster of Robert Mugabe gave rise to renewed hope for political change. Using the political settlements theoretical framework, and data obtained from interviews with Zimbabwean civil society leaders, studies of legal documents, and government pronouncements, we analyze the changes in the relationship between the state and civil society groups during President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s regime. We find that, while civil society faced restrictions during Mugabe's tenure, their existence is now under much more scrutiny under Mnangagwa’s militarized government. This is because authoritarian regimes are more likely to increase the suppression of citizen voices when faced with growing citizen engagement.

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Mnangagwa’s Zimbabwe: Crisis? What Crisis?

Cited by 7 publications

References 4 publications

Governing a pandemic: biopower and the COVID-19 response in Zimbabwe

Governing a pandemic: biopower and the COVID-19 response in Zimbabwe

Intra-Party Cohesion in Zimbabwe’s Ruling Party after Robert Mugabe

Zimbabwean civil society survival in the post-coup environment: a political settlements analysis

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