Patriotic narratives on national leadership in Zimbabwe: Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) and Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) song texts, ca 2000–2017

Language and Factional Polarity in the Movement for Democratic Change in Zimbabwe

“…He reiterated the same allegations peddled by the pro-senate faction in 2015 that the MDC-T thrived mainly through violence. It is evident that Biti was probably engaging in what Gwekwerere and Mpondi (2018) refer to as ‘selective amnesia’ where he ironically blamed all the violence on Tsvangirai despite his status as the yesteryear secretary general of MDC-T. In the same interview, he virulently attacks Tsvangirai as an amoral womaniser with ‘no conscience or morality’ (https://nehandaradio.com/2015/09/10/tsvangirai-is-a-thief-claims-biti/) clearly showing that he was on a crusade to delegitimise Tsvangirai’s claim to authority in the MDC-T by disparaging him as an enemy of the people.…”

Populism From Below and Social Movements: A Case of Zimbabwe’s #ThisFlag Movement

“…The ZANU-PF's post-colonial ideology centred on "patriotic history" and made incessant references to Mugabe, his image and persona. The same ideology depicts the 1970s national liberation war as ZANU-PF's highest expression of commitment to the Black liberation mission, and the 2000s Fast Track Land Reform Programme (FTLRP) in the government's perspective as a continuation of the liberation struggle of the 1970s (Gwekwerere et al, 2019). The FTLRP aimed at gaining support from "some black elites desperate for quick embourgeoisement, war veterans, and landless peasants" (Ndlovu-Gatsheni, 2015).…”

“…Resultantly, the government fetishised and mythologised Mugabe’s power and person (Siziba and Ncube, 2015) through populist messaging based on the president’s image. State media projects were also instrumental in creating a ZANU–PF and Mugabe-centred narrative of selfless leadership and heroism in the fight against colonisation (Siziba and Ncube, 2015), which is averse to all other perspectives on the Zimbabwean story except the one sanctioned by ZANU–PF (Gwekwerere et al, 2019). The populistic portrayal of Mugabe was expressed through pictures that adorned all public buildings making him omnipresent in Zimbabwe, and his biography and hagiography were made inextricably intertwined with the political rise and economic collapse of Zimbabwe (Ndlovu-Gatsheni, 2015).…”