Opinion / Columnist
Chombo's detention marks vengeful and retaliatory politics
26 Nov 2017 at 16:17hrs | Views
Long-term implications of Zimbabwe's 'military assisted transition'.
1. The detention and trial of former Minister Chombo marks a vengeful and retaliatory politics. The manner in which he has been singled out signals that similar treatment might also await those now in power.
2. For all the efforts to frame the coup as somehow 'legal' and thus #notacoup, the attempt to legalise via the High Court reeks of desperation. This is political instrumentalization of the law, not legal performativity, much less a deeply embedded legal culture.
3. Impunity: Despite some conciliatary and statesmanlike comments, it is unlikely that any serious attention will be given to righting wrongs committed in the past, including those who disappeared for saying 'Mugabe must go' only a few weeks or months before the Generals.
4. Zero-sum politics. The three factors above suggest to me that we are likely to see a continued (and indeed enhanced) winner-takes-all politics, which bodes poorly for those concerned about representation and citizen engagement, or just good policy-making and the rule of law.
5. Britain & Zimbabwe: Impunity comes into this too. In order to normalise the relationship, Britain needs to acknowledge and internalise the wrongs of its colonial projects, and accept the blame that comes with that. But this has rarely seemed further away or more challenging.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Long term implications of Zimbabwe's ‘military assisted transition'. <br>1. The detention and trial of former Minister Chombo marks a vengeful and retaliatory politics. The manner in which he has been singled out signals that similar treatment might also await those now in power.</p>— Sara Rich Dorman (@afr_pol) <a href="https://twitter.com/afr_pol/status/934474122012348417?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 25, 2017</a></blockquote>
1. The detention and trial of former Minister Chombo marks a vengeful and retaliatory politics. The manner in which he has been singled out signals that similar treatment might also await those now in power.
2. For all the efforts to frame the coup as somehow 'legal' and thus #notacoup, the attempt to legalise via the High Court reeks of desperation. This is political instrumentalization of the law, not legal performativity, much less a deeply embedded legal culture.
3. Impunity: Despite some conciliatary and statesmanlike comments, it is unlikely that any serious attention will be given to righting wrongs committed in the past, including those who disappeared for saying 'Mugabe must go' only a few weeks or months before the Generals.
4. Zero-sum politics. The three factors above suggest to me that we are likely to see a continued (and indeed enhanced) winner-takes-all politics, which bodes poorly for those concerned about representation and citizen engagement, or just good policy-making and the rule of law.
5. Britain & Zimbabwe: Impunity comes into this too. In order to normalise the relationship, Britain needs to acknowledge and internalise the wrongs of its colonial projects, and accept the blame that comes with that. But this has rarely seemed further away or more challenging.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Long term implications of Zimbabwe's ‘military assisted transition'. <br>1. The detention and trial of former Minister Chombo marks a vengeful and retaliatory politics. The manner in which he has been singled out signals that similar treatment might also await those now in power.</p>— Sara Rich Dorman (@afr_pol) <a href="https://twitter.com/afr_pol/status/934474122012348417?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 25, 2017</a></blockquote>
Source - Sara Rich Dorman
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