Search / Brian raftopoulos
Mnangagwa's ambitions spark outcry from opposition and allies alike
TENSIONS are rising in Zimbabwe over President Emmerson Mnangagwa's evident intention to remain in power after his second term ends in 2028.Zimbabwe's constitution explicitly prohibits serving...Published: 31 Mar 2025 at 09:14hrs | 2136 | by Peter Fabricius l The Daily Maverick
Has Chamisa led Zimbabwe's opposition astray?
On January 25, exactly two years and three days after Zimbabwe's main opposition party the Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) was launched, its leader Nelson Chamisa quit, leaving the party in turmoi...Published: 13 Feb 2024 at 16:20hrs | 17 | by Ish Mafundikwa
Opposition Politics in Zimbabwe, 1999 - 2024: An Obituary
Advocate Nelson Chamisa's capitulation last week at the behest of the fifth column led by Sengezo Tshabangu was the final nail in opposition politics in Zimbabwe. Armed with state institutions and exp...Published: 03 Feb 2024 at 09:09hrs | 13 | by Innocent Mpoki
The Nguni/Sotho People who occupied parts of modern-day Zimbabwe before Mzilikazi
There is a general misconception that King Mzilikazi and is Ndebele people were the first Nguni group to traverse and settle in what is now modern-day Zimbabwe. However, this is not accurate.T...Published: 30 Sep 2023 at 20:37hrs | 11 | by Thomas Sibanda
Rough campaign for opposition as election nears
AS Zimbabwe gears for the polls, opposition members have been arrested, dozens of Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) events blocked and the party complains of being given little airtime on national t...Published: 26 Jul 2023 at 06:38hrs | 2 | by AFP
After allowing authoritarian Rwanda to join, Commonwealth faces tough dilemma over Zimbabwe
After allowing a wave of authoritarian regimes to become members in recent years, the Commonwealth and member states such as Canada are now pondering one of their toughest dilemmas: whether to approve...Published: 08 Feb 2023 at 20:07hrs | 3 | by Geoffrey York
The tragic price of forgetting: Pre-independent Zimbabwe questions still need answers
Zimbabwe is beset by a serious crisis of governance. Infact the same questions we wanted solutions for pre-independence still remain unanswered.We are still in a crisis.This crisis has...Published: 18 Apr 2022 at 12:46hrs | 13 | by Taruberekera Masara
End of the road for Tsvangirai's MDC
D-DAY has arrived for the MDC brand, with the electorate expected to decide its fate, as analysts say the iconic party associated with the firebrand Morgan Tsvangirai may disappear into oblivion if it...Published: 27 Mar 2022 at 07:38hrs | 11 | by Staff reporter
Bloody road to March 26 by-elections
ON February 26, 2022, Vice-President Constantino Chiwenga, warned the Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) and its leader Nelson Chamisa that Zanu-PF would crush the party like lice."Let me ass...Published: 08 Mar 2022 at 05:44hrs | 4 | by Sikhululekile Mashingaidze
The rise and fall of the MDC: Winners, losers and neutrals
AS Zimbabwe approaches crucial by-elections in March, which will test the strength of main contestants while determining the authentic opposition, there is no denying that the MDC, which has posed the...Published: 08 Feb 2022 at 18:21hrs | 14 | by Staff reporter
Chamisa says he is unstoppable
CITIZENS Coalition for Change (CCC) leader Nelson Chamisa yesterday declared his new political outfit was "unstoppable" and assured supporters that he was putting in place measures to stop electoral t...Published: 30 Jan 2022 at 08:23hrs | 11 | by Staff reporter
News headlines over reform headways
Since Zimbabwe's independence in 1980, the concept of "reform" or "change" of institutions, political culture and the constitution to "widen and deepen individual, political, economic, social, cultura...Published: 06 Dec 2020 at 08:30hrs | 1 | by Ibbo Mandaza
Repression and dialogue in Zimbabwe: twin strategies that aren't working
Emmerson Mnangagwa's strategy of coercion and dialogue has hit a series of hurdles. These include the continued opposition by the MDC and on-going scepticism of ...Published: 22 Aug 2019 at 08:50hrs | 1 | by Brian Raftopoulos
Fantasy that Mnangagwa would fix Zimbabwe now fully exposed
As of January 18, more than 12 people had died, no less than 78 had suffered gunshot injuries, and at least 240 had been beaten and tortured by the Zimbabwean state. More than 466 had been arbitrarily...Published: 26 Apr 2019 at 07:50hrs | 2 | by David B. Moore
The fantasy that Mnangagwa would fix Zimbabwe is now fully exposed
As of January 18, more than 12 people had died, no less than 78 had suffered gunshot injuries, and at least 240 had been beaten and tortured by the Zimbabwean state. More than 466 had been arbitrarily...Published: 23 Jan 2019 at 15:52hrs | 1 | by David B Moore I The Conversation
Zimbabwe: A future finely balanced between democracy and militarisation
Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa's inauguration as Zimbabwe's second president and commander-in-chief consummated power for the main beneficiary of the November 2017 coup that forced Robert Mugabe's long d...Published: 29 Aug 2018 at 08:44hrs | 1 | by David B. Moore, University of Johannesburg
Mugabe gears for retirement
PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe, on his final political campaign in eastern Zimbabwe on Friday told thousands of supporters that he had delivered political and economic freedom since he came to power in 1980....Published: 18 Jun 2017 at 10:29hrs | 4 | by Peta Thornycroft
ZimPF says no more to Zanuism
The opposition ZimPF has declared that there will be soon no more Zanuism in Zimbabwe and even dismissed alleged expectations by Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa to take over from President Robert Mu...Published: 16 Oct 2016 at 07:22hrs | | by Stephen Jakes
LISTEN: 'Zimbabweans are again unwittingly being sent into a choreographed 2018 electoral dance'
Pundits warn: Zimbabwe has a bleeding economy and only has 6 months if the country does not get any international bailout package. Violet Gonda's guest on the Hot Seat programme is eminent commentator...Published: 05 Sep 2016 at 09:48hrs | 2 | by Violet Gonda
Fresh calls for security sector reform
ZIMBABWE Defence Forces (ZDF) commander General Constantino Chiwenga's threats to unleash the military on opposition parties and Zanu-PF officials with an agenda to destroy the party from within has r...Published: 12 Aug 2016 at 11:35hrs | | by Staff reporter
Mugabe may soon be gone
Robert Mugabe's final humiliation is at hand.He can't get out of the latest mess he created because at the end of the day it comes down to the money, and he doesn't have enough to save himself...Published: 10 Jul 2016 at 09:13hrs | 4 | by Peta Thornycroft/IOL
Zimbabwe's 5 grim realities
In the last three months there have been at least two articles by renowned academics outlining how Zimbabwe is either undergoing the 'politics of despair' or alternatively how our 'darkest hour ...Published: 26 Apr 2015 at 17:02hrs | | by Takura Zhangazha
Grace Mugabe's rallies have sent tongues wagging
First lady Grace Mugabe's rallies have sent tongues wagging in Zanu-PF with analysts saying they were part of a strategy to clear the path for her further political rise as the ruling party's successi...Published: 05 Oct 2014 at 15:02hrs | | by Staff reporter
Zanu-PF in a bind after elections
ON July 31 last year, Zanu-PF were victorious in the elections. The opposition was annihilated.The elections were disputed by many, and many questions were raised about the process, but most c...Published: 15 Aug 2014 at 08:18hrs | | by Academic Ian Scoones
Sikhala demanded $30,000 for him not to join Tsvangirai?
Job Sikhala is said to have demanded $30 000 from the "renewal team" led by suspended MDC-T deputy treasurer-general Elton Mangoma, for him not to team with Morgan Tsvangirai. Mangoma, who be...Published: 22 Mar 2014 at 08:05hrs | | by Staff reporter
Zanu-PF, MDC-T succession battles intensify after polls
LAST year's controversial July 31 general elections that saw President Robert Mugabe being re-elected amid opposition claims of systematic rigging have triggered a new wave of internal instability and...Published: 07 Feb 2014 at 06:29hrs | 2 | by Elias Mambo
Robert Mugabe - The last man standing
IF former Zanu-PF stalwart Enos Nkala had been alive today and witnessed last week's passing of South Africa's founding president and anti-apartheid hero Nelson Mandela, his worst fears would have be...Published: 21 Dec 2013 at 02:54hrs | 2 | by Staff reporter
Gloomy picture in the fight to dislodge Mugabe
The inability of the united MDC in 2008, and a fractured opposition in 2013, to get more than 1.4 million-votes does not bode well for democratic forces in Zimbabwe, according to a report by the Solid...Published: 12 Oct 2013 at 05:06hrs | | by Tichaona Sibanda
'Tsvangirai more popular than MDC-T'
MORGAN Tsvangirai has always obtained more votes than combined MDC-T parliamentary candidates since 2000, according to a Solidarity Peace Trust (SPT) report that is likely to pour cold water on calls ...Published: 11 Oct 2013 at 11:59hrs | | by Staff reporter
Still no proof Mugabe rigged elections - report
Zanu-PF's landslide election 'victory' was probably at least partly the result of five years hard campaigning for new voters, as there is still no proof of rigging, according to a report from the Sol...Published: 08 Oct 2013 at 04:27hrs | 2 | by Peta Thornycroft
Tsvangirai breaks silence on wife's 'extra marital affair'
MDC leader, Morgan Tsvangirai has broken his silence over reports that his wife, Elizabeth has rekindled her relationship with the father of one of her children.Tsvangirai said the public me...Published: 21 Sep 2013 at 05:22hrs | 8 | by Staff reporter
'Tsvangirai ready to engage with Mugabe'
SINCE former premier Morgan Tsvangirai (MT)'s crushing yet controversial defeat by President Robert Mugabe, a lot has been said about the MDC-T leader and his party, but not much has been heard from ...Published: 20 Sep 2013 at 04:03hrs | | by Staff reporter
Mujuru gets upper hand as cabinet choices dash hopes of reform
President Robert Mugabe's new cabinet includes hardliners accused of murdering opposition supporters and of destroying the economy over the last 14 years. But his choices indicate that he na...Published: 11 Sep 2013 at 05:46hrs | | by Staff reporter
'Zanu-PF has gone down the drain & Mugabe will lose' says Mandaza
Some academics believe Zanu-PF has lost its social base and have predicted a heavy defeat for the party in the upcoming harmonised election on July 3, amid claims that President Robert Mugabe lost the...Published: 16 Jul 2013 at 03:58hrs | 1 | by Staff reporter
Zanu-PF's bid for early elections flops
FOR the past four years Zanu-PF has unsuccessfully tried to railroad Zimbabwe into early elections to end the life of the unity government without implementation of critical reforms as stipulated in t...Published: 05 Apr 2013 at 06:17hrs | | by Staff reporter
Zuma told to stand up to Mugabe tactics
South African President Jacob Zuma had a "rough" meeting with Zimbabwe's leaders in Harare on Wednesday night as he tried to persuade them to agree on a draft constitution so he could report some succ...Published: 18 Aug 2012 at 12:51hrs | | by Peta Thornycroft I Independent Online
Zim massive migration more tragic than political violence
The massive migration out of Zimbabwe, the largest in the region's history, was more tragic even than the political violence during recent elections, senior Zimbabwe scholar Brian Raftopoulos believe...Published: 07 Jun 2012 at 06:16hrs | | by Independent Foreign Service
'Tsvangirai wanted Chanakira to be Finance Minister'
PRIME Minister Morgan Tsvangirai assembled a cabinet team that included banker Nigel Chanakira as finance minister in anticipation of an electoral victory in the run-up to the disputed presidential ...Published: 05 Nov 2011 at 11:41hrs | | by Moyo Roy
Zanu-PF's culture of intolerance regrettable
Reports that Zanu-PF MPs are allegedly making frantic moves to block further prosecutions of their party youths accused of killing political opponents in previous elections (The Standard, 16/10/11) ar...Published: 18 Oct 2011 at 10:50hrs | | by Clifford Chitupa Mashiri
Does SADC know that Mugabe scorns 'totem-less aliens'?
When SADC leaders eventually discuss the Zimbabwe crisis sometime in June, it is hoped they will tackle the issue of citizenship and nationality because the new constitution seems a pipe dream at th...Published: 06 Jun 2011 at 11:27hrs | | by Clifford Chitupa Mashiri | Political Analyst, London
Zimbabwe and political transition
This paper looks at the factors which helped ZANU-PF as a former liberation movement retain power and lead to a one-party dominant state. It also explores the extent to which ZANU-PF is adapting...Published: 12 Apr 2011 at 13:39hrs | | by Dr Sue Onslow
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