Brian Raftopoulos, Director of Research and Advocacy, Solidarity Peace Trust. The last two weeks have witnessed tumultuous events in Zimbabwean politics. After months of factional struggles between the Lacoste faction led by then Vice President Emerson Mnangagwa, also nicknamed the crocodile, and the Generation 40 (G40) faction around President Robert Mugabe and his wife Grace, […]
Tue, November 21 2017 » Zimbabwe Review » No Comments
By Brian Raftopoulos Since the end of the Global Political Agreement (GPA) in 2013, a SADC facilitated settlement that sought to move Zimbabwe out of the legitimacy crisis of the widely discredited elections of 2008, Mugabe’s Zanu PF has been battling to find ways to re-engage Western Governments and the international financial institutions based on […]
Sun, November 13 2016 » Global Political Agreement, Human rights, Zimbabwe Review » No Comments
Brian Raftopoulos, Director of Research Solidarity Peace Trust. Introduction Since the 2013 elections the convulsions within the ruling party have intensified to unprecedented levels. In response to this phenomenon there has been a good deal of analytical commentary on these struggles, focusing on the nature and causes of the contestations and centring mainly on the […]
Thu, June 9 2016 » Zimbabwe Update » 1 Comment
Brian Raftopoulos, Director of Research and Advocacy, Solidarity Peace Trust. Introduction In an insightful commentary on the current state of Zimbabwe politics, Joost Fontein writes about the prevalence of despondency in which a ‘new timescale of hope and aspiration’ has emerged ‘that makes both the present and any immediate future appear equally uninspiring.’1 In many […]
Tue, March 24 2015 » Zimbabwe Review » No Comments
Introduction Zanu PF’s and Mugabe’s overwhelming electoral ‘victory’ in July 2013 was the result of a combination of the continuing legacy of firmly inscribed memories of post-colonial violence, Zanu PF’s persistent legitimacy from the liberation struggle, the declining fortunes of the opposition MDCs, the combination of coercion and patronage by the ruling party in context […]
