In the last days of President Robert Mugabe the political scene painted British Prime Minister Tony Blair as a pantomime villain. The late President Mugabe railed against Blair at political rallies, in the early years of this century, calling him “B-Liar” and saying famously at the Earth Summit in Johannesburg in 2002: “You can keep your England, I shall keep my Zimbabwe.” Blair is unfazed by the years of criticism, in his decade in power at Westminster, and says he is happy to speak to Mugabe’s successor President Emerson Mnangagwa.



More than a decade on Blair – who now runs an institute promoting good governance in Africa &#8211; was asked how acrimonious his not very special relationship with Zimbabwe was, in an exclusive interview with CNBC Africa from London.



“I think acrimonious was probably and understatement!” smiled Blair more than a decade on.



“I am happy to speak to Mnangagwa, but these things are best done in a private way. I was actually thinking about Zimbabwe the other day. I think, at certain points, there were misunderstandings, not genuine disagreements. If Zimbabwe were to get its act together it would be an exciting place to be.”



Blair went further to call for reform in Zimbabwe and was effusive in his praise of the country were the politicians once scorned him.



“Zimbabwe I hope the new leadership there will take the necessary measure and reforms because Zimbabwe is a very wealthy country and I meet Zimbabweans around the world and they are a very talented people. I want the government to succeed; it really is what has to be done. I do think it is what needs to happened there not just opening up political space, but also economic reforms to take the country to a boom. If the government there showed real commitment or reform, it would help in the future because we need Zimbabwe back as a player in the continent,” says Blair. &nbsp;



The former British Prime Minister’s encouraging words contrast the bitterness that the late President Mugabe felt for Blair in return. The ruling ZANU pf party called its 2005 election campaign the “Anti-Blair Vote.”



At the launch of that election campaign, in December 2004, Mugabe set the tone with the words: “Regime change, Mr Blair? Who are you? Who are you to talk of regime change in Zimbabwe? One of us, by what connection sir, do you hear me? Ancestral connection? And who were these ancestors, can we know? No, Zimbabwe is for Zimbabweans. And only Zimbabweans can determine who shall rule them and who shall not. Whether there is a situation here of political order, of lawlessness, violation of the rule of law, violation of human rights, lack of democracy, our neighbours would know that better than the British government… It is our land, ancestral land, our sacred land, never an extension of Britain.&#8221;

Tony Blair Gives Pro-Eu Keynote Speech

Blair on Zimbabwe and Mugabe:  the former British Prime minister is far from bitter and ready to meet Mnangagwa.

By Chris Bishop



“A hungry man is an angry man,” says the former guerrilla fighter with a steely glare followed by a shake of the head as he gleaned the thin pickings of a dry maize field on communal land just outside the capital Harare. As Zimbabwe turned 40 this weekend, I harked back to his soulful, disappointed, eyes on independence day, April 18,back in 1994, a few weeks after I had landed in Africa as a television journalist.



I will never forget Israel Mandere, who must be in his sixties now, yet clearly the internet – if ever it knew his name – has. I can still see him sweating in that field under the bright autumn sunshine as part of a struggling cooperative of war veterans scratching a living in the dust.



“No money, little food, tattered clothes,” says Mandere shaking his head in anger and stuttering with emotion.



“Ï am very embarrassed about that one.”



Two decades earlier, Mandere strapped an AK47 on his back to fight operations in eastern Zimbabwe from guerrilla camps, in the bush, across on the other side of the border in Mozambique as part of the ZANLA guerrilla forces that helped put President Mugabe in power. He joined, as a teenager and trained with thousands of comrades in Ethiopia to fight a small, yet tough, Rhodesian army bristling with modern weapons and vast firepower. The promise from his leaders – many of whom ended up in the cabinet – was a brighter tomorrow for the black majority.



In the early, euphoric, days this seemed so for many black Zimbabweans who found rights in a country where they had grown up feeling like foreigners. Black Zimbabweans took up top jobs in the land the commanding heights of the economy on a &nbsp;secure bedrock of robust infrastructure. Investment and flowed in the wake of the first elections in and land with universal suffrage.. Politically Zimbabwe campaigned for change in Africa as part of the Non Aligned Movement in the former frontline states.



Yet the economy was mismanaged and struggled to increase the standard of living for the growing population. In the early 80s the government turned on its own people in Matabeleland and more than 20,000 people died – as a journalist, I saw some of the shallow graves with my own eyes. More than a decade on, it choked me that relatives knew where their loved ones were buried but were merely too afraid of authority to go and visit them.



I was so angry that the crew and I went to a church in Bulawayo to question one of the politicians who oversaw the killings, the late Enos Nkala, who has become a pastor. &nbsp;Seriously, his people said the man himself was praying and couldn’t talk to us right now. We waited and Nkala slipped from the building and his accountability. &nbsp;One of many examples I saw of how the people of &nbsp;power in &nbsp;Zimbabwe often had that air of impunity. &nbsp;



Then there was the ham fisted way productive farm land was taken over and often left in ruins. It is a shame that Mandere’s grandchildren can only hear stories about Zimbabwe being the bread basket of southern Africa. It is a bitter irony also that many children &nbsp;and grandchildren of those who risked their lives fighting to free Zimbabwe were on the streets to howl President Mugabe out of power in November 2017.



I called one of my old friends and colleagues in Harare on independence day to see how it went. He admitted it hadn’t been a very celebratory 40th birthday party with the economy down after 20 days of COVID-19 lockdown.



“Zimbabwe at 40?” says he,” It is like you have gone to school, grown up, got married, had children and then you wake up at 40 to find you are undernourished.” &nbsp;



Now, I worked in Zimbabwe, as a journalist, and for years I travelled to almost every corner, small town &nbsp;and village to report stories and talk to people. I drank masese, danced in shebeens and met tens of thousands of Zimbabweans of all creeds and colours – good and bad, &nbsp;For every bad person there were a hundred good.



“This one is free,” people used to say in the dance halls late at night when they were asked why I was there.



&nbsp;All I want is the best for Zimbabwe, but I fear how the country will be when it turns 50.

Zimbabwe tightens coronavirus lockdown in capital Harare as cases hit 203

Comment :Zimbabwe at 40 subdued and disappointed

HARARE (Reuters) &#8211; A plane has left Zimbabwe for Singapore carrying government officials and relatives to bring home the body of Robert Mugabe, but it was still not clear where the former leader would be buried, a family spokesman said on Monday.



Mugabe’s family is pushing back against the government’s plan to bury him at the National Heroes Acre monument in Harare and wants him to be interred in his home village, relatives have told Reuters.



Leo Mugabe, the late president’s nephew and family spokesman, said a charter plane left Harare for Singapore just after 9 a.m. (0700 GMT) on Monday.



Mugabe’s body was expected to arrive in Zimbabwe on Wednesday at 3 p.m. (1300 GMT), Leo Mugabe told Reuters.



But when pressed on where Mugabe would be buried, Leo Mugabe was non-committal.



“Mugabe was a chief and he will be buried in accordance with tradition. The chiefs have not told us where he will be buried, so it is not clear yet. I also don’t know,” he said.



In some parts of Zimbabwe, burials of chiefs are a secret affair and people are only told the resting place afterwards.



Mugabe died on Friday aged 95 in Singapore, where he had long received medical treatment. He had dominated Zimbabwean politics for almost four decades from independence in 1980 until he was removed by his own army in a November 2017 coup.



Revered by many as a liberator who freed his people from white minority rule, Mugabe was vilified by others for wrecking one of Africa’s most promising economies and ruthlessly crushing his opponents.



Mugabe’s resting place has been a topic of discussion since the Zimbabwe Independent newspaper reported last month that Mugabe would snub the offer of a burial at National Heroes Acre &#8211; a site reserved for the country’s heroes &#8211; because he felt bitter about the way he was removed from power.



The Zimbabwean government said in a memo sent to embassies that it planned to hold a state funeral for Mugabe in the National Sports Stadium on Saturday, with a burial ceremony on Sunday, but it did not say where the burial would be.



If Mugabe is buried in Kutama village, 85 km (50 miles) from Harare, it would be a major rebuke for his successor, President Emmerson Mnangagwa, and the ruling ZANU-PF party that Mugabe helped to found.



Reporting by MacDonald Dzirutwe; Editing by Giles Elgood

Plane leaves Zimbabwe for Singapore to bring home the body of former president Robert Mugabe

HARARE (Reuters) &#8211; Following are key milestones in the life of Zimbabwe’s former leader Robert Mugabe.



1924 &#8211; Mugabe is born on Feb. 21 in what was then British-ruled Southern Rhodesia.



1940s-1950s &#8211; He is educated at Catholic schools and attends South Africa’s University of Fort Hare. He teaches in Zambia and Ghana, where he is influenced by African independence movement leaders.



1960s &#8211; Mugabe campaigns for Zimbabwe’s independence and is imprisoned in 1964 for political agitation. While incarcerated, he earns two law degrees from the University of London External Programme.



1974 &#8211; Released from prison, he escapes to Mozambique were Zimbabwe African National Union guerrilla fighters elect him to lead their struggle against white minority rule. A number of rivals die in suspicious circumstances, rights groups say.



1980 &#8211; Mugabe’s ZANU-PF party wins independent Zimbabwe’s first election. He takes office as prime minister on April 18.



1982 &#8211; Mugabe deploys North Korean-trained troops to crush an insurgency by former guerrillas loyal to his liberation war rival Joshua Nkomo. Government forces are accused of involvement in the killing of 20,000 civilians, which Mugabe denies.



1987 &#8211; He becomes president with sweeping executive powers after changes to the constitution and signs a unity pact with Nkomo, who becomes one of his two deputies.



1990 &#8211; ZANU-PF and Mugabe win parliamentary and presidential elections.



1998 &#8211; An economic crisis marked by high interest rates and inflation sparks riots.



2000 &#8211; Zimbabweans reject a new constitution in a referendum, Mugabe’s first defeat at the ballot box.



&#8211; Thousands of independence war veterans and their allies, backed by the government, seize white-owned farms, saying the land was illegally appropriated by white settlers.



2001 &#8211; The United States puts a financial freeze on Mugabe’s government in response to land seizures, beginning a wave of Western sanctions. Mugabe’s relationship with the West, especially the U.S. and Britain, never recovers.



2002 &#8211; Mugabe wins a disputed presidential vote, which observers condemn as flawed.



&#8211; Zimbabwe is suspended from the British Commonwealth over accusations of human rights abuses and economic mismanagement. Mugabe pulls his country from the grouping the following year.



2008 &#8211; Hyperinflation reaches 500 billion percent, the nadir of an economic implosion that forces millions of people to leave the country, many to neighbouring South Africa.



&#8211; Mugabe loses a presidential vote but wins the run-off after opponent Morgan Tsvangirai withdraws citing violence against his supporters by security forces and war veterans. A power-sharing agreement is signed.



2010 &#8211; Media reports say Mugabe is seriously ill with cancer, speculation that continues in following years.



2013 &#8211; Mugabe wins another disputed presidential vote. Western observers site multiple accounts of electoral fraud.



2016 &#8211; Protesters led by a pastor stage the biggest show of defiance against Mugabe in a decade, prompting speculation about life after the veteran leader.



2017 &#8211; Mugabe is forced to resign in November following an army coup and is replaced by Emmerson Mnangagwa, the man he had fired as his deputy two weeks earlier.



2018 &#8211; Mugabe is seen in public for the first time since leaving power. He berates his former ZANU-PF allies and backs opposition leader Nelson Chamisa on the eve of an election.



2019 &#8211; Mugabe travels several times to Singapore to seek medical treatment as pictures of the gaunt, gray-haired former leader circulate on social media.



Compiled by MacDonald Dzirutwe, Joe Brock and Alexandra Zavis; editing by Darren Schuettler

TIMELINE: A look at the life of Zimbabwe’s late former president Robert Mugabe

This is a developing story 



Zimbabwe&#8217;s former president Robert Mugabe has died at the age of 95. The former president died in a Singapore hospital where he was receiving medical treatment. 



In 2017 Mugabe resigned as Zimbabwe’s president shortly after parliament began an impeachment process to end his nearly four decades of rule. 



<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Cde Mugabe was an icon of liberation, a pan-Africanist who dedicated his life to the emancipation and empowerment of his people. His contribution to the history of our nation and continent will never be forgotten. May his soul rest in eternal peace (2/2)&mdash; President of Zimbabwe (@edmnangagwa) <a href="https://twitter.com/edmnangagwa/status/1169839311430115329?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 6, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

#BREAKING: Zimbabwe’s former president Robert Mugabe has died

HARARE (Reuters) &#8211; Phelekezela Mphoko, a former deputy to ousted Zimbabwe president Robert Mugabe, was charged on Wednesday with criminal abuse of office, his lawyer said, in the latest move by the new anti-corruption commission.



The court freed Mphoko on bail. He denies all the charges, his lawyer Zibusiso Ncube said.



Mphoko lost his vice presidential post when a military coup forced Mugabe to resign in 2017 after 37 years in power and led to presidential elections won by longtime Mugabe associate Emmerson Mnangagwa.



Ncube said Mphoko was being accused of using his position to force police to release from their custody suspects who were facing corruption charges in 2016. The ex-vice president also faces a lesser charge of obstructing justice, Ncube said.



A new Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission appointed in July was given the power to arrest suspects, but critics question whether it will be effective.



A previous anti-graft agency failed to tackle corruption among the political elite and many Zimbabweans believe those behind corruption are politically connected and may not be touched.



The commission last month charged a sitting cabinet minister, Prisca Mupfumira, with corruption involving $95 million. Mupfumira was early this month fired from her tourism ministry job.



Mupfumira was the first senior government official to be interrogated by the commission, which was appointed by Mnangagwa after he promised tough action against graft.



Mphoko could be jailed up to 15 years, with an option of paying a fine, if found guilty of criminal abuse of office.



He was granted 1,000 Zimbabwe dollars ($98) bail and ordered to surrender his passport with the court. He will return to court on Sept. 4 when state prosecutors will decide whether they are ready to proceed to trial.



Reporting by MacDonald Dzirutwe; Editing by Olivia Kumwenda-Mtambo and Mark Heinrich

Zimbabwe charges former Mugabe deputy, here’s why

HARARE (Reuters) &#8211; Zimbabwe and the European Union began political talks on Wednesday aimed at turning the page on hostile relations during Robert Mugabe’s rule, a step that could enable a resumption of direct financial aid for the ailing economy.



During Mugabe’s four-decade rule until 2017, he would routinely blame European “colonialists” for Zimbabwe’s problems, and snarled at EU and U.S. sanctions for rights and vote abuses.



The EU has only kept sanctions on Mugabe, his wife and the state arms manufacturer, but is yet to resume direct funding to the new government of President Emmerson Mnangagwa, preferring to channel money through local charities and U.N. agencies.



With the economy afflicted by dollar shortages, fuel queues, power-cuts, and soaring prices, Mnangagwa has said restoring ties with the West and multilateral lenders like International Monetary Fund is one of his major priorities.



At the start of the open-ended talks between diplomats and officials in Harare, EU Zimbabwe delegation head Timo Olkkonen said they would discuss issues including economic development, trade, investment, rights, rule of law and good governance.



The government has already signed up to an IMF monitoring programme where it has committed to political and economic reforms in a bid to set a track record of fiscal discipline that could earn it debt forgiveness and future financing.



At a separate event in a Harare hotel, Mnangagwa signed a new bill creating a tripartite negotiating forum intended to bring labour, business and government together to shape policy.



The 76-year-old leader is under pressure to deliver on pre-election promises and wants to avert a repeat of violent protests over a steep fuel price hike in January.



Later on Wednesday, the government is expected to start wage negotiations with public sector unions, who say a pay rise of up to 29% they received in April had already been eroded by inflation, now at a 10-year high of 75.86 %.



Mnangagwa has promised to break with his predecessor and says his “open for business” mantra will woo foreign investors. But critics say under his rule the economy shows no signs of improving while security forces have continued to crush dissent.



Reporting by MacDonald Dzirutwe; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne

What you need to know about Zimbabwe and EU’s political talks to ease tensions created in Mugabe-era

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) &#8211; South Africa has issued an arrest warrant for Zimbabwe’s former first lady Grace Mugabe over an alleged assault in an upmarket district of Johannesburg last year, police spokesman Vishnu Naidoo said on Wednesday.



“I can confirm that a warrant for the arrest of Grace Mugabe was issued last Thursday,” Naidoo said, adding South African police were seeking Interpol’s help to enforce the warrant.



There was no immediate comment from Mrs Mugabe or from authorities in Harare.



Reporting by Alexander Winning; Editing by James Macharia

Why South Africa’s NPA issued an arrest warrant for Zimbabwe’s Grace Mugabe

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Zimbabwe marks one year after the removal of Robert Mugabe from power, for a discussion on the changes that have happened so far CNBC Africa is joined by Trust Ndlovu, Chairperson for MDC Alliance South Africa.

Zimbabwe economy is worse off one year after Mugabe left office – MDC Alliance SA

Zimbabwe diaspora entrepreneurs see opportunity in Zim amid economic crisis

HARARE (Reuters) &#8211; Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe has said he now accepts President Emmerson Mnangagwa as the country’s legitimate leader after initially accusing him of leading a “disgraceful” de facto coup that ended his near four-decades rule last year.
On the eve of the July 30 vote, Mugabe said he would vote for the opposition to remove Mnangagwa’s “military government”, as the 94-year-old leader expressed bitterness and turned against his one-time allies in the ruling ZANU-PF party.
But at a funeral wake of his mother-in-law, Mugabe said Mnangagwa’s victory, which is still disputed by his main opponent Nelson Chamisa, made him a legitimate president, the privately-owned NewsDay and state-owned The Herald newspapers reported on Friday.
“The wrong that happened last November has been erased by his victory in the July 30 elections. We now have a government born out of the constitution. I now accept his leadership and he now deserves the support of every Zimbabwean,” Mugabe said, looking frail in video footage on an online television site.
“Before the elections, I did not support him because he came through illegal means which violated our liberation values that politics lead the gun,” added Mugabe, likely ending the feud between the new president and his former mentor.
Mugabe’s forced resignation divided ZANU-PF and created mistrust between the army on one side and the police and intelligence agency on the other, but the rapprochement could help overcome those differences and rally others behind Mnangagwa.
The military last year intervened after expulsions of ZANU-PF officials that were sympathetic to Mnangagwa, then Mugabe’s deputy, and to stop the presidential ambitions of the wife of the veteran former leader.
Mugabe’s wife Grace and a ZANU-PF faction known as G40 had been resisting Mnangagwa’s rise to power. Mugabe again denied that he had planned to install Grace as his preferred successor, NewsDay and The Herald reported on Friday.
At the wake Grace also said people should pray for her husband, who she said was not feeling well. The couple have travelled to Singapore several times this year for Mugabe’s medical treatment.
Editing by Matthew Mpoke Bigg

Mugabe says he now accepts Mnangagwa as Zimbabwe’s legitimate leader, here’s why…

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With a blend of music, comedy and satire, South Africa&#8217;s Deep Fried Man has created a unique way to laugh and sing at the country&#8217;s political blunders. Ahead of his fifth solo show, he sat down with CNBC Africa&#8217;s Karabo Letlhatlha.

SA’s Deep Fried Man takes on Shaun Abrahams, Mugabe and Omarosa

HARARE (Reuters) &#8211; Troops ordered shops to close and told people to leave the centre of Zimbabwe’s capital on Thursday, one day after three people were killed by soldiers sent in to break up demonstrators claiming this week’s presidential election was rigged.
The crackdown by the army has punctured the euphoria that followed its removal of long-time strongman Robert Mugabe eight months ago, and fuelled suspicions that the generals who launched the coup remain Zimbabwe’s de facto rulers.
In Harare, the contrast could not be stronger with November, when hundreds of thousands filled the streets, hugging soldiers and celebrating their role in ousting 94-year-old Mugabe, the only leader Zimbabwe had known since independence in 1980.
“They are showing their true colours now. We thought they were our saviour in November but they fooled us,” said newspaper vendor Farai Dzengera, admitting that the brief dream of an end to decades of repression was over.
“Now they tell us to leave town. What can we do? We will go. They run this country.”
Nearly all shops in downtown Harare were shuttered and the normally bustling pavements eerily quiet. Several streets remained littered with the rubble and embers from Wednesday’s clashes between protesters and soldiers.
“We are just waiting to see what they will do next since they don’t want us in town. Who can argue with a man carrying a gun?” said Isaac Nyirenda, sipping a sorghum beer out of a sipping a blue plastic bottle.
ARMY IN CHARGE 
Wednesday’s violence, which followed a relatively orderly election, dashes President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s hopes of repairing the image of a country that had become synonmous with corruption and economic collapse in under Mugabe.
In particular, the use of soldiers to control the capital confirms suspicions that the generals who ousted Mugabe &#8211; including army chief-turned vice-president Constantino Chiwenga &#8211; are firmly in charge, analysts said.
“Deployment of troops reveals the uncomfortable truth that, eight months after Mugabe was ousted, the army remains the pre-eminent political force,” said Piers Pigou, a Zimbabwe expert at the International Crisis Group think-tank.
The election, which pitched 75-year-old Mnangagwa against 40-year-old opposition leader Nelson Chamisa, was supposed to confirm the legitimacy of the post-Mugabe government and allow Harare to renew ties with the international community.
This in turn would have allowed it to start unlocking the billions of dollars of donor funding and investment needed to get its economy &#8211; at independence, one of Africa’s most vibrant &#8211; back on its feet.
Instead, observers from the Commonwealth, the group of mainly former British colonies that Mnangagwa had been hoping to rejoin, did not mince their words in condemning the conduct of the military.
“We categorically denounce the excessive use of force against unarmed civilians,” former Ghanaian president John Mahama said in a statement on behalf of the Commonwealth.
He also urged the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) to speed up the announcement of the results of the presidential vote. The observers had on Wednesday reported a number of problems with the poll, including voter intimidation.
The United Nations and European Union both called for restraint, while Britain, an unashamed cheerleader of the “new” post-Mugabe Zimbabwe, said it was “deeply concerned” by the violence.
China, an important source of funding under Mugabe and Mnangagwa, said however it believed the election had generally proceeded in an orderly fashion. A foreign ministry spokesman “noted” reports of Wednesday’s unrest.
“NO SKULDUGGERY” 
Mnangagwa, a former security chief nicknamed ‘The Crocodile’, offered his condolences to the families of the victims of the crackdown and said those responsible would be brought to justice.
He also said he had been talking to Chamisa to try to defuse tensions, which escalated dramatically after the Movement for Democratic Change leader claimed &#8211; without producing evidence or numbers &#8211; that he had won the popular vote. [nL5N1US0UD]
There was no response from the MDC, whose founder, Morgan Tsvangirai, beat Mugabe in the first round of an election in 2008 before pulling out of the race after scores of his supporters were killed.
Tsvangirai, who was savagely beaten in police custody in 2007, died of cancer in February.
The election commission, whose website was hacked overnight, said it would announce the results of the vote “very soon” and denied MDC claims that it had allowed ZANU-PF to rig the vote.
There was “absolutely no skulduggery”, deputy chairman Emmanuel Magade told a news conference.
For some, however, the result no longer matters.
“Yesterday was a very sad day for Zimbabwe,” said minibus driver Gift, glancing over his shoulder at a soldier smoking a cigarette.
“We hope things remain quiet and we can all just forget about this election. We don’t know if it was fair. The government will do what they want.”
Additional reporting and writing by Ed Cropley, Editing by Angus MacSwan

Why use of troops raises suspicions in Zimbabwe’s elections

<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/james-hamill-254226">By James Hamill</a>, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-leicester-1053">University of Leicester</a>
Zimbabwe’s new President <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-41995876">Emmerson Mnangagwa</a> has been cautiously welcomed with the hope that he will place Zimbabwe on a <a href="https://theconversation.com/mnangagwa-has-the-capacity-to-focus-on-the-new-zimbabwe-but-will-he-88254">more democratic trajectory</a>. He has spoken of a <a href="https://www.iol.co.za/news/africa/can-emmerson-mnangagwa-a-mugabe-ally-bring-change-to-zimbabwe-12134023">new democracy “unfolding”</a> in Zimbabwe.
But this is wishful thinking.
There are three major barriers to a decisive break from the corrupt and dysfunctional political system that has been playing out in Zimbabwe: the ruling <a href="http://www.zanupf.org.zw/">Zanu-PF</a>, its president and what’s been their main sustainer – the military.
None would want to oversee real change because facilitating democratic rule with real contestation for power would mean running the risk of electoral defeat. This would endanger the networks of self enrichment that have been put in place over decades.
Instead, the next few months will see Zanu-PF, Mnangagwa and the <a href="https://theconversation.com/zimbabwe-beware-the-military-is-looking-after-its-own-interests-not-democracy-87712">military</a> continue to block democracy as they seek to hold onto the power.
<h2>The nature of Zanu-PF</h2>
Zanu-PF presents a formidable obstacle to democratic progress in the country. Zimbabwe has maintained the outward appearance of a multiparty democracy since <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/4/newsid_2515000/2515145.stm">independence in 1980</a>. But it’s effectively been a <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-modern-african-studies/article/towards-the-oneparty-state-in-zimbabwe-a-study-in-african-political-thought/BD356807617492EBE85877DB6CD815C7">one-party dictatorship</a>.
The party brings a zero-sum game mindset to politics: it must always prevail, and its <a href="https://www.hrw.org/report/2008/06/09/bullets-each-you/state-sponsored-violence-zimbabwes-march-29-elections">opponents must be crushed</a> rather than accommodated. Opposition parties formally exist but they have not been allowed to win an election. Should such a possibility arise – as it did in <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-are-elections-really-rigged-mr-trump-consult-robert-mugabe-68440">2002, 2008 and 2013</a> – elections will be rigged to preserve the status quo.
Zanu-PF provides the most egregious example of the culture of exceptionalism which has characterised the liberation party in power. These include:
<ul>
<li>the belief that its entitled to rule indefinitely,</li>
<li>its refusal to view itself as an ordinary political party,</li>
<li>its conflating of party and state, and</li>
<li>its demonising of other parties as ‘enemies of liberation’ seeking to restore colonialism or white minority rule.</li>
</ul>
The way in which Zanu-PF has colonised the state over almost four decades means that there is a vast web of <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03057070.2013.862100?src=recsys">patronage networks</a> that have been entrenched to facilitate the looting of the state’s resources. Democratic change and clean government pose a mortal threat to these networks and such privileges are unlikely to be surrendered without intense resistance.
<h2>The new president</h2>
Mnangagwa’s ominous record makes it difficult to build a persuasive case that he represents a new beginning.
He served as <a href="https://theconversation.com/mnangagwa-has-the-capacity-to-focus-on-the-new-zimbabwe-but-will-he-88254">Mugabe’s “chief enforcer”</a> until November 2017. He was pivotal to the collapse of the rule of law and the implosion of the Zimbabwean economy. And he has been a central player in the <a href="https://www.ushmm.org/m/pdfs/20161116-Zimbabwe-Early-Warning-Report.pdf">gross human rights abuses</a> that have characterised Zanu-PF rule. This includes the killings in <a href="https://books.google.co.za/books?id=zi-tWekXbD8C&amp;pg=PA19&amp;lpg=PA19&amp;dq=%22the+early+rain+which+washes+away+the+chaff+before+the+spring+rains%22&amp;source=bl&amp;ots=dWX2SIUj7r&amp;sig=0aDLpmmQfN93e_RNJuKcBmGGEYI&amp;hl=en&amp;sa=X&amp;ved=0ahUKEwioi-joj6LWAhWE7hoKHRF_C7wQ6AEIOTAD#v=onepage&amp;q=%22the%20early%20rain%20which%20washes%20away%20the%20chaff%20before%20the%20spring%20rains%22&amp;f=false">Matabeleland killings</a> in the 1980s. This is a past for which he has refused to <a href="https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2017-11-27-op-ed-mnangagwa-and-the-gukurahundi-fact-and-fiction/#.WjFR4Ux2trQ">acknowledge any responsibility</a>.
His more conciliatory language has not matched his actions. After becoming president he appointed an administration of cronies, military hardliners and ‘war veterans’.
The appointments appeared to consolidate the power of the now dominant faction of Zanu-PF: the old guard securocrats who routed Grace Mugabe’s equally malign <a href="https://www.pindula.co.zw/G40_(Zanu-PF_Faction)">G40 faction</a> through the barrel of a gun rather than democratic processes.
Having waited such a seemingly interminable length of time to land the top job, it is difficult to envisage Mnangagwa now placing his hard earned spoils at the mercy of <a href="https://www.businesslive.co.za/rdm/politics/2017-11-20-justice-malala-dont-fool-yourself-zimbabwe-wont-be-fixed-by-mugabes-ex-cronies/">a programme of democratisation</a>.
<h2>The military</h2>
The Zimbabwean Defence Force’s role in the removal of the president means that it has secured a place for itself as a privileged political actor and overseer of the entire political system.
The defence force has never been a neutral custodian of constitutional rule. Instead it has always been a highly politicised extension of the ruling party, a party militia in effect.
Previously its role was confined to repressing the ruling party’s opponents and maintaining the party’s dominance. The principle of civilian rule was respected even if this model of civil-military relations failed to meet any reasonable democratic standards. But with the coup, the military crossed a line. They determined the outcome of power struggles within the ruling party itself.
In the same way that the military has been politicised, the political system has been heavily militarised. This can be seen in the several key military veterans who have been appointed to the cabinet as well as Mnangagwa being the military’s candidate for the presidency. Essentially this is the civilian face of quasi-military rule in Zimbabwe.
To see the military’s removal of Mugabe as an overriding good ignores the fact that it has no concept of the national interest, or that it views that national interest as synonymous with its own and Zanu-PF’s.What this points to is an effective “barracks democracy” emerging in Zimbabwe. The military has secured a veto over the leadership of the ruling party and over the wider political process. It also reserves the right to reject election results that it does not approve of, or to take action that could prevent such results materialising in the first place.
It is dangerously naïve to expect such a force to help facilitate genuine democratic transition when its entire raison d’etre has been to preserve one-party rule (under a leadership of its choosing), to disable meaningful opposition and to <a href="https://www.theindependent.co.zw/2017/09/15/military-looted-diamonds-report/">preserve its own corruption networks</a>.
<h2>Unsettling prospects</h2>
True democratisation – as opposed to merely maintaining the procedural forms of democratic government – is anathema to Zimbabwe’s ruling party, its president and the military.
It is evident that their task is threefold over the next few months. They have to secure support for a measure of liberalisation; arrest political enemies for corruption rather than tackling corruption per se; and provide a smokescreen of a largely vacuous democratic rhetoric.
The hope is that this will be sufficient to secure aid, investment and an endorsement by external donors while virtually nothing changes in the actual power relations inside the country.
Anyone committed to democracy in Zimbabwe -– whether inside or outside the country – should begin mobilising against this project sooner rather than later.
<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/james-hamill-254226">James Hamill</a>, Lecturer in Politics and International Relations, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-leicester-1053">University of Leicester</a>
This article was originally published on <a href="http://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a>. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-three-barriers-blocking-zimbabwes-progress-zanu-pf-mnangagwa-and-the-military-89177">original article</a>.
http://cnbc.africa/news/2017/12/28/zimbabwe-ex-army-boss-sworn-mugabe-gets-diplomats-rights/

Op-ed: The three barriers blocking Zimbabwe’s progress

Written by Chris Bishop
Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe’s nephew and cabinet minister, who is hiding in fear of his life in South Africa, has said the 93-year-old head of state will not step down because of the letter of the Constitution despite a military takeover and massed marches against him in Harare. He also claims Grace Mugabe has no interest in becoming president.
Patrick Zhuwawo, who has been Minister of Public Services and Social Welfare for the last two years, is the son of Mugabe’s sister Sabina, who died in 2010. He is said to be one of the supporters of his aunt’s bid to succeed Mugabe, although he denies this.
Zhuwawo had been in Buenos Aires, Argentina, attending a conference on child labour, when the military went in.  As he checked in for a flight home at OR Tambo International Airport, in Johannesburg, he took a call from his family in Harare begging him to stay put.
“They told me that my house had been vandalised and I was on a wanted list. The also informed me that a number of people had died in this illegal coup and more than 200 were in detention,” says Zhuwawo.
When will President Mugabe step down? I said, asking the question on everyone’s lips on the day as thousands marched in Harare calling from him to go.
<blockquote>“Because he has a mandate given to him by an electoral process. More importantly stepping down because of a coup is dangerous, it is evil we can never allow military weapons to determine democratic processes….he is not going to step down,” says Zhuwawo.</blockquote>
“This coup is now being window dressed to look like a popular uprising.”
WATCH: <a href="http://cnbc.africa/videos/2017/11/15/zimbabwe-military-takeover-in-line-with-constitution-temba-mliswa/">Zimbabwe Military Takeover In Line With Constitution – Temba Mliswa</a>
Zhuwawo claims that military chiefs are using protesters to cover what he alleges is looting from multi-million dollar agricultural funds.
Zhuwawo also claimed he was not a member of the so called G40 group of young MPs backing his aunt Grace to succeed his uncle.
<a href="http://cnbc.africa/news/southern-africa/2017/11/15/fact-box-key-figures-zimbabwe-first-lady-grace-mugabes-g40/">FACT BOX: Key Figures In Zimbabwe First Lady Grace Mugabe’s ‘G40’ Faction</a>
“No, that is not the issue and she has no intention of being the next president. The people of Zimbabwe must choose the next president,” he says.
What about President Mugabe’s age and infirmity. When I saw him at the World Economic Forum in Durban in May he moved painfully – isn’t it time, I asked?
“One of the things in our constitution is that there must be no discrimination on race or sex or age..If you were Zimbabwean you are breaking the Constitution …What we do not want to go back to is the day of Nazi Germany when they were euthanizing old people,” he says
After 37 years in power, the last 20  presiding over a crumbling economy, surely Mugabe and his comrades had failed and should go anyway to make way for new ideas?
“You will not divert me here, I am talking about a coup,” he says.
If only Mugabe, Zhuwawo and company had diverted the economy towards growth and prosperity 20 years ago there may not be tanks and protesters on the streets now.
VIEW: <a href="http://cnbc.africa/trending/forbes-africa/2017/11/18/history-making-scenes-zimbabwes-anti-mugabe-protest/">History In The Making: Scenes From #Zimbabwe’s Anti-Mugabe Protest</a>
WATCH: <a href="http://cnbc.africa/videos/2017/11/15/this-is-the-destruction-mugabes-rule-caused-zimbabwes-economy/">This Is The Destruction Mugabe’s Rule Caused Zimbabwe’s Economy</a>
WATCH: <a href="http://cnbc.africa/videos/2017/11/17/there-is-more-fuss-over-one-mans-job-than-hundreds-of-zimbabweans-dead-wilf-mbanga/">There Is More Fuss Over One Man’s Job Than Hundreds Of Zimbabweans Dead – Wilf Mbanga</a>

Mugabe won’t step down – Grace won’t step up – says cabinet minister and nephew

Natasha Turak; Correspondent
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<li>Mugabe is reportedly in detention following what the military claims is a &#8220;bloodless correction&#8221; targeting so-called &#8220;criminals&#8221; around the president</li>
<li>Witnesses have reported hearing explosions in the capital Harare as tanks block streets and long lines form at banks</li>
<li>The development follows days of tensions between Mugabe&#8217;s ruling Zanu-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) party and military chief General Constantino Chiwenga</li>
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Zimbabwe&#8217;s military seized control of the country Wednesday in a disturbance that one regional expert said renders the 93-year-old leader&#8217;s nearly 40-year hold on power &#8220;over&#8221;.
Mugabe is reportedly in detention following what the military claims is a &#8220;bloodless correction&#8221; targeting so-called &#8220;criminals&#8221; around the president. Witnesses have reported hearing explosions in the capital Harare as tanks block streets and long lines form at banks.
Regional expert Charles Laurie, head of country risk at Verisk Maplecrof, said Wednesday that while the extent to which the situation is a coup is unclear, the intervention certainly bears all the hallmarks of a military takeover.
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&#8220;The degree to which it is a coup remains to be seen, but there is no doubt at this stage it is a strong military intervention,&#8221; Laurie told CNBC.
The development follows days of tensions between Mugabe&#8217;s ruling Zanu-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) party and military chief General Constantino Chiwenga. The latter announced in a rare press conference Monday that those behind the &#8220;purging&#8221; of ZANU-PF must stop, or the military will take action. ZANU-PF responded by accusing the general of &#8220;treacherous conduct.&#8221;
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Chiwenga is believed to have been referencing Mugabe&#8217;s sacking of Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa a week prior. Mnangagwa then fled to South Africa but has reportedly already returned. Once seen as the president&#8217;s successor, he was caught in a power struggle with Mugabe&#8217;s wife Grace, who is currently viewed as favorite to succeed her husband, despite having little political experience.
&#8220;Its unlikely at this stage that the general is seeking to secure power for himself,&#8221; Laurie said. &#8220;The more likely scenario is that he is seeking to in effect wind back the clock and bring the former senior vice president back into the country and have him be in the key position to succeed.&#8221;
Laurie rejected suggestions that this could be the work of the South African government.
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<div style="width: 540px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a class="enlargeThisImage" href="https://www.cnbc.com/2017/11/15/mugabes-absolute-hold-on-power-is-now-over-zimbabwe-expert-says.html#"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://fm.cnbc.com/applications/cnbc.com/resources/img/editorial/2017/11/15/104844117-GettyImages-874340326.530x298.jpg?v=1510754413" alt="This screen grab taken early on November 15, 2017 from a television broadcast on the Zimbabwe Broadcasting corporation (ZBC) shows Zimbabwe Major General Sibusiso Moyo reading a statement at the ZBC broadcast studio in Harare. Zimbabwe's military appeared to be in control of the country on November 15 as generals denied staging a coup but used state television to vow to target 'criminals' close to President Robert Mugabe." width="530" height="298" data-enlarged-image="https://fm.cnbc.com/applications/cnbc.com/resources/img/editorial/2017/11/15/104844117-GettyImages-874340326.1910x1000.jpg?v=1510754413" /></a>AFP | Getty Images</div>
<div class="caption">This screen grab taken early on November 15, 2017 from a television broadcast on the Zimbabwe Broadcasting corporation (ZBC) shows Zimbabwe Major General Sibusiso Moyo reading a statement at the ZBC broadcast studio in Harare. Zimbabwe&#8217;s military appeared to be in control of the country on November 15 as generals denied staging a coup but used state television to vow to target &#8216;criminals&#8217; close to President Robert Mugabe.</div>
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Alisha Patel, Sub-Saharan Africa analyst at AKE, told CNBC in an email that: &#8220;Mugabe&#8217;s rule had long been despised, with the deep factionalism within the ruling ZANU-PF demonstrating this. However, up until now there had appeared to be no way to unseat the 93-year-old president.&#8221;
&#8220;The military takeover is the latest development in an increasingly bitter and public succession battle for the presidency, and more importantly the vast patronage opportunities that come with it,&#8221; Patel said.
&#8220;Moreover, it is a tremendously significant development. For Mugabe, the end appears to be nigh after 37 years in power, and he looks set to be little more than a lame duck president. A Mugabe dynasty now appears to be equally unlikely.&#8221;
Regarded by some as an African revolutionary hero who rid Zimbabwe of minority white rule, Mugabe&#8217;s leadership since 1980 has been largely characterized as tyrannical, marked by severe economic mismanagement leading to famine and hyperinflation, violent suppression of opposition, corruption and human rights abuses.
International sanctions imposed on the country as a result have pushed it further into isolation and economic decline. By 2008, unemployment in Zimbabwe was at 94 percent and inflation had skyrocketed to more that 1000 percent.
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<div style="width: 540px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a class="enlargeThisImage" href="https://www.cnbc.com/2017/11/15/mugabes-absolute-hold-on-power-is-now-over-zimbabwe-expert-says.html#"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://fm.cnbc.com/applications/cnbc.com/resources/img/editorial/2017/11/15/104844149-GettyImages-874355048.530x298.jpg?v=1510754622" alt="A military tank seals off a main road to the presidential office within the military activities taking place in Harare, Zimbabwe on November 15, 2017" width="530" height="298" data-enlarged-image="https://fm.cnbc.com/applications/cnbc.com/resources/img/editorial/2017/11/15/104844149-GettyImages-874355048.1910x1000.jpg?v=1510754622" /></a>Stringer | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images</div>
<div class="caption">A military tank seals off a main road to the presidential office within the military activities taking place in Harare, Zimbabwe on November 15, 2017</div>
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Now, Patel says, former vice president Mnagagwa could be on course to lead Zimbabwe. &#8220;Mnagagwa has much support for the West, and this could yet be an opportunity to mend broken relations. The mood on the streets appears calm. Indeed, many are excited about the end of an era.&#8221;
&#8220;Zimbabwe has for the last 10 to 15 years been in a state of suspended animation — economically and politically it&#8217;s been in a dire condition,&#8221; Laurie said. &#8220;As of today, the situation in Zimbabwe is dramatically different from what it was yesterday.
&#8220;The degree to which this is an improvement is far too premature to say. What we can definitely say is Mugabe&#8217;s absolute hold on power is now over, and we&#8217;re into a period of uncertain rule in the country.&#8221;
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‘Mugabe’s absolute hold on power is now over,’ Zimbabwe expert says

Zimbabwean opposition parties demanded on Wednesday that presidential elections next year be conducted by a committee set up by the United Nations and African Union because they had lost confidence in the neutrality of the local election agency.
President Robert Mugabe, 94 and in power for 30 years, is due to run again.
Leaders from several political parties, including Movement for Democratic Change&#8217;s Morgan Tsvangirai, told a few hundred supporters during a protest rally in the capital that the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) had failed to be partial and should be disbanded.
Police deployed water cannon and anti-riot officers on the streets of the capital throughout the day after confining the protesters to an open space on the edge of the city centre.
The opposition parties, who were united under a National Election Reform Agenda (NERA), were protesting against changes to the voter registration process and said they would rally behind Tsvangirai to face Mugabe in the presidential vote.
Anti-government protests in August descended into some of the worst violence seen in the southern African nation for two decades as anger over economic hardship boiled over.
NERA chairman Farai Mbire said the United Nations, African Union and the Southern African Development Community &#8220;must immediately establish an independent, tripartite election management body to take over the full functions of ZEC.&#8221;
The opposition parties also said Mugabe&#8217;s government should back off from its decision to take over the purchase of biometric voter registration kits from the United Nations.
They fear this will make it easier for Mugabe&#8217;s ZANU-PF to skew the list of eligible voters in its favour.
Mbire did not say what would happen if Mugabe&#8217;s government rejected their demands. ZANU-PF legal secretary and Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa told the state-run Herald newspaper that it was ZEC&#8217;s constitutional right to run elections.
Anti-riot police allowed a handful of NERA officials to present a petition to the offices of ZEC.
Zimbabwe is due to hold its next presidential and parliamentary election by July 2018. Mugabe has been endorsed as the ruling party&#8217;s presidential candidate.
(Reporting by MacDonald Dzirutwe; Editing by Ed Cropley/Jeremy Gaunt)

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