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Opposition
politics in independent Zimbabwe
Liisa
Laakso
January 23, 2005
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Abstract:
Zimbabwe has implemented a multi-party system on a universal franchise
for more than two decades. This era has witnessed consolidation
of power into the hands of the ruling ZANU party and its leader
Robert Mugabe, and a gradual evolution of political crises. All
general elections have shown support for the opposition among the
voters. However, the opposition has changed a lot. Between 1980
and 1987 there was a strong regional party, ZAPU, which transformed
from a partner of the ruling party to repressed dissident. The second
period after the unity between ZANU and ZAPU witnessed mobilisation
in defence of multipartyism and against corruption, and the birth
of a populist party ZUM. ZUM’s disintegration was followed by massive
electoral apathy in 1995. The third period started with civic organization
for constitutional reform in 1997 and led to the emergence of the
MDC, a wide coalition of interest groups united by their aim to
seize ZANU from power. State responses to opposition politics help
to clarify its unstable nature.
Introduction
Consolidation of the authoritarian power of Robert Mugabe’s Zimbabwe
African National Union (ZANU) in independent Zimbabwe has not proceeded
through the withering away of dissent. All general elections have
witnessed support for other parties. But the parties andtheir support
base have changed radically. On the one hand this reflects the government’s
different strategies to silence its critics. On the other hand it
tells about changes in Zimbabwean society itself.
During the 1980s, the focus of the government was on the establishment
of a one-party state. Although the idea was abandoned in 1990 and
the multiparty system was retained, it was not until the general
elections of 2000 and presidential elections of 2002 that there
emerged an opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC), strong enough to challenge the position of the ruling party.
Its base was largely the new generation of Zimbabweans whose opinion
stemmed more from the experience of twenty years of ZANU rule than
from the liberation war. Discontent with the policies of the ruling
party was preceded by gradual evolution of economic crises. It was
also expressed in mass mobilisation for a constitutional reform
that brought various professional, civic and interest groups together.
The aim of this paper is to examine opposition politics and the
space available for it in independent Zimbabwe. For this end it
is useful to distinguish between three periods. The first period,
lasting from independence in 1980 to 1987, was characterised by
the existence of a strong regional party, Joshua Nkomo’s Zimbabwe
African People’s Union (ZAPU), whose position changed from that
of a partner of ZANU to repressed dissident. The second period followed
the merging of ZAPU into ZANU. Although de facto one-party system
was created, this period also witnessed civil society mobilisation
in defence of the multiparty system. A new populist opposition party,
Zimbabwe Unity Movement (ZUM) emerged, but then disintegrated rapidly.
Disillusionment and massive electoral apathy followed in 1995. The
third and latest period started with civil society organization
for constitutional reform in 1997 and led to the birth of the MDC.
After an overview of the continuities and discontinuities of party
politics during these periods, the prospects of opposition politics
in Zimbabwe will be discussed.
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