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A man looks at the banner of Zimbabwe's President Emmerson Mnangagwa.
Zimbabwe vote marred by apathy and disappointment
Zimbabweans are heading to the polls today, but few voters are feeling enthusiastic about the direction of their country. It’s only the second time that Zimbabwe is holding a vote since the ousting of longtime despot Robert Mugabe in 2017, but hopes that the southern African country of 15 million could undergo a democratic rebirth have largely dissipated.
Some quick background. Zimbabwe, a British colony until gaining independence in 1980, was ruled by liberation fighter-turned-autocrat Robert Mugabe until he was overthrown in a coup in 2017. At the time, most Zimbabweans rejoiced, hoping for a new dawn of economic growth and opportunity after years of corruption and oppression under the Mugabe regime.
But since then, Emmerson Mnangagwa, 80, Mugabe’s former deputy known as "the crocodile" due to his ruthlessness, has forced himself on the Zimbabwean people, coming to power in 2018 in an election broadly seen as a sham. Mnangagwa, a former guerilla fighter, was sentenced to death during white Colonial rule, but was ultimately able to escape that fate, serving a 10-year prison term instead, because he was under the age of 21. It was in prison that Mnangagwa and Mugabe met.
Most analysts say there’s no chance that today’s vote will be free or fair. Indeed, authorities have shut down recent rallies led by the Citizens Coalition for Change, the main opposition party led by Nelson Chamisa, 45, and arrested its supporters. Internet connections have also been slashed, limiting voters' access to key information.
The situation could not be more dire for the southern African state, where unemployment is pervasive, inflation is in the triple digits, and, according to some estimates, 90% of workers toil in the informal economy due to a dearth of investment and jobs. Zimbabwe is resource-rich, but decades of corruption, mismanagement, and underinvestment have meant that ordinary people have not benefited from mineral exports.
Crucially, Zimbabwe’s healthcare system is in tatters, and the government has stonewalled doctors and nurses from leaving the country in pursuit of higher salaries.
Outsiders are watching. Back in 2018, Mnangagwa used the military to quash dissent, resulting in at least six deaths. The US and EU have imposed sanctions on Zimbabwean individuals and entities as a result of the regime’s gross human rights abuses – and will be watching closely to see if there are more post-election clampdowns. And then there’s China, a major stakeholder in the Zimbabwean economy that has also helped transform it into a mini surveillance state.
Three years after Mugabe, Zimbabwe still hurting
In late 2017, Zimbabwe's long-serving strongman Robert Mugabe was deposed by the army after 37 years in power. Amid huge popular celebrations, he handed over the reins to Emmerson Mnangagwa, his former spy chief. It was an extraordinary turn of history: Mugabe, one of Africa's last "Big Men" and a hero of the struggle to end white minority rule, went out with barely a whimper, placing Zimbabwe — stricken by economic ruin and international isolation — in the hands of "The Crocodile."
Mugabe has since died, but almost three years after his departure, Zimbabwe's woes continue.
Last Friday, Mnangagwa's security forces swept clean the capital, Harare, ahead of a planned anti-government rally. Mnangagwa warned that anyone involved in what he called an "insurrection" would be dealt with Mugabe-style: rounded up and jailed. The few activists who defied the order ended up behind bars, including prominent local author and Booker Prize nominee Tsitsi Dangarembga.
Here's why protesters in Zimbabwe are fed up these days.
Political repression. Scores of dissidents have been killed by the security forces since Mnangagwa was formally elected in 2018, in a vote which the opposition claims was rigged. Recently arrested journalists and opposition leaders face up to ten years in prison if found guilty of inciting people to participate in public violence.
Corruption. Mugabe's regime was riddled with graft, but things haven't gotten much better since he left. The latest scandal involves a health minister who was caught inflating the cost of pandemic-related medical supplies; he was fired, but the journalist who exposed the scandal was imprisoned.
Inflation. Inflation is running at 737 percent at the moment, as the government prints money to cover expenses. Granted, that's a far cry from the November 2008, when prices rose annually at a world-record 89.7 sextillion percent (that's twenty zeros), but it's still enough to evaporate salaries and pensions.
COVID-19. Zimbabwe's frail health system has collapsed during the coronavirus pandemic. Doctors have sued the government over their lack of access to personal protective equipment, and nurses have gone on strike until they get paid in US dollars. Last week, staff shortages at one of Harare's major hospitals resulted in seven stillborn babies in one night. Instead of hiring more health workers, the government has arrested more than 100,000 people for violating lockdown orders.
Food security. The UN says six in ten Zimbabweans are on the brink of starvation due to the combined effects of severe droughts, economic crisis, and the pandemic. Subsistence farmers, responsible for three quarters of the country's food supply, have produced less than half of Zimbabwe's annual maize requirement this year. Mnangagwa's "response" has been to pay $3.5 billion to white farmers whose land was expropriated and left idle, which dramatically decreased Zimbabwe's once-sizable agricultural output.
As popular anger grows in Zimbabwe, the country's plight offers a sobering lesson: removing a dictator doesn't necessarily make things better — particularly if his system and his cronies remain in power. Will ordinary Zimbabweans, who were too afraid to rise up in large numbers against Mugabe, soon feel they have nothing to lose in standing up to his successor? And will Mnangagwa be able to keep them quiet much longer?