‘Echoing Silences\': Ethnicity in post-colonial Zimbabwe, 1980-2007

In spite of its rare entry into both official and public discourses about contemporary Zimbabwe, ethnicity, alongside race, has continued to shape and influence the economic, social, and political life of Zimbabwe since the achievement of independence in 1980. In this article we argue that whilst post-independence Zimbabwe has since the days of the Gukurahundi war (1982-1986) not experienced serious ethnic-based wars or political instability, there is serious ethnic polarisation in the country and ethnicity remains one of the challenges to the survival of both the state and the country. This ethnic polarisation is to be explained mainly in terms of the broader failure by the state to develop an effective response to the political economy of ethnicity inherited from the colonial past. As with most postcolonial African nationalist governments which have come to be haunted by ethnicity, such as Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and most recently Kenya and South Africa, the postcolonial government of Zimbabwe has largely remained reluctant to engage ethnicity as an issue in both politics and the economy, particularly with regard to addressing historical and contemporary factors that continued to make ethnicity an important issue in people's lives. The nationalist government's state-building project, especially its coercive mobilisation and nation-building projects of the early 1980s, paid little attention to the ethnic configuration of the inherited state, as well as the structures and institutions which enacted and reproduced ethnicity. Such neglected processes, structures and institutions included unequal development of the provinces and the marginalisation of particular ethnic groups in politics, economy and society.African Journal on Conflict Resolution Vol. 7 (2) 2007: pp. 275-29

Local Government: Strengthening Capacity – A Review of Measures Taken in the Last Fifteen Years

Recurring episodes of local protests, in the period preceding the 2006 elections, have focused public attention on the state of local government. The main cause of this spectacle is reportedly inadequate or/and absence of municipal services (Ndletyana, 2007). This inevitably raises questions about the capacity of local government to execute its mandate. Existing backlog in social infrastructure renders the resolution of this problem even more urgent. In September 2005, the Department of Provincial and Local Government (DPLG) reported that a significant number of municipalities were failing to provide social services (Atkinson, 2007). Moreover, municipalities are increasingly expected to lead economic development in their respective communities. The purpose is to make residential areas more than just places of residence but also economically viable to absorb residents into the labour market. This is a response to the high rate of unemployment that not only denies residents a quality lifestyle, but also breeds anti-social behaviour with unsettling consequences for the community. Thus, among others, municipalities lead public works programmes, build infrastructure and initiate local development, all in an attempt to create employment and better living conditions (www.thedplg.gov.za). Needless to say, if the backlogs continue unattended and a significant segment of South African populace remains economically inactive, local unrests and a host of other anti-social behavioural traits are likely to persist. Municipal capacity, therefore, is the catalyst in this whole scenario. This begs the question: Do municipalities have the requisite capacity to live up to their mandate? The study sought to answer the afore-mentioned question. Specifically, the study sought to ascertain the existing level of skills relative to municipal needs; evaluated the existing programmes introduced to offset a lack of municipal capacity; and then, where possible, made some recommendations on how these programmes could be strengthened

The battle for Zimbabwe in 2013: from polarisation to ambivalence

On the face of it, the triumph of Robert Mugabe and ZANU(PF) in the 2013 elections came as a shock, not least to opposition MDC activists. However, after a period of introspection, many have begun to construct a coherent and wide-ranging account of the result which explores opposition shortcomings, and the revived relationship between the electorate and Mugabe's ZANU(PF). This article, based on interviews with political activists conducted three months after the election, outlines and attempts to explain this account. It explores the way in which a politics of polarisation that dominated Zimbabwe in recent years appears to have given way to a politics of ambivalence: where Zimbabweans once viewed their political landscape as one populated by antinomies, they now see their state and its relation to themselves in more complex and ambiguous ways. As a result, Zimbabweans' conception of the state is increasingly coming to resemble Mbembe's formulation of states as contemporaneously ‘organizers of public happiness’ and wielders of arbitrary violence

From buoyancy to crisis, 1980-1997

Zimbabwe's post-colonial history has become the subject of many interpretations. This chapter examines the changes in the history of the country from the years of economic buoyancy and politics of reconciliation in the early 1980s, through the crisis of unity in the Gukurahundi period up to the crisis of the state in the late 1990s. The main themes addresses are contestations over the restructuring and reconfiguration of the state after 1980; processes of rule and state-making; questions of justice and equity with regard to land and resource ownership and redistribution; and issues of nationhood and citizenship in the post-colonial state. The chapter begins by focusing on the political economy of Zimbabwe in the first decade of independence, and then reviews the changing nature of the state, politics and society within the context of the economic hardships of the 1990s

Majoni-joni: survival strategies among Zimbabwean migrants in South Africa

Paper presented at the International Conference on the Political Economies of Displacement in Zimbabwe, Wits University, 9-11 Jun

Jambanja: ideological ambiguities in the politics of land and resource ownership in Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe's current restructuring of land and resource ownership has not only been violent and coercive, but also disorganised and divisive. In its call for radical land redistribution, the state has increasingly resorted to authoritarian nationalism, invoking identity politics. This has resulted in new conceptions about rights and power - conceptions that basically uphold racial and ethnic politics and the pre-eminence of majority over minority rights. The current processes have also rekindled important questions about citizenship, identity, nationhood, rights and entitlement in post-independence Africa, issues that have been a subject of intense debate among various African scholars. Focusing on the experiences of 'invisible minorities', such as Coloureds and descendants of immigrants from Malawi, Zambia and Mozambique, this article discusses both the ambiguities and contradictions in the current exercise, as well as newly emerging notions about race, identity, nation and citizenship neglected by most political and academic commentators. I argue that the resulting policy positions, and particularly the current emphasis on race and nativism, have not only supported contradictory perspectives on justice, rights, citizenship and nationality but have also structured the debate on these issues in very narrow and problematic terms. More important, the historical processes unfolding in Zimbabwe have engendered feelings of exclusion and insecurity, especially among the subject minorities marginalised by the current processes.

Promoting African solutions to African crises: prospects for Zimbabawe's peace and reconstruction: the ambiguities of diaspora politics: the Zimbabwe diaspora and the Zimbabwe crisis

Paper presented at the Africa Institute of South Africa & TELA Forum of Mozambique Regional Conference, Maputo, Mozambique, 22-24 Septembe

Race, ethnicity and the politics of positioning: the making of coloured identity in colonial Zimbabwe, 1890-1980

This chapter examines the growth of a distinct coloured group consciousness in Zimbabwe. The history of this group has not only been marginalised in political and academic discourses but has also been subject to widespread popular misconception. One of the most prevalent fallacies is the notion that coloured identity is a biologically determined, inherent quality derived from miscegenation. Another projects coloured identity as an invention of the colonial state, arguing that coloureds did not exist as a distinct racial or ethnic group beyond state categorisation and dismissing it as nothing more than false consciousness. This chapter will argue that the growth of coloured identity resulted from definitions both internal and external to the group involving a wide range of actors that included the colonial state, the white public and the subject people themselves who, through self-identification, not only negotiated the dynamics of coloured group creation, but also gave coloured identity its shape and tenure. The identity was continually contested and redefined by various groups both within and outside of the culturally diverse coloured community

Sitting on the fence or walking a tightrope? : a political history of the coloured community in Zimbabwe, 1945-1980

Includes bibliographies.This thesis examines the political history of the Coloured community of Zimbabwe, a group that has not only been marginalised in most general political and academic discourses but whose history has also been subject to popular misconceptions. The specific focus of the thesis is on the evolution of political ideologies and strategies among members of the Coloured community. The thesis opens by looking at the construction of Coloured identity from the early 1890s. In this section, through a detailed analysis of the various processes involved in the construction of Coloured identity, the study first challenges the notion that Coloured identity was imposed exclusively from above, by the colonial state