Zimbabwe After Mugabe

For some 37 years, since the birth of modern Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe has dominated the political landscape of this resource-rich and promising country: First, as Prime Minister, then as President, and always as strongman. It was a 37-year rule which sadly betrayed the post-colonial aspirations of freedom, one which was marked by misrule, mismanagement, and mistreatment of Mugabe's fellow citizens. For many Zimbabweans, and for many years, envisioning a Zimbabwe without Mugabe was considered a fool's errand. Elections, some more flawed than others, had come and gone, opportunities for reform fallen by the wayside. And through it all, the domineering presence of one man haunted the dreams of his countrymen. Then in a matter of weeks, culminating last November, the landscape changed. The once invincible ruler in October 2017 set into motion a series of events which left him not only ousted from the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front, or ZANU-PF, but pushed off his Presidential perch. The drama began in earnest when Mugabe sought to prop up his wife Grace's standing as his designated successor by ousting one of his two Vice Presidents, Emmerson Mnangagwa, presumably to elevate his wife to the position, while simultaneously moving against Mnangagwa's allies in the government and in ZANU-PF, promoting a younger generation allied with Grace. Mnangagwa was part of an older faction of ZANU-PF, the generation that fought for liberation with roots and strong connections in the military. As Rhodesian Bush War veterans and political survivors, Mnangagwa and his comrades could draw upon a reservoir of experience and cunning. They would not be so easily pushed aside.