ZANU PF politics under Zimbabwe's ‘Power-Sharing’ Government

Abstract

Using informal network analysis to understand ZANU PF politics, the key significance of the Inclusive Government (IG) is twofold. First, competition between ZANU PF and the ‘opposition’ parties in the IG helps informal networks to cohere sufficiently to run a parallel government that effectively sabotages the IG. Second, the parallel government itself operates to a significant degree through informal networks, further entrenching this form of politics. Informal networks that rely on violence and patronage – or consent and coercion – capture the dynamic shaping contemporary politics in Zimbabwe.

Keywords:

• Zimbabwe
• ZANU PF
• inclusive government
• power sharing
• political networks
• informalisation
• violence
• patronage
• militia

Acknowledgements

The author wishes to thank David Moore and Timothy Scarnecchia for their useful comments.

Notes

1. ZANU PF has been aided in its ability to establish a parallel government by the MDC formations’ willingness to protest and then capitulate and the collusion or absence of serious resistance from the South African facilitators, the regional body, SADC, and the African Union.

2. The percentage of youth militia is calculated from 75,000 suspect civil servants identified in the audit and 29,000 youth militia in the government. The 29,000 militia figure is from press reports and is cited in Veritas, Bill Watch 13/2009, 5 April 2009.

3. Interestingly, Minister Biti signed a $98 million loan agreement between the Chinese and the Zimbabwean governments in which diamond mining revenues from the Chinese government's joint venture with the ZMDC will be used to repay the loan. The government is using the loan to build a National Defence College, also known as the Robert Mugabe School of Intelligence, in Mazowe. Press reports suggest that the college will be used to train youth militia and spy on opponents (Swain 2011).