Civil society and peacebuilding in Zimbabwe’s 2018 elections

ABSTRACT

Zimbabwe’s 30 July 2018 elections took place after ‘a military assisted transition’ that ousted Robert Mugabe and installed Emmerson Mnangagwa as president in November 2017. Initially, the new government projected a reformist image and gave civil society hope for a democratic dispensation. Using the ‘local approach’ framework of analysis, this article examines the role played by civil society organisations (CSOs) in peacebuilding in the 2018 elections. Arguably, civil society’s activities defused some tensions; and promoted cohesion, harmony, dialogue, engagement and peace among political actors in the pre-election period. However, CSOs’ lack of autonomy and partisanship dented their credibility and legitimacy in peacebuilding. Civil society’s polarised response to post-election violence shattered hopes for a common peacebuilding strategy.

KEYWORDS:

• Civil society
• peacebuilding
• elections
• violence
• authoritarianism
• Zimbabwe

Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank Professor Alois Mlambo, Dr Enock Ndawana, Dr Norman Chivasa, Dr Bryan Kauma, Dr Bryson Nkhoma, the editor – Professor Andreas Velthuizen and three anonymous reviewers for useful comments and suggestions. The usual caveat on the author's responsibility applies.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 ZESN, Five Key Asks: Towards Credible Elections in Zimbabwe (Harare: ZESN, Harare, 20 November 2017), 1, http://kubatana.net/2017/11/20/towards-credible-elections-zimbabwe-key-asks/ (accessed August 10, 2018).

2 Ibid., 1.

3 Ibid., 1.

4 Ibid., 1.

5 Gordon White, ‘Civil Society, Democratization and Development (I): Clearing the Analytical Ground’, Democratization 1, no. 2 (1994): 379.

6 ‘Civil Society – Defining Civil Society’ http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/TOPICS/CSO/0,,contentMDK:20101499~menuPK:244752~pagePK:220503~piPK:220476~theSitePK:228717,00.html (accessed April 26, 2014). Also see: ‘What is Civil Society?’, http://schoolforcivilsociety.ca/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/What-is-Civil-Society.pdf (accessed April 26, 2014).

7 Antje Daniel and Dieter Neubert, ‘Civil society and social movements: conceptual insights and challenges in African contexts’, Critical African Studies 12, no. 2 (2019): 179.

8 Ibid., 179.

9 Ibid., 177.

10 Ibid., 182.

11 Ibid., 182.

12 Christoph Spurk, ‘Understanding Civil Society’, in Thania Paffenholz (ed.) ‘Civil Society and Peacebuilding: A Critical Assessment (Boulder CO: Lynne Rienner, 2010), 3.

13 Thania Paffenholz and Christoph Spurk, ‘Civil Society, Civic Engagement, and Peacebuilding’, Social Development Papers: Conflict Prevention and Reconstruction, no. 36 (October 2006): 1.

14 Thania Paffenholz, ‘Civil Society and Peacebuilding’ (Geneva: Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies; The Centre on Conflict, Development and Peacebuilding, 2009), 2.

15 Robert D. Putnam, ‘Social Capital and Public Affairs’, Bulletin of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences 47, no. 8 (1994): 6–7.

16 Ashutosh Varshney, ‘Ethnic Conflict and Civil Society: India and Beyond’, World Politics 53, no. 3 (2001): 391–2.

17 Timothy J. White, ‘Civil Society and Peace in Northern Ireland’, Peace Review: A Journal of Social Justice 19, no. 3 (2007): 449.

18 Timothy J White, ‘Consolidating peace and democracy in Northern Ireland: The role of civil society’, Dynamics of Asymmetric Conflict: Pathways Toward Terrorism and Genocide 4, no. 3 (2011): 264.

19 Christine Cubitt, ‘Constructing civil society: an intervention for building peace?’, Peacebuilding 1, no. 1 (2013): 97.

20 Sara Rich Dorman, ‘“Rocking the Boat?”: Church NGOs and democratization in Zimbabwe’, African Affairs 101 (2002): 75–6.

21 Michael Aeby, ‘Making an impact from the margins? Civil society groups in Zimbabwe’s interim power-sharing process’, Journal of Modern African Studies 54, no. 4 (2016): 725.

22 Cornelias Ncube, ‘Civil society and peacebuilding during Zimbabwe’s government of national unity’, African Security Review 23, no. 3 (2014): 284, 291.

23 Ibid., 290–1.

24 ZHR NGO Forum, ‘The Expectations of and Requests to the Emerging Government of Zimbabwe from the Civil Society in Zimbabwe’ (Harare: ZHR NGO Forum, 23 November 2017), 1.

25 Solidarity Peace Trust, Zimbabwe: The 2018 Elections and their Aftermath (1 October 2018), 3.

26 Formed in September 1999, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) was led by Morgan Tsvangirai. Tsvangirai also led a coalition of opposition political parties called the Movement for Democratic Change - Alliance (MDC-A) which was formed in August 2017 in preparation for the 2018 elections. When Tsvangirai died on 14 February 2018, he was succeeded as leader of both the MDC and MDC-A by Nelson Chamisa after a bitter and divisive power struggle. Chamisa became the presidential candidate of the MDC-A in the 2018 elections. Thokozani Khupe led the smaller and splinter faction of the MDC and also contested in the presidential election. In 2020, a court ruled that Chamisa took over the leadership of both the main MDC and MDC-A unconstitutionally and deposed him. In January 2022, Chamisa formed a new political party called the Citizens Coalition for Change.

27 CCJPZ, Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace in Zimbabwe Election Observation Report for 2018 Zimbabwe Harmonized Elections (Harare: Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops’ Conference, 2018), i–ii.

28 Gladys Kudzaishe Hlatywayo and Charles Mangongera, ‘The Challenges for Social Movements in Post-Mugabe Zimbabwe’, United States Institute of Peace Special Report, no. 460 (January 2020), 3.

29 MDC-A Policy and Research Department, Plan and Environment for A Credible Election In Zimbabwe (Harare: MDC-A Policy and Research Department, 2018), 7.

30 ‘Zimbabwe after the July 2018 storm: Opportunities and challenges for democratization, economic recovery, and civic engagement’, CEADZ Brief, no. 4 (2018), 1.

31 ZDI, ‘The ZEC/ZANU-PF Symbiotic Relationship, Military Factor and Post July 30 2018 Election Violence’, Zimbabwe Political Economy Review (Harare: ZDI, 14 September 2018), 6.

32 CiZC, ‘CiZC engages SADC over Zim crisis ahead of 2018’ (Harare: CiZC, 5 June 2018), 1, http://kubatana.net/2018/06/05/cizc-engages-sadc-zim-crisis-ahead-2018-polls/ (accessed August 10, 2018). Also see CiZC, ‘Joint Civil Society Press Briefing on the Zimbabwe 2018 Elections: Priorities for Reform, Challenges and Opportunities’ (Harare: CiZC, 29 June 2018), http://kubatana.net/2018/06/29/joint-civil-society-press-briefing-zimbabwe-2018-elections-priorities-reform-challenges-opportunities/ (accessed August 23, 2018).

33 Cedric de Coning, Clarity, Coherence and Context: Three Priorities for Sustainable Peacebuilding (Ottawa: Centre for International Policy Studies: University of Ottawa, 2010), 6.

34 Edward Newman, Roland Paris and Oliver P. Richmond, ‘Introduction’, in Edward Newman, Roland Paris and Oliver P. Richmond (eds.), New perspectives on liberal peacebuilding (Tokyo: United Nations University Press, 2009), 9.

35 Paffenholz and Spurk, ‘Civil Society, Civic Engagement’, 18.

36 Cubitt, ‘Constructing civil society’, 97.

37 Hanna Leonardsson and Gustav Rudd, ‘The “local turn” in peacebuilding: a literature review of effective and emancipatory local peacebuilding’, Third World Quarterly 36, no. 5 (2015): 826.

38 Ibid., 826.

39 Paffenholz and Spurk, ‘Civil Society, Civic Engagement’, 18.

40 Roger Mac Ginty, ‘Where is the local? Critical localism and peacebuilding’, Third World Quarterly 36, no. 5 (2015): 841.

41 Leonardsson and Rudd, ‘The “local turn”’, 826.

42 Ibid., 825, 826.

43 Ibid., 825.

44 Henning Haugerudbraaten, ‘Peacebuilding: Six dimensions and two concepts’, African Security Review 7, no. 6 (1998): 24.

45 Paffenholz and Spurk, ‘Civil Society, Civic Engagement’, 28.

46 Ibid., 28.

47 Cubitt, ‘Constructing civil society’, 105.

48 Daniel and Neubert, ‘Civil society and social movements’, 180.

49 HZT, ‘Heal Zimbabwe calls for peace ahead of political parties primary elections’, (Harare: HZT Publications, April 2018), https://www.healzimbabwetrust.org/heal-zimbabwe-calls-for-peace-ahead-of-political-parties-primary-elections/ (accessed November 17, 2021).

50 HZT, ‘Heal Zimbabwe expresses concern over the upsurge in politically motivated violence’, Heal Zimbabwe News (HZT Publications, Harare, 12 January 2018), https://www.healzimbabwetrust.org/heal-zimbabwe-expresses-concern-over-the-upsurge-in-politically-motivated-violence/ (accessed November 17, 2021).

51 HZT, ‘Heal Zimbabwe statement on recent ZANU-PF intra-party violence’, (HZT Publications, Harare, 3 May 2018), https://www.healzimbabwetrust.org/heal-zimbabwe-statement-on-the-recent-zanu-pf-intra-party-violence/ (accessed November 17, 2021). Also see: HZT, ‘Heal Zimbabwe statement on recent MDC-T intra-party violence’, (HZT Publications, Harare, 14 May 2018), https://www.healzimbabwetrust.org/heal-zimbabwe-statement-on-the-recent-mdc-t-intra-party-violence/ (accessed November 17, 2021).

52 HZT, ‘Heal Zimbabwe expresses concern’.

53 Ibid. Also see: HZT, ‘Political Parties must be sincere on the need for peace’, (HZT Publications, Harare, 13 July 2018), https://www.healzimbabwetrust.org/political-parties-must-be-sincere-on-the-need-for-peace/ (accessed November 17, 2021).

54 ‘Peace Campaign Rallies to be launched’, The Christian Voice: A publication of the Zimbabwe Christian Alliance (March 2018), 1.

55 Ibid., 1.

56 IRINDI, International Republican Institute and National Democratic Institute Zimbabwe International Election Observation Mission Final Report (Washington: IRINDI, 2018), 41.

57 ZESN, Report on the 30 July 2018 Harmonised Election – Advance Copy (Harare: ZESN, 2018), 66.

58 Ibid., 66.

59 IRI and NDI, International Republican Institute, 41.

60 ZESN, Report on the 30 July 2018 Harmonised Election – Advance Copy, 66.

61 ZESN, Report on the 30 July 2018 Harmonised Election Advance Copy (Harare: ZESN, 2018), 65.

62 Ibid., 65.

63 NANGO, ‘Civil Society demands from political parties’ (Harare: NANGO, 2018), 1.

64 Ibid., 1.

65 ZESN, Report on the 30 July 2018 Harmonised Election Advance Copy, 65.

66 Shastry Njeru, ‘Electoral Commissions of SADC Countries (ECF) 2018 Briefing: Historical and Political Contexts of Zimbabwe’ (Research and Advocacy Unit), 11.

67 Ibid., 12.

68 ZESN and Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, ‘Analysis of the Electoral Amendment Act of 28 May 2018 and outstanding reforms ahead of the 30 July 2018 elections’ (Harare: ZESN and Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, 2018), 2.

69 Njeru, ‘Electoral Commissions’, 11. Also see ZANU-PF, The People’s Manifesto 2018: Unite, Fight Corruption, Develop, Re-engage, Create Jobs (Harare: ZANU-PF, 2018), 58.

70 ZESN, ‘Press Release – ZESN welcomes the signing of the National Peace Pledge by political parties’ (Harare: ZESN, 26 June 2018), 1, https://www.zesn.org.zw/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/ZESN-welcomes-the-signing-of-the-National-Peace-Pledge-by-political-parties.pdf (accessed August 26, 2018).

71 ZHOCD, ‘Message on behalf of the Zimbabwe Heads of Christian Denominations, on the occasion of the Peace Pledge signing ceremony, held at Harare International Conference Centre, 26 June 2018’, 1.

72 ZESN, ‘Press Release’, 1.

73 ZHOCD, ‘Message on behalf’, 1.

74 CCJPZ, Catholic Commission, 4–5.

75 NPRC, ‘Zimbabwe Political Parties And Candidates Pledge For Peaceful, Free, Fair And Credible Elections’ (Harare: NPRC, 30 June 2018), http://buildingblocks4peace.nprc.org.zw/peacepledge (accessed November 17, 2021).

76 ZHOCD, ‘Message on behalf’, 1.

77 CCJPZ, Catholic Commission, 5.

78 ZHR NGO Forum, Elections Report: Human Rights Violations in the Context of the 2018 Harmonised Elections (Harare: ZHR NGO Forum, 7 October 2018), 42.

79 ‘Zimbabwe 2018 Elections: Was the voice of the people heard?’, Zimbabwe Peace Project Monthly Monitoring Report (July 2018), 2.

80 ZHR NGO Forum, Elections Report, 42.

81 ZHRC, ‘ZHRC Preliminary Election Monitoring Report, 23 July to 31 July 2018’ (Harare: ZHRC, August 2018), 1.

82 Alliance of Community Based Organisations, A Consolidated Report of Long Term Local Observations of 30 July Harmonised Elections in Zimbabwe (20 October 2018), 5.

83 ‘Zimbabwe 2018 Elections’, 9.

84 Staff Writer, ‘CSOs publicise findings on political environment’, Daily News, 27 July 2018, https://www.dailynews.co.zw/articles/2018/07/27/csos-publicise-findings-on-political-environment (accessed October 4, 2019).

85 ZFTU, Zimbabwe Federation of Trade Unions (ZFTU) Local Observers’ Report on the 2018 Harmonised Elections, (Harare: ZFTU, 15 August 2018), 2. Also see: ZPWCS, Election Monitoring Report From 21 July to 5th August 2018 (Harare: ZPWCS, 2018), 1.

86 ZFTU, Zimbabwe Federation, 2.

87 Ibid., 2.

88 Cubitt, ‘Constructing civil society’, 105.

89 Interview with Cephas Moyo, ZFTU Official, Harare, 26 November 2022.

90 ZFTU, Zimbabwe Federation, 2, 16.

91 Ibid., 2.

92 Interview with Edward Gomba, ZFTU Official, Harare, 26 November 2022.

93 Letter from the Secretary General of ZIRWF, Pascoe Ekemu Chakanetsa, to ZEC Chairperson, Priscilla Chigumba, Subject: Pre-Elections Report in the Republic of Zimbabwe held on 30 July 2018, (Harare, 22 October 2018), 1.

94 ZFTU, Zimbabwe Federation, 15.

95 Interview with Cephas Moyo, ZFTU Official, Harare, 26 November 2022.

96 Ibid.

97 ZESN, ‘ZESN 2018 Harmonised Election – Preliminary Statement’ (Harare: ZESN, 31 July 2018), 5.

98 ‘Zimbabwe after the July 2018 storm’, 7.

99 CiZC, ‘CSOs up efforts’, 1.

100 ZESN, ‘ZESN 2018 Harmonised Election’, 5.

101 ‘Zimbabwe 2018 Elections’, 3.

102 ZESN, ‘ZESN 2018 Harmonised Election’, 4.

103 ZPWCS, Election Monitoring Report, 1.

104 ZFTU, Zimbabwe Federation, 15.

105 Election Resource Centre, ‘ERC urges ZEC to fully comply with principles of election management as they finalise the 2018 Harmonised Election’ (Harare: ERC, 1 August 2018), 1.

106 ‘Picking up the pieces in the aftermath of the elections’, ZPP Monthly Monitoring Report (Harare: August 2018), 3.

107 ZDI, ‘The ZEC/ZANU-PF’, 4.

108 Ibid., 10.

109 Ibid., 9, 10.

110 Ibid., 4.

111 ‘Picking up the pieces’, 2.

112 Ibid., 2.

113 Ibid., 9.

114 Norman Matara and Fortune N. Nyamande, ‘Zimbabwe: A New Era / Error?’: Medical Evidence of Post-Election Violence in Zimbabwe (1 August – 5 September 2018) (Harare: Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human Rights, October 2018), 3.

115 ZHR NGO Forum, State of Human Rights Report Zimbabwe 2018 (Harare: ZHR NGO Forum, 2018), viii.

116 Letter from the Secretary General of ZIRWF, 1. Also see TAC Election Observer Mission, Zimbabwe Harmonised Elections 2018: Preliminary Report (Harare: TAC Election Observer Mission, 3 August 2018), 2.

117 ZFTU, Zimbabwe Federation, 18.

118 Ibid., 18.

119 ZPWCS, Election Monitoring Report, 2.

120 TAC Election Observer Mission, Zimbabwe Harmonised Elections 2018, 2.

121 Letter from the Secretary General of ZIRWF, 1.

122 ZPWCS, Election Monitoring Report, 2.

123 Interview with Locadia Zvepano, TAC activist, Harare, 16 December 2022.

124 ZFTU, Zimbabwe Federation of Trade Unions, 19.

125 ZHR NGO Forum, Elections Report, 39.

126 Ibid., 41.

127 Ibid., 40; ‘Picking up the pieces’, 3; Matara and Nyamande, ‘Zimbabwe: A New Era / Error?, 8; and ZDI, ‘The ZEC/ZANU-PF’, 7.

128 ZESN, Report on the 30 July 2018 Harmonised Election Advance Copy, 65.

129 Ibid., 65.

130 Constitutional Court of Zimbabwe, Judgement No. CCZ 21/19, Constitutional Application No. CCZ 42/18, Nelson Chamisa V Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa and Others, 3–5, 131–7.

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Musiwaro Ndakaripa

Musiwaro Ndakaripa is a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow in the Department of Historical and Heritage Studies at the University of Pretoria, South Africa. He works with various civil society organisations in Southern Africa. His work has appeared in journals such as Oral History Forum, Review of African Political Economy, South African Journal of International Affairs and The Washington Quarterly. His first monograph, A History of the Munyikwa People of Gutu District, Zimbabwe, c. 1700 to c. 1890, was published by the University of Zimbabwe Press in 2017 and was well received globally.