Zimbabwe in Transition Zimbabwe in Transition A View from Within Edited by Tim Murithi and Aquilina Mawadza First published by Fanele – an imprint of Jacana Media (Pty) Ltd – in 2011 10 Orange Street Sunnyside Auckland Park 2092 South Africa (+27 11) 628-3200 www.jacana.co.za © The Institute for Justice and Reconciliation, 2011 All rights reserved ISBN 978-1-920196-356 Cover design by publicide Set in New Caledonia 11/15pt Printed by XXX Job no. 001568 See a complete list of Jacana titles at www.jacana.co.za Contents Contributors . x Introduction – Dr Fanie du Toit, Executive Director of IJR . x 1 Zimbabwe’s failed transition? An analysis of the challenges and complexities in Zimbabwe’s transition to democracy in the post-2000 period – James Muzondidya . x 2 Voices from civil society – Otto Saki and Washington Katema . x 3 Voices from faith-based communities – Ezra Chitando and Molly Manyonganise . x 4 The Zimbabwean diaspora: Opportunities and challenges for engagement in Zimbabwe’s political development and economic transformation – James Muzondidya . x 5 The role of women in Zimbabwe’s transition – Kudakwashe Chitsike . x 6 Incising an unripe abscess: The challenges of community healing in Zimbabwe – Wellington Mbofana . x 7 The role of the Zimbabwean media in the transition process – Juliet Thondhlana x 8 The youth movement and democratisation in Zimbabwe: Youth bulges, contentious politics and democratic transitions – Arnold R Chamunogwa . x 9 Voices from Pan-African Society on Zimbabwe: South Africa, the African Union and SADC – Tim Murithi and Aquilina Mawadza . x Index . x Zimbabwe in Transition Contributors James Muzondidya is a Zimbabwean academic and policy analyst. He is currently employed as a research manager by the Zimbabwe Institute, a political advocacy and policy think-tank based in Harare. His research interests are in African politics and development, and he has published extensively on Zimbabwe’s political economy, especially on issues of identity, politics and transition. Otto Saki is an admitted lawyer before the High Court of Zimbabwe, graduated with an LLB Honours from the University of Zimbabwe and an LLM from Columbia University with a human rights concentration. The author is a recipient of the 2006 Reebok Human Rights Award and was also voted one of the leading young legal minds in Zimbabwe in 2007 by the Junior Chamber International. He sits on regional advisory boards for developmental organisations. Washington Katema is a development practitioner, graduated with a BSc Hon. in Administration from the University of Zimbabwe and an MA in Development Studies from the International Institute of Social Studies of Erasmus University in The Hague, The Netherlands with a human rights and social justice concentration. He has done research work for leading institutions such as HIVOS and ISS on the human rights situation in transitioning societies. Ezra Chitando is an associate professor in History and Phenomenology in the Department of Religious Studies, Classics and Philosophy at the University of Zimbabwe. He holds a DPhil in Religious Studies from the University of Zimbabwe. vi List of contributors Molly Manyonganise holds a master’s degree in Religious Studies from the University of Zimbabwe. Currently, she is a lecturer in the Department of Religious Studies and Philosophy at the Zimbabwe Open University. She is the Acting Chairperson of the Department. Her research interests comprise religion and politics, gender, religion and HIV/AIDS. She has published in referred journals. Molly has also researched on women and sport in Zimbabwe, the church’s participation in politics in Zimbabwe and the interface between religion, democracy and HIV/AIDS in Zimbabwe. Kudakwashe Chitsike is a Zimbabwean women’s rights activist, lawyer and the programme manager with the Research Advocacy Unit (Zimbabwe), where she documents human rights violations against women. She holds an LLM in International Public Law from the University of Stellenbosch, South Africa. Wellington Mbofana is a development practitioner with special interests in citizen participation, peace building and leadership development. He is the Executive Director of Civic Education Network Trust (CIVNET). He is a past fellow of the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation (Cape Town), International Centre for Transitional Justice (New York) and the University of Cape Town, South Africa. He has written on Zimbabwean politics and development. Juliet Thondhlana is a lecturer in Applied Linguistics at the University of Nottingham in the United Kingdom. She previously taught Applied Linguistics at the University of Zimbabwe for 14 years. She has teaching and research experience in Sociolinguistics and Media Studies. Juliet holds a doctoral degree in language and communication. Arnold R Chamunogwa is a young social entrepreneur with a keen interest in democracy, governance and developmental issues. He is the National Coordinator of Youth Agenda Trust Zimbabwe and has post graduate qualifications in Governance and Development attained from the International Institute of Social Studies, Erasmus University (Netherlands) and Institute of Development Studies, Sussex University (United Kingdom). vii Zimbabwe in Transition Aquilina Mawadza is a researcher and academic. She is the project leader of the Southern Africa desk at the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation in Cape Town. Her research interests are around issues of migration, media and gender. Tim Murithi is head of the Justice and Reconciliation in Africa Programme at the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation in Cape Town, and a research fellow with the Department of Political Sciences at the University of Pretoria, South Africa. Previously he was head of the Peace and Security Council Report Programme at the Institute for Security Studies, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Between 2008 and 2009 he was a senior research fellow at the Department of Peace Studies, University of Bradford, in the United Kingdom (UK); from 2005 to 2007 he was a senior researcher at the Centre for Conflict Resolution, University of Cape Town, South Africa; and from 1999 to 2005 he was a Programme Officer at the Programme in Peacemaking and Preventive Diplomacy, in the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), in Geneva, Switzerland. From 1995 to 1998 he taught at the Department for International Relations, Keele University, England, where he also obtained his PhD in International Relations. He is a Visiting Professor of International Relations at the Department of Political Science and International Relations, Addis Ababa University and has served as a Consultant on Mediation to the UNDP in Sierra Leone; on Conflict Resolution to the UK Department for International Development (DFID); the University for Peace in Addis Ababa; Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue in Geneva; and World Vision in Nairobi. viii Introduction he victims of ‘the political stand-offs’, ‘the economic meltdowns’, ‘the social Tdisintegration’ and every other phrase that has been coined to describe Zimbabwe over the past few years are the ordinary citizens in the remote villages, towns and the cities of Zimbabwe. There remain many hurting citizens: the woman in anguish after the ‘disappearance’ of her husband who took and voiced a different political position; the family in a desperate situation after the ‘torching’ of their home and possessions to teach them a lesson in loyalty; the young graduate who battled over the years to get an education but whose prospects of applying the gained knowledge are hampered by the high rates of unemployment, and the middle-aged father of four who lost his job. After the hotly contested presidential elections of 2008, Zimbabwe is currently ruled by a Government of National Unity (GNU). Faced with a monstrosity of a job description, at least from the perspective of the electorate, the GNU is expected to iron out the socially, economically and politically fragmented issues in the country. The GNU is constantly confronted with the Herculean task of addressing gross violations of human rights of the past decade, ensuring the rule of law and establishing a viable socio-economic paradigm that fosters economic growth. All this complicates Zimbabwe’s transition to democracy. Much has been written about Zimbabwe since 2002 and these works have assisted the international community to better understand the situation in the country. Whilst those discourses go on, the ramifications of these symptoms are potent enough to destabilise every imaginable sector in the country hence it is important to track and discuss these symptoms with the intention of analysing their implications on the transition to democracy. Amidst these debates, it is crucial that the insights, perspectives and proposals of Zimbabweans themselves are heard. This book is a monologue on Zimbabwe, a styled conversation by its 1 Zimbabwe in Transition own people, drawn from various stakeholders, on the transition to democracy by the country. The contributors offer a refreshing perspective on the state of the country, the effects of the events in Zimbabwe on the people and the steps they continue to take to reclaim their dignity as citizens of a state that is transiting to democracy. Building on the extensive analysis of the history and unfolding crisis in Zimbabwe by the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation (‘the Institute’), this publication’s focus is on knowledge-sharing aimed at preparing the ground for enhanced national reconstruction. The objective