Three pandemics in post-2017 Zimbabwe: authoritarianism, corruption, and ruling through Covid-19

ABSTRACT

Existing work on Zimbabwe’s crises of governance post-2017 focuses on searching for continuities and discontinuities between Mugabe’s policies and those of Mnangagwa. This article questions the assumptions that continuities can occur without disruption in such a context and that Mnangagwa’s discontinuity with the past is a straightforward road that will lead to a positive culture of governance. It particularly considers the domains of life in which the military continues to assert its authority and control over Zimbabwean citizens. This study is based on qualitative approaches, which recognise the interconnectedness of politics (authoritarianism), cultures of affect (corruption), and the manipulation of a fragile context induced by Covid-19. Critical hermeneutics and postcolonial theories help explain subjective motivations in actions by politicians. The major contribution of the article is to show how and where power is reconstituted by the Mnangagwa administration to guarantee regime survival by controlling the masses.

KEYWORDS:

• Authoritarianism;
• corruption;
• Covid-19;
• post-2017;
• Zimbabwe;
• masses;

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No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Urther Rwafa

Urther Rwafa is a Chairperson, Lecturer, and Associate Professor in the Department of Film and Theatre Arts Studies at Midlands State University (Zimbabwe). He is also a Research Fellow at UNISA attached to the Department of English Studies and Honorary Research Fellow in the Faculty of Art and Design at Durban University of Technology. He has recently been recognised as an Honorary Rosalind Member of the London Journal Press. Professor Rwafa has written articles on Film and Cultural identity, Film censorship, Film and the representation of African violence & Genocides, The state of Creative Economies in Africa, and the Prospects of Creative Industries in South Africa & Nigeria. His book on UN/MUFFLING VOICES: Film Censorship in Post-independent Zimbabwe was published in 2016 by the African Institute for Culture, Dialogue, Peace and Tolerance Studies. He is currently working on a book titled, Tell and Sell. The Business of Filmmaking in Africa.