Second Republic

Zimbabwe's rulers won't tolerate opposing voices – but its writers refuse to be silenced

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Wednesday, August 2, 2023

The ruling elite in Zimbabwe has always tried to silence opposing political voices and erase histories it does not wish to have aired.

Key Points:

The ruling elite in Zimbabwe has always tried to silence opposing political voices and erase histories it does not wish to have aired.
As Zimbabwe heads to the polls again in 2023, it’s worth considering the role that writers have played in engendering political resistance.

It was used to mobilise resistance against the white minority regime and garner international support for the liberation struggle.
Many others like Charles Mungoshi, Tsitsi Dangarembga and Chenjerai Hove produced texts that encouraged resistance against colonial rule.

Since independence in Zimbabwe, there has remained little space for dissenting voices – first under the leadership of Robert Mugabe and then Emmerson Mnangagwa.
The Gukurahundi genocide, which novelist Novuyo Rosa Tshuma called the country’s “original sin”, marked the first instance in which the state quashed opposing voices.

The rise of a formidable opposition, the Movement for Democratic Change, in 1999 was met with violence by the state.
Fresh voices emerged, among them Brian Chikwava, NoViolet Bulawayo, Petina Gappah, John Eppel, Christopher Mlalazi and Lawrence Hoba.
Bulawayo’s award-winning 2013 novel We Need New Names depicts the political situation through the perspective of its teenage protagonist, Darling.
The stories illuminate the human cost of political decisions and the resilience of ordinary people in the face of hardships.

Literature after the demise of Mugabe and his four-decade regime – a period referred to as the Second Republic – has continued to grapple with Zimbabwe’s prevailing sociopolitical environment.
Batsirai Chigama’s collection of poems Gather the Children captures the vicissitudes of contemporary life in Zimbabwe.
These strictures insinuate themselves into the ambience of everyday life and language, something that Chigama observes with careful attention.

Despite its power, reading remains a luxury that many Zimbabweans cannot afford.
Books are extremely expensive and few people have disposable income to read for pleasure.

Retrieved on:

Thursday, July 20, 2023

We have seen this in the case of referendums that were intended as mere ratification procedures.

Key Points:

We have seen this in the case of referendums that were intended as mere ratification procedures.
This was partly the case of the Spanish municipal and regional elections on 28 May.
Almost a century ago, another call for local elections led to the fall of the Spanish Monarchy and the birth of the Second Republic.

Another one, the encasillado), saw designated ministers from the incoming government allocate seats to MPs in a bid to help them secure the comfortable majority required to govern.
However, the system gradually deteriorated, reaching its worst point under the dictatorship of General Miguel Primo de Rivera (1923–1930).
Deeply unpopular under the dictatorship, King Alfonso XIII sought to burnish his credentials by returning to the previous political system.
In Madrid and Barcelona, the Republican opposition managed to respectively triple and quadruple the scores of monarchist candidates.
That meant that local and provincial councils maintained their Francoist composition for more than three additional years after the dictator’s death.

On 12 March 1986, prime minister Felipe González honoured his electoral pledge by calling a referendum on Spain’s membership of NATO.
They were joined by some dissident leaders, the Socialist Youth and the (then still) sister union of the UGT.
Although the “No” vote won in Catalonia, the Basque Country, Navarre and the Canary Islands, “Yes” triumphed overall with 56.85%.
Regardless of who ends up losing out on 23 July, the fact is that such agonising approaches alienate citizen consensus and democratic quality.