When Zimbabwe stops pretending to be a democracy

📅 Published: August 16, 2025

📰 Source: thestandard

Curated by AllZimNews.com

The next day tragedy turned into a farce.

Kadzere was arrested when he went to report the assault.

Despite having visited the police station voluntarily, he was accused of having escaped from lawful custody.

The thuggish treatment of Kadzere is depressing, but not surprising.

No one who has been watching Zimbabwe in recent months would have expected anything else.

Ahead of the general elections later this year, the government is reverting to its old ways.

With limited support even within his own party and fresh out of ideas, President Emmerson Mnangagwa knows that only intimidation and electoral manipulation will keep him in power.

With a government that has given up on trying to hide its authoritarian foundations, 2023 is likely to be the country’s worst election for the next 15 years.

The squalid autocracy that Mnangagwa presides over could not be more different from the Zimbabwe he promised to create.

Ahead of the 2018 general election, Mnangagwa pledged to usher in a new period of democracy and development distinguished by “free and fair” elections.

The dark days experienced under his predecessor, Robert Mugabe, would be confined to the dustbin of history, as the country opened up both politically and economically.

Desperate to persuade Zimbabwean voters and international partners to overlook his violent past, Mnangagwa’s campaign even put up posters proclaiming his commitment to good governance and human rights.