Category Archives: Zimbabwe

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The audio recording of the draft of Uprooted – episode 1

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Less than 30 minutes

Copyright Georgie Knaggs & The Phraser 2023

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Zimbabwe has an election coming up

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My thanks to the United Nations Publication Board for permission to use this map of Zimbabwe, Map No. 4210 Rev.2, December 2017, UNITED NATIONS
(My thanks to the United Nations Publication Board for permission to use this map of Zimbabwe, Map No. 4210 Rev.2, December 2017, UNITED NATIONS)

Zimbabwe has an election coming up, so I thought I’d put together a few points about the country’s recent politics. (If you’re interested in the early history of the area, you might find this Britannica link useful.)

  1. The country became Zimbabwe in 1980.
  2. It is a presidential republic.
  3. Robert Gabriel Mugabe, ZANU-PF (Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front) was the country’s first president, and ruled for 37 years.
  4. There was a ‘soft coup’ in 2017 which removed the 93-year-old Robert Mugabe from power.
  5. He was replaced by Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa – also ZANU-PF.
  6. On the 23 August 2023 Zimbabwe will go to the polls again.
  7. The 80-year-old Emmerson Mnangagwa is standing as the presidential candidate for ZANU-PF.
  8. ZANU-PF has now ruled the country for over four decades.
  9. The main opposition is the Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) led by 45-year-old Nelson Chamisa.
  10. Since 2000, elections in Zimbabwe have seen bitter contests between ZANU-PF and its main opposition (formerly known as the Movement for Democratic Change – MDC – led by Morgan Tsvangirai).
  11. Today there are allegations that the fairness of the upcoming elections has been damaged by systems that favour ZANU-PF and make it difficult for the opposition to hold rallies, or publicly challenge the government.

I hope we’ll get to see what really happens there in a month’s time.

Copyright Georgie Knaggs & The Phraser 2023

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The Gold Mafia – Zimbabwe

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The evidence is on the table, threading through cyberspace – the shame of Zimbabwe.

Al Jazeera has pieced together a painstaking trail that leads right into the golden core of the country’s corruption, exposing some of those who enable it, and the extent and ease of it. Even more shocking is the thought that what has been shown is probably only a fraction of the rot that exists.

The documentary of four episodes, shown on YouTube, showcases how some of Zimbabwe’s so called ‘elite’ – its politically powerful, its prophets, and its perfectly ordinary chancers – are dancing on the destitution of others. They are covered in wealth while around them the health, education and care systems for the majority of Zimbabweans are in a state of collapse, or propped up by other nations.

The Al Jazeera documentary passes no judgement. It reveals.

Copyright Georgie Knaggs & The Phraser 2023