Book and Book Chapters (Faculty of Law)
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Browsing by Author "Chigwata, Tinashe"
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Item The idea of a new Zimbabwe post- Mugabe(Palgrave Macmillan, 2020) Chigwata, Tinashe; Marumahoko, SylvesterZimbabwe has gone through deep political, economic and social challenges for close to three decades. Once known as the shining light of Africa, Zimbabwe is now often known for dominating international headlines for the wrong reasons. In November 2017, the country experienced a radical change to the constitutional and political order, which brought an end to former President Robert Mugabe’s 37-year reign. Emmerson Mnangagwa, who was once Mugabe’s right-hand man, assumed leadership of both the country and the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union–Patriotic Front (ZANU–PF). He was reelected in the July 2018 harmonised elections, although under disputed circumstances. The removal of Robert Mugabe has provided the country an opportunity to break from the past, and hopes have been raised for the birth of a new Zimbabwe. This chapter explores some of the measures that the administration post-Mugabe should implement to set the country on a new path. Thus, the purpose of this chapter is not to argue for a particular political formation or political leaders to govern. Rather, its objective is to explore whether the idea of a new Zimbabwe is possible and what it would take to realise this objective. Before discussing the prospects for this desired state of affairs, it is important to examine the current situation, which is explored in the first part of the chapter. A brief overview of the fall of Mugabe and rise of Mnangagwa is then provided to show how a leader who commanded respect beyond the shores of our continent could exit in such an undignified manner. The core section is dedicated to a discussion of the prospects for a new Zimbabwe, and concluding remarks end the chapter.Item Real or imagined local autonomy: Experiences from local government in Ethiopia, South Africa and Zimbabwe(Koninklijke Brill NV, 2021) Chigwata, Tinashe; de Visser, Jaap; Ayele, ZemelakCentralized rule has been common in Africa, and almost all African countries implemented, constitutionally or otherwise, programs of centralization from the time they achieved independence from colonial rule. They did so with the declared purposes of modernization, achieving economic development and nation building (Godefroidt, Langer and Meuleman 2016). However, these lofty goals were not achieved; African countries remain characterized by underdevelopment, lack of democratic rule, corruption and ethnic-based conflicts. Many blame the centralized and extremely bureaucratized government and governance systems and decision-making processes for worsening, if not causing, these problems (Addisson 1998; Jackson 2002). In the past three or so decades, therefore, there has been a general move in Africa towards decentralization and reducing bureaucracy. This trend is part of a global movement, based on the recognition that central government was too big, inaccessible, remote and inefficient in terms of bringing about development and democratic rule (Sharma 2009).Item South Africa: Surfing towards centralisation on the Covid-19 wave(Routledge, 2021) Steytler, Nico; de Visser, Jaap; Chigwata, TinasheWhen the Covid-19 pandemic reached its shores between February and March 2020, South Africa was already in a vulnerable situation – socially, economically, and politically. Although the country’s population, estimated at 59.6 million in 2020, is two-thirds urban, thus facilitating the spread of the virus, its age cohorts mitigated against Covid-19’s devastating impact – 28.6 per cent of the population is below 15 years old, and only 9.1 per cent is 60 years and older. Nevertheless, other factors placed the country at heightened risk. More than half of the population is poor, and the unemployment rate stands at 42 per cent (Statistics South Africa 2020); in South Africa, one of the most unequal countries in the world, the poor and unemployed are predominantly black. In 2018, social grants were, after salaries, the second main source of income for 45.2 per cent of households, with about 13.1 per cent of households living in informal dwellings.