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Soriek  11mo ago (text post)   1872 thread views

Transnational Thursdays XXX

This is the thirtieth weekly thread for people to discuss international news, foreign policy or IR history. I usually start off with coverage of some current events from a mix of countries I follow personally and countries I think the forum lives in or might be interested in. Feel free as well to drop in with coverage of countries you’re interested in, talk about ongoing dynamics like the wars in Israel or Ukraine, or even just whatever you’re reading.

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Zimbabwe

I covered the Zimbabwean election this summer which secured President Emmerson Mnangagwa (who took power from Mugabe via coup in 2017) yet another term. However, his opposition, the Citizens Coalition for Change, ended his party, the Zanu PF’s, supermajority in the legislature. They didn’t become a minority or anything, they just can’t do like whatever they want at all. For instance, they can’t amend the constitution to end the two year term limit that would technically mean Mnangagwa can’t run again. Mnangagwa and ZANU-PF responded wisely and proportionally by vacating 15 of CCC’s seats. The story is honestly pretty great:

The crisis was sparked by a letter laden with spelling mistakes penned in October by Songezo Tshabangu, a little-known politician claiming to be the CCC’s interim secretary-general.

Addressed to the ZANU-PF parliamentary speaker, it stated that 15 CCC lawmakers elected in a bitterly contested August election had ceased to be party members and should lose their seats.

CCC leader Nelson Chamisa, 45, protested that Tshabangu was not a CCC member, the party had no secretary general and had not expelled any MP.

The speaker ignored him and ordered the by-elections, except in one seat where Tshabangu had misspelled the name of a lawmaker.

Political strategists, take note.

Have ZANU actually won their supermajority back yet? It wasn’t clear a few days ago when I last checked.

Zimbabweans are as pessimistic as the English about their country, but on the ground there are improvements and I thought things were looking upward last time I was there early this year. Yes, the recall incident is pathetic, but Ncube is undoubtedly one of the smartest African officials I’ve ever met or even heard speak, and he knows where the risks and opportunities are. As long as Mnangagwa keeps him, they’re probably in a better state than under someone else.

I also couldn't find anything on the results so I figured they weren't out yet, but wikipedia has a page saying ZANU-PF won 7 of the 9 by elections. All of their references are from before the election so I'm not sure where the numbers come from. From what I've read they were 10 seats short so they couldn't really win the supermajority on this move alone either way, but they've already been talking about stripping potentially another members of their seats.

on the ground there are improvements and I thought things were looking upward last time I was there early this year. Yes, the recall incident is pathetic, but Ncube is undoubtedly one of the smartest African officials I’ve ever met or even heard speak, and he knows where the risks and opportunities are.

You have any insight either to the current state of the country, or Ncube personally?

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