Zimbabwe: ZANU PF hegemony and its breakdown (1990-1999)

Updated January 2008

The 1989 constitutional amendment that abolished the Senate also restructured the House of Assembly, with the contested constituencies increased to 120, while eight presidential appointees, the 10 provincial governors (also appointed by the president) and 12 chiefs elected by their peers added another 30 seats bringing the total to 150 members (Esterhuysen 2004; see also 1990 General Elections). Zimbabwe African National Union - Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) swept the March 1990 House of Assembly election, winning 80.6% of the vote and 117 of the elective seats, while the Zimbabwe Unity Movement (ZUM), though obtaining only 2 seats won 17.6% of the vote (see 1990 House of Assembly results for more detail). The achievement of ZUM was all the more remarkable given the newness of the party and the high degree of violence and intimidation unleashed on its members in the run up to the election (Esterhuysen 2004; Brown & Saunders 2007, 1287). The concurrent presidential elections were won by the incumbent Robert Mugabe with 83% of the vote to 17% for Edgar Tekere of ZUM (see 1990 Presidential results). A notable feature of the election was the sharp drop in voter turnout over other elections (Encyclopedia of the Nations 2007; ICG 2004, 45).

Although the ZANU-PF politburo voted against the establishment of a one-party state in August 1990, 1990s was marked by various initiatives by Mugabe to erode the space for political opposition to function and to consolidate the dominance of ZANU-PF (Brown & Saunders 2007, 1288; Encyclopedia of the Nations 2007). In 1990 the University Amendment act was passed to tighten control over students (Ndlovu-Gatsheni 2004, 317). In April 1991 amendments to the constitution restored corporal and capital punishment and recourse to the courts in cases of compulsory land acquisition by the government was abridged (Brown & Saunders 2007, 1288). The 1992 Labour relations Amendment Act was aimed at bringing workers and the trade union movement under tighter control, while the Private Voluntary Organisations Act reduced the autonomy of civil society bodies (Ndlovu-Gatsheni 2004, 317).

The opposition parties were not able to make common cause against the government and, indeed ZUM split shortly after the elections while an attempt to form a coalition of opposition parties came to naught (Masunungure 2004, 162-163; Brown & Saunders 2007, 1289; Encyclopedia of the Nations 2007). The mantle of opposition increasingly fell on Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU, led by Morgan Tsvangirai, which organised demonstrations against the Labour Amendment Act and the Economic Structural Adjustment Program (ESAP; Masunungure 2004, 170).

A growing government fiscal deficit and foreign debt led in 1991 a World Bank designed Economic Structural Adjustment Program was adopted (ESAP) that included the floating of the exchange rate, elimination of most controls on prices and wages, the liberalization of regulations governing trade and investment and a reduction in the size of the state bureaucracy and state consumption spending (Zwizwai et al 2000; Encyclopedia of the Nations 2007; Selby 2004, 189-190). The goal was to uplift the poor by reducing unemployment and raising incomes by making the economy more competitive and productive (Zwizwai et al 2000). Fiscal discipline and reduction in the size of the civil service did not materialize (though spending on health and education was cut) and the deficit before borrowing increased, real growth and wages fell and the manufacturing sector declined, while unemployment and inflation increased (more than 50 000 jobs were lost in the 1990s); poverty levels rose dramatically (from 40.4 percent in 1990/91 to 63.3 percent by 1995/96 alone, deteriorating further thereafter; Zwizwai et al 2000; Kanyenze 2004, 125-126; Selby 2004, 190-191). The only thing that improved was company profits, by a cumulative 80% from 1990-1996 (Zwizwai et al 2000). Severe drought in 1992 and a lesser one in 1995 exacerbated the situation created by exposing the Zimbabwean economy too quickly to foreign competition, accelerating inflation and lack of fiscal discipline on the part of the government (Selby 2004, 191; Zwizwai et al 2000; Kanyenze 2004, 125).

References

BROWN, R & SAUNDERS, C 2007 "Zimbabwe: Recent History" IN Frame, I (ed) Africa South of the Sahara 2008, Europa Publications, 1287-1295.

ESTERHUYSEN, P 2004 "Zimbabwe: an historical overview", Institute of Strategic Studies, [www] http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-9396258_ITM [opens new window] (accessed 6 Dec 2007).

ENCYCLOPEDIA OF THE NATIONS 2007 "Zimbabwe: History", [www] http://www.nationsencyclopedia.com/Africa/Zimbabwe-HISTORY.html [opens new window] (accessed 6 Dec 2007).

INTERNATIONAL CRISIS GROUP (ICG) 2004 Blood and Soil: Land, Politics and Conflict Prevention in Zimbabwe and South Africa, Africa Report No 85.

KANYENZE, G 2004 "The Zimbabwe economy 1980-2003: a ZCTU perspective" IN Harold-Barry, D (ed) Zimbabwe: The Past is the Future - Rethinking Land, State and Nation in the Context of Crisis, Weaver Press.

MASUNUNGURE, E 2004 "Travails of Opposition politics in Zimbabwe since Independence" IN Harold-Barry, D (ed) Zimbabwe: The Past is the Future - Rethinking Land, State and Nation in the Context of Crisis, Weaver Press.

NDLOVU-GATSHENI, SJN 2004 "Putting People First - From regime Security to Human Security: A quest for Social Peace in Zimbabwe, 1980-2002" IN Nhema, AG (ed) The Quest for Peace in Africa: Transformations, Democracy and Public Policy, OSSREA.

SELBY, A 2006 COMMERCIAL FARMERS AND THE STATE: INTEREST GROUP POLITICS AND LAND REFORM IN ZIMBABWE, Doctoral Thesis, Oxford University, [www] http://www.era.lib.ed.ac.uk/bitstream/1842/493/1/thesis+final.pdf [PDF document, opens new window] (accessed 11 Dec 2007).

ZWIZWAI, B, KAMBUDZI A & MAUWA, B 2000 "Zimbabwe: Economic Policy-Making and Implementation: A Study of Strategic Trade and Selective Industrial Policies", International Development research Centre, [www] http://www.idrc.ca/en/ev-71257-201-1-DO_TOPIC.html [opens new window] (accessed 8 Jan 2008).