• Politics

Politics & corruption

The paper takes a look at the state of democracy and governance in the Zimbabwe. The report investigates the level of democracy according to four key variables for the assessment of the state of democratic governance: representation and accountability, citizen participation, local governance, and economic management and corporate governance.

Although Zimbabwe illustrates a polity that has nominally upheld a multiparty system sustained by regular elections since 1980, the country has not undergone the motions of reforms experienced by other countries in the region during the 1990s. Instead a stalemate over constitutional reform in 1999-2000 degenerated into a swing towards authoritarianism as the incumbent government has sought to consolidate its precarious hold on power in the face of a broad but heterogeneous protest movement under the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). This stalemate has been protracted and debilitating, as reflected in the democratic deficits in political and economic governance, local and corporate governance as well as in citizen participation.

Specifically the report finds that:

• Zimbabwe’s political culture has been characterised by intolerance towards divergent views and dissenting voices even in the same party, whether ruling or in opposition
  
• the legal framework in which civil society organizations (CSOs) operate has become more stifled as a result of restrictive legislation passed during the past five years
  
• in theory, the structures of local governance appear to be democratic but in practice the central government continues to play a dominant role in determining what happens at the local level
  
• there is very little confidence in the economic management of Zimbabwe’s economy and a perception of corruption in government.

In order to address this democratic deficit, the report recommends that:

• a combination of a genuine separation of powers and consensual constitutional reform would provide a foundation for more tolerant values
  
• a revisiting of the electoral system with a mix of first past-the-post and proportional representation systems in order to provide better representation in parliament
  
• local government legislation should provide for participatory and decision-making structures at all levels of governance, from provincial to the village level
  
• there needs to be consistency in economic policy and the present economic crisis should be addressed in a holistic manner with comprehensive sectoral plans.
  

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