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DW
3 hours ago
- Politics
- DW
Zimbabwe: Can patriotism be legislated? – DW – 07/22/2025
The ruling Zanu-PF party appears determined to further criminalize dissent in Zimbabwe. Its lawmakers are seen to be trying to entrench legislation that can be used to target those who flag the government's shortcomings. Lawmakers from the ruling ZANU-PF party in Zimbabwe are moving a motion to further criminalize government critics. They're advocating for a comprehensive strategy to promote patriotism and national identity. Proposed measures include formalizing a national ideology, establishing a national institute of ideology and integrating "patriotic" education into the curriculum. The motion comes on top of the contested Patriotic Act of 2023, which was seen to effectively closed the door on dissent In Zimbabwe. It makes provision for criticism issues such as provision of health care, basic services and accountability to be judged criminal. The government dismissed criticism, saying the legislation was necessary to hold accountable individuals who threaten "national interests." It said the legislation was modeled on the Logan Act in the US, which bars citizens from engaging in certain unauthorized communications with foreign governments. In Zimbabwe, violations could result in life imprisonment and death, termination of citizenship, suspension from voting or holding public office. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video In a recent parliamentary debate, ZANU-PF MP Ophious Murambiwa suggested that it should be criminal to speak "evil" about Zimbabwe. "The most important issue is to love our country, let us praise our country in all circumstances, whether in good or bad times, during the night or day," Murambiwa said. The motion has prompted opposition lawmakers and human rights groups to push back harder. "Patriotism is not blind loyalty. It is not empty slogans. True patriots question injustice, challenge corruption and demand systems that serve people not a selected few," Prosper Mutseyami, an opposition MP, said. "Our patriotism must ignite participation, ensuring that every Zimbabwean plays an active role in shaping the future." Human rights activists say its another attempt to silence dissent. "You cannot necessarily legislate patriotism," Nigel Nyamutumbu, the Media Alliance of Zimbabwe programs manager, told DW. "It is a concept that can naturally clamp down on the requisite freedoms. Patriotism is not a legal concept but rather a political nationalist ideology." Activists have in the past been accused of treason and unpatriotic behavior for expressing concerns over human rights abuses, corruption, and governance in Zimbabwe. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Citizens have expressed concern over what they fear are attempts to enforce a one-party state. ZANU-PF, with its absolute majority in parliament, is seen to be abusing its authority and violating the constitution. "As parliamentarians we are supposed to uphold the constitution," Gladys Hlatshwayo an opposition MP told DW. "Section 119 of the constitution demands that parliament protects the constitution and democratic governance." To play this audio please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 audio In June 2025, Zimbabwe's High Court struck down sections of the Patriotic court ruled that the drastic penalties prescribed by the Patriotic Act infringed on various sections of the country's constitution. Several civic organizations and a private citizens had petitioned the court, arguing that the legislation was overly broad and vague had high potential for abuse and misuse. "The most patriotic people are those who hold their government to account. A government must not be seen as the most dangerous institution," Eric Chisora, a political analyst, told DW. "Whatever they [ZANU-PF lawmakers] are doing is unreasonable and irrational. Citizens' rights must be protected." Political and civic rights activists are calling for the repeal of colonial legacy laws which they say are retrogressive. Laws such as the Criminal Law Codification and Reform Act, with provisions have been used to incriminate government critics, date back to Zimbabwe's pre-independence era when they were used to suppress Black majority rule. The activists are concerned over the shrinking of democratic space under Emmerson Mnangagwa, Zimbabwe's president since 2018. "We are now living in a country where there is no freedom of expression due to the number of pieces of legislation being passed by the ZANU-PF regime," Blessing Vava, executive director of the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition, told DW. "When you see a government passing repressive laws, just know that it is not a popular government. Zimbabweans must fight to defend the constitution."
Bloomberg
03-07-2025
- Politics
- Bloomberg
Zimbabwe Ruling Party Adds Sanctioned Tycoon to Leadership Ranks
Zimbabwe's ruling party added sanctioned tycoon Kudakwashe Tagwirei to its highest decision-making body, a move that could further strain relations with the US and other Western nations. The Central Committee of the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front approved Tagwirei's membership on Thursday following a recommendation from the Harare Province executive, government spokesman Nick Mangwana said in a post on X.
Eyewitness News
13-06-2025
- Politics
- Eyewitness News
National Dialogue is a distraction from failure to achieve meaningful transformation
Malaika Mahlatsi 13 June 2025 | 10:10 national dialogue Cyril Ramaphosa African National Congress (ANC) President Cyril Ramaphosa announces a National Dialogue for 2025. Image: @CyrilRamaphosa On 10 June 2025, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced developments on the National Dialogue that he proposed just over a year ago. These developments include the establishment of a team of 'eminent persons' whose role will be to 'guide and champion' the dialogue. These 'eminent persons' are influential individuals in government (current and former), the private sector, academia and broader civil society (to some extent). According to the president, the dialogue aims to discuss the challenges facing South Africa and to 'forge a path into the future in dialogue with one another'. Ramaphosa likened this National Dialogue to the discussions that occurred during apartheid. He stated: 'Through dialogue, we were able to deal with the challenges that the apartheid system caused in our country and achieved peace and overcame violence. We established a democracy and ended apartheid. Following the negotiations process, we used dialogue to start building a united nation where once there had only been conflict and division. We achieved all this because we came together in dialogue to discuss our difficulties, our concerns, our hopes and our aspirations as a people'. On the surface, a National Dialogue seems like a good idea. South Africa is increasingly becoming polarised, with divisions occurring along racial, class, ideological, ethnic and gender lines. There is no question that ours is a deeply divided society, and that dialogue has a place in healing a divided people. I understood this a few years ago when I attended a march against the ZANU-PF's authoritarian reign in Zimbabwe, held in Pretoria by the Zimbabwean diaspora. What was supposed to be a protest against the brutality of the regime exposed deeply concerning divisions that made it clear that the issues in Zimbabwe are deeper than the reality that the ZANU-PF government enjoys a monopoly of violence and governs with a margin of terror. Scores of protestors held posters calling for cessation, arguing that Matabeleland should break away from the Republic of Zimbabwe, using regressive arguments rooted in ethnic chauvinism. But at the heart of this thinking is the unacknowledged trauma of Gukurahundi, a genocide that ripped through Matabeleland between 1983 and 1987, where tens of thousands of Ndebele people were slaughtered by the Fifth Brigade under the instruction of Robert Mugabe's government. The lack of dialogue about Gukurahundi in Zimbabwe has not only made victims of the genocide invisible but has cemented unimaginable generational trauma. There is a necessity for dialogue in Zimbabwe, just as there is in many parts of the continent where traumas have gone unacknowledged. So, as a principle, I do support national dialogues. I value their significance. But scratch beneath the surface of the proposed National Dialogue in South Africa, and you realise that here, it is nothing more than a distraction from the failure of the democratic government to achieve meaningful transformation. Unlike in Zimbabwe, where injustice has not even been acknowledged, in our country, the issue is not about a lack of dialogue but rather, lack of action. Furthermore, the president's likening of the dialogue to negotiations that 'ended' apartheid is manipulative and a distortion of history. The Convention for a Democratic South Africa (CODESA), the negotiating forum established in 1991 after the National Peace Accord, which aimed at transitioning South Africa from apartheid to a democratic government, may have provided a platform for dialogue, but it did not 'end' apartheid. The power of mass action, both domestically and internationally, coupled with the economic and political unsustainability of apartheid, led to its end. By the time the negotiations happened, the apartheid regime was so isolated globally that the economic logic and incentive for apartheid was no longer sustainable. It was the people of South Africa and our allies across the world who made apartheid unworkable and made negotiations a logical conclusion. Insisting that CODESA 'ended' apartheid is a form of erasure of the role that South Africans played in their liberation, and historical revisionism that has come to define the narrative of struggle in the democratic dispensation. The issues that the president wants to see addressed by the National Dialogue are not unknown. The government is fully aware what the issues in our country are. Its own research institutions such as the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC), the Gauteng City Region Observatory (GCRO), government departments, think tanks, learning institutions, the media, and all manner of institutions and platforms have repeatedly communicated what the issues in South Africa are and what they have been since the dawn of and the government know exactly what ails us and what solutions are needed to alleviate the struggles that we confront. There is nothing that a consultative process will bring to light that protesting communities, activists, scholars and people on the margins (including women, the LGBTQI+ community, migrants, persons with disabilities, Khoisan people, etc) have not already expressed. Even more, the root of the problem for which symptoms have been protested over, analysed and commented on by South Africans across all walks of life, is known. The government of our country knows that unless the nucleus of racial capitalism, from whence the chromatin network of landlessness, poverty, inequalities, and all forms of structural violence emerges, is addressed, meaningful transformation will not happen. No matter how much ignorance it feigns, the government knows. For this reason, I am in full agreement with Sinawo Tambo, the spokesperson of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), who posits that Ramaphosa is attempting to make South Africans take collective responsibility for the failures of the party he leads and seeks to mask this scapegoating with the sentimentality of a National Dialogue. The dialogue gives an illusion of a government that listens when in reality, the South African government, and certainly, the African National Congress (ANC), has proven impervious to listening. Ramaphosa wants to keep South Africa in an endless cycle of dialogue to distract us from the fact that the government is failing to facilitate the radical reform that is needed to redress the injustices of the country's amoral past. He wants us to dialogue because he does not have the guts to make demands on those who remain resistant to change – the unrepentant White minority that has become emboldened by the inertia of his government and has opted out of participating in the process of nation-building without consequence. Instead, the oppressed are expected to beg for justice and to negotiate for humanisation. Instead of dedicating taxpayers' resources to a performative consultative process, the government should be channelling those resources towards programmes/initiatives aimed at addressing gender-based violence, structural reform, economic and spatial justice, and service delivery. These are some key issues that South Africans have already expressed as needing urgent intervention. These are issues the country has already communicated through dialogues in communities, through the media and on platforms. To want to have South Africans repeat them for the purpose of symbolism is callous. President Ramaphosa must reflect deeply on the sentiments expressed in Karl Marx's 11th thesis in the Theses on Feuerbach , who, in his critique of the traditional role of philosophy, which he saw as primarily theoretical, contends that: 'Philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways; the point, however, is to change it'. In the context of South Africa, the people have dialogued in various ways; the point for the government is to muster the political will to act. Malaika, a bestselling and award-winning author, is a geographer and researcher at the Institute for Pan African Thought and Conversation. She is a PhD in Geography candidate at the University of Bayreuth in Germany.
Epoch Times
02-05-2025
- Business
- Epoch Times
Risking Beijing's Ire, Mineral-Rich Zimbabwe Wants US Trade
News Analysis JOHANNESBURG—Zimbabwe, with its struggling economy and high rates of inflation, poverty, and unemployment, became the first country to drop tariffs on U.S. imports. The move by Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa, who has been under heavy U.S. government sanctions for more than two decades as a key member of the China-friendly ZANU-PF regime, came three days after Trump imposed an 18 percent duty on the southern African nation's goods entering the United States. Mnangagwa, a former guerrilla who received military training in China in the 1960s, didn't launch his usual anti-American bluster, insults, and accusations of neo-colonialism and imperialism. Instead, on April 5, he used social media platform X to Mnangagwa, who seized power from Robert Mugabe by coup in 2017, said Trump's reciprocal tariffs held 'merit,' specifically 'as a tool for safeguarding domestic employment and industrial sectors.' Related Stories 4/7/2025 4/23/2025 He added that his suspension of all levies on U.S. goods was 'in the spirit of constructing a mutually beneficial and positive relationship with the United States of America, under the leadership of President Trump.' Statistics from the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative show that commerce between the world's largest economy and Zimbabwe, rated Africa's 17th-largest economy out of 54 countries by the World Bank, remains minimal. In 2024, the United States exported almost $44 million worth of goods, mainly agricultural machinery, to Zimbabwe, while importing nearly $68 million in ferroalloys, tobacco, and sugar. Mnangagwa said his tariff measure was intended to facilitate the expansion of American imports while simultaneously promoting the growth of Zimbabwean exports. 'This action underscores our commitment to a framework of equitable trade and enhanced bilateral cooperation,' he wrote in the April 5 X post. Mnangagwa's ZANU-PF party has been governing Zimbabwe uninterrupted since it gained independence from Britain in 1980, mainly because it rigged elections, according to the United Nations and other observers. The World Bank has classified Zimbabwe as one of the poorest countries, as the political and business elite allegedly collude to profit almost exclusively from its extensive natural resources, including gold, platinum, diamonds, coal, and critical minerals such as chromium, nickel, and lithium, which are becoming increasingly important to the world's future. Trump has exempted gold and some critical minerals from import tariffs, as his administration considers them essential to American progress and national security. They are used to make a wide range of products, including cell phones, computers, electric vehicle batteries, and weapons such as missiles and fighter aircraft. China has a near monopoly on the world's rare earth minerals and metals, in large part due to its dominance in African extractive industries, including those in Zimbabwe. Mnangagwa's kind words following Trump's April 2 announcement were a far cry from his hitherto regular calls for the downfall of the U.S. dollar and for the 'hegemonic' West to suffer erosion at the hands of a 'new world order' led by Beijing and Moscow, another close ally of Harare. However, some financial experts warn that Mnangagwa's scrapping of tariffs on American goods could further damage Zimbabwe's economy and upset its two biggest trade partners, China and South Africa, both of which have invested heavily in the African country. The country is heavily dependent on neighboring South Africa for most products, including food, its economy having melted down in the early 2000s after political violence and Mugabe's seizure of white-owned farms. 'It's unlikely that the U.S. will replace South Africa as Zimbabwe's main trading partner,' Mohamad Razak, an economist at South Africa's University of KwaZulu-Natal, told The Epoch Times, adding that South Africa would not be happy that Mnangagwa is ending tariffs on American imports. 'Zimbabwe taxes a lot of South African imported products, so Pretoria will expect it to stop these taxes and give it tariff-free access to its market as well.' Razak said Zimbabwe's economic partners across southern Africa—including Botswana, Angola, and Zambia—would also be 'rather disappointed' in Mnangagwa's 'unilateral' approach. 'There's a feeling that SADC [Southern African Development Community] should have decided on a common response to the tariffs, so that the interests of all countries are protected,' he said. In response, Zimbabwean government spokesperson Nick Mangwana told The Epoch Times the country's rulers have the right, as an elected administration, to make decisions in the 'best interests' of its citizens. Razak said Beijing, in particular, would feel 'threatened' by Harare's 'cozying up' to the United States. China has poured billions of dollars into Zimbabwe's extractive industry in recent years and owns 90 percent of the country's mines, according to a September 2024 study by the Harare-based Center for Natural Resource Governance. Beijing's ambassador in Harare, Zhou Ding, did not respond to requests for comment. Gold has been Beijing's chief focus so far, according to Zimbabwean independent economist Tapiwa Mupandawana. Zimbabwe is the world's 25th-largest gold producer, delivering nearly But lately, Mupandawana told The Epoch Times, the Chinese have shifted their focus to lithium, described by geoscientists as one of the most important critical minerals. Lithium is essential to the manufacturing of microchips, laptop computers, high-resolution display screens, and battery power sources. 'These technologies form the backbone of the internet, wireless technologies and the IoT (Internet of Things) that support today's infrastructure and are also powering the move to Industry 4.0. Green power and energy storage technologies like wind, solar and EV batteries are also critically dependent' on a small group of minerals, including lithium, Mupandawana said Chinese-built lithium mines are now prevalent across Zimbabwe, 'with more springing up all the time.' Harare claims that its experts have found the world's largest known lithium deposit, at more than 11 million tonnes, with the potential to supply at least 20 percent of the globe's lithium once all resources are fully utilized. 'I can think of lesser things than this to provide encouragement to the Americans to patch things up with Zimbabwe,' Booysen said. She's convinced that access to gold and critical minerals could form the basis of better relations between Harare and Washington. 'I think the Mnangagwa government sees the tariffs and Trump's mercantile nature as a doorway to exactly this,' Booysen told The Epoch Times. Winning mining and resource rights in Zimbabwe is 'just one piece of the puzzle' that could enable the United States to break China's stranglehold on rare earth minerals, while at the same time strengthening the U.S. economy and national security, Razak said. But Kim Gundani, a business analyst in Harare, said U.S. sanctions are standing in the way of a rapprochement. Washington has maintained sanctions on leading ZANU-PF figures and collaborators since 2003, when it accused the Mugabe government of torturing and killing political opponents and election fraud. In March 2024, then-U.S. President Joe Biden announced a new set of sanctions specifically targeting Mnangagwa and 10 of his allies, including his wife and military commander, for a range of alleged crimes. The U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) released a 'Mnangagwa provides a protective shield to smugglers to operate in Zimbabwe and has directed Zimbabwean officials to facilitate the sale of gold and diamonds in illicit markets, taking bribes in exchange for his services. Mnangagwa also oversees Zimbabwe's security services, which have violently repressed political opponents and civil society groups,' the statement reads. The OFAC said the first lady of Zimbabwe, Auxillia Mnangagwa, 'facilitates' her husband's alleged crimes. OFAC claimed Auxillia Mnangagwa 'is responsible for or complicit in, or has directly or indirectly engaged in, corruption, including the misappropriation of state assets, the expropriation of private assets for personal gain, corruption related to government contracts or the extraction of natural resources, or bribery.' The sanctions froze all assets owned by the Mnangagwas and their associates in the United States and prohibited American citizens and financial institutions from doing business with the sanctioned individuals and companies. The government of Zimbabwe at the time described Washington's measures as 'inhumane' and 'illegal.' Booysen said the Trump administration seems 'far more open to ending the freeze' between Washington and Harare. 'Mnangagwa clearly wants Trump to drop the sanctions just like [Mnangagwa] dropped tariffs on American imports, using the possibility of access to Zimbabwean resources as a carrot,' she said. The U.S. State Department's Bureau of African Affairs released a It criticized the Mnangagwa government for continuing to 'use violence against peaceful protestors and civil society, as well as against labor leaders and members of the political opposition.' The Bureau pointed out that Harare has made little progress in implementing the broad reforms needed for political and economic stability. It said that American support for the people of Zimbabwe includes 'holding accountable those Zimbabweans who use public resources for private gain and deny their fellow citizens fundamental freedoms,' according to the statement. At the same time, though, the bureau said the United States 'welcomes the opportunity to increase bilateral trade and investment with Zimbabwe that will benefit U.S. and Zimbabwean businesses alike.' Booysen said previous administrations in Washington would 'never have opened the door' to Zimbabwe to this extent. 'So it's not beyond belief that one day soon the United States could have a big stake in Zimbabwe's mineral sector, should certain things happen, and one of those would be to lift the sanctions on Mnangagwa and his associates,' she said. 'The Chinese will be angry should the United States enter what it considers to be [Beijing's] market, but [Chinese leader Xi Jinping's regime] is mercenary itself, so it shouldn't complain much if this happens.'
The South African
25-04-2025
- Politics
- The South African
Britain's Lord Oates demands accountability for Zim journalist's arrest
British politician and member of the House of Lords, Jonny Oates, has demanded accountability regarding the jailing of Zimbabwean journalist Blessed Mhlanga. Mhlanga, a journalist who works at Alpha Media Holdings, has now spent 60 days in detention for interviewing a war veteran, Blessed Geza, who wants President Emmerson Mnangagwa to step down. Lord Oates spoke during a debate on media freedom in the House of Lords on Thursday. He said the Zimbabwean authorities arrested Mhlanga for no other reason than reporting the truth. 'As we speak, the journalist Blessed Mhlanga has been detained for 59 days and denied his constitutional right to bail,' Lord Oates said. 'His crime is having the temerity to conduct an interview with a former war veteran who opposes President Mnangagwa's desire to extend his term in office and has highlighted the criminal corruption of the regime and the President's family.' He added that he hopes the British government will make it clear that there will be no resumption of normal relations with Zimbabwe while the ZANU-PF regime continues to detain journalists. Lord Oates urged the Parliamentarians to ask the Zimbabwean First Lady, Auxillia Mnangagwa, about Mhlanga's freedom. Auxillia will speak at a summit in London in June. 'I note that the President's wife is due to speak at a summit in London in June,' Lord Oates noted. 'I hope that Members of our Parliament who are choosing to take part will challenge Zimbabwe's First Lady on the continued detention of Blessed Mhlanga and the overall brutality of the regime she represents.' Let us know by leaving a comment below or send a WhatsApp to 060 011 021 1. Subscribe to The South African website's newsletters and follow us on WhatsApp, Facebook, X and Bluesky for the latest news.
