Article Review: “Zimbabwe: An Opportunity Lost” by Alex Magaisa

Article Review: “Zimbabwe: An Opportunity Lost” by Alex Magaisa
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Article Review: “Zimbabwe: An Opportunity Lost” by Alex Magaisa
Summary
The article is about Zimbabwe elections and politics. Mugabe’s administration and cope planning in Zimbabwe is properly communicated in the article. In November 2017 Mugabe, the former president of Zimbabwe then 93 years experienced resistance from different executives and the army. Mugabe served Zimbabwe from 1980 starting as prime minister and later as the president. Zimbabwe Defense Forces (ZDF) initiated a coup on November 14 and 15 controlling state broadcaster Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation, different parts of the city and put Mugabe under house arrest. The coup was due to the socio-economic problems facing Zimbabwe during Mugabe’s reign. The ruling party ZANU-PF was experiencing tension with some members supporting former vice president Emmerson Mnangagwa and others First Lady Grace Mugabe. ZANU-PF resigned the presidency and started formal proceedings of impeachment. SADC and AU were against the unconstitutional changes in government in Zimbabwe. Nine months after the coup, Zimbabweans were prepared to vote for the first time that Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai not on the ballot. Morgan Tsvangirai, the party leader of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), had passed on in 2018.
The contest was between Mnangagwa of ZANI-PF and Nelson Chamisa of MDC. The death of Tsvangirai made the opposition camp divide between the three deputies pushing for the party presidency. Nelson Chamisa won the contest and was support by the third deputy but Thokozani Khupe chooses to run for the president. A small fraction of MDC supported Khupe which provided Mnangagwa with a great advance due to the division. At the time of the 2018 elections, Chamisa was a youth leader with 40 years the minimum age to contest as a president in Zimbabwe. Chamisa has backing from all age groups due to the flexibility in his leadership. Chamisa promised the sustainability and modernization of the country in his campaigns. Mnangagwa promised international renewal and international relations to increase Zimbabwe's performance. ZANU-PF took the presidency, two-thirds of the national assembly and 36 of 60 Senate seats. Mnangagwa circumvented election runoff by claiming 50.8% of the total votes passing the needed 50% and Chamisa was second with 44.3% of the votes. The Zimbabwean election showed a rural-urban divide with the majority of rural constituencies supporting ZANU-PF and urban constituencies supporting...