Zimbabwe is heading to elections next year, but anyone who hopes that the polls will translate into a better life for the majority of the people is deluded. Elections are merely contests for state power and never about finding the best vision and leadership for the country. With the ruling ZANU-PF party determined to remain in power, the likelihood of election-related violence in Zimbabwe is high.

While President Robert Mugabe was on annual leave in China, Zimbabwe’s acting president changed twice. In a one-party state that has seen the same leader for 30 years, this temporary see-sawing is an annual pattern that is part of the country’s increasingly complex leadership terrain.

Inside the deeply corrupt, incompetent and brutal dictatorship in Zimbabwe, brave voices can still be heard risking life and limb to question the regime and rally the people towards the change they desperately need. With these efforts, Zimbabwe shall rise again. The spirit of Nehanda who inspired the nation’s liberation struggle still lives.

President Robert Mugabe is not solely to blame for the economic problems facing Zimbabwe as many in the western world have claimed. 

It is normal for resistance movements to adopt rough survival strategies and techniques while fighting an oppressive regime. Unfortunately, such confrontational mentality becomes entrenched in an authoritarian political culture that is based on the claim that liberators have an entitlement to rule within a new elite project.