Robert Mugabe’s rule in Zimbabwe is over. But the country’s road to democracy remains a bumpy one as Zanu-PF, the new president and the military go about entrenching power.
Jacob Zuma, president of South Africa. There are renewed calls for citizens to directly elect their president and other representatives.
Reuters/Sumaya Hisham
Changing the South African system to allow for direct election would require the country to look carefully at how a directly elected president should be held accountable to parliament.
A strong judiciary isn’t enough to keep democracy in place. Kenya’s Supreme Court decision nullifying the re-election of Uhuru Kenyatta is a case in point.
Reuters/Baz Ratner
The past 12 months provided further evidence of the danger of democratic backsliding in Africa. But it also saw powerful presidents suffer embarrassing setbacks in a number of countries.
Chinese President Xi Jinping reviews the guard of honour on a state visit to Zimbabwe.
Reuters/Philimon Bulawayo
Cobus van Staden, South African Institute of International Affairs and Chris Alden, London School of Economics and Political Science
A narrow interest in whether Beijing actively pushed for Mugabe’s fall is based on the assumption that the China-Africa relationship is an isolated phenomenon.
Emmerson Mnangagwa has officially been sworn in as interim Zimbabwean President.
EPA-EFE
Zimbabweans have every right to celebrate the end of Robert Mugabe’s long and disastrous reign, but they would be wrong to assume that this is the end of their political problems.
Zimbabweans welcome Emmerson Mnangagwa back from his brief exile in South Africa.
EPA-EFE/Aaron Ufumeli
It’s still unclear whether Zimbabwe will manage an effective transition to participatory democracy and freedom. And the current signs are not encouraging.
The single greatest failure of current punditry is the refusal to recognise that context matters. A one-size-fits-all approach to solving Zimbabwe’s complex set of problems simply won’t help.
Supporters of vice president Emmerson Mnangagwa, symbolized by a crocodile toy, celebrate the end of the Mugabe era in Harare on November 22.
Stefan Heunis/AFP
The political crisis in Zimbabwe reveals the shortcomings of African intergovernmental organisations and their (in)capacity to guarantee democratic functioning in the member states.
By intervening in Zimbabwe’s politics the military could plunge the country into a prolonged period of uncertainty. Could President Emmerson Mnangagwa be its saviour?
Emmerson Mnangagwa, President-elect of Zimbabwe.
Filckr/UN
After the fall of autocratic ruler Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe faces a difficult choice between the stability of a transnational government or a potentially divisive election contest.
Countries - including many in Africa - have moved towards democracy incrementally. They have zig-zagged and sometimes regressed. Events in Zimbabwe should be seen in this light.
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni speaks during a presidential campaign rally in the capital Kampala in 2016.
Reuters/James Akena
As a young radical in the 1980s, Museveni publicly scorned African rulers who clung to power. Now, after 30 years in office, he is clearly clinging pretty hard himself.
Zimbabwe National Army commander Constantino Chiwenga, second from left, addressing the media.
EPA-EFE/Aaron Ufumeli
Contrary to popular sentiment that the coup in Zimbabwe would usher in a new era of democracy, the military intervention is much more about a succession crisis in the ruling Zanu-PF.
Protesters at a rally outside parliament in preparation ahead of the proposed impeachment of President Robert Mugabe.
Kim Ludbrook/EPA
A week after the army issued its limp-wristed and ambiguous statement that Mugabe should go, he remains in place, and a new avenue - impeachment - is being pursued to get rid of him.
The political troubles of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe comes with lessons for his South African counterpart Jacob Zuma.
REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko
The unfolding misfortunes of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe hold key lessons for his South African counterpart Jacob Zuma who faces the possibility of a forced exit.
Mugabe tried to impose his wife on his party as his chosen successor.
Philimon Bulawayo/Reuters
Are we witnessing the end of an era in which dictators stayed in power for decades? If so this must be good not only for Angola and Zimbabwe but for southern Africa as a whole.