31st August 2023 - The Elephant's Weekly Digest
Welcome to this week’s letter from the Editor’s Desk. In this week’s newsletter, we examine the Zimbabwean life, elections, culture and history in light of the recent elections. This is the key theme that graces the pages of this week’s publication.
ZIMBAWE’S FOUNDING FATHER: Who was Ndabaningi Sithole? Zimbabwean founding father, Ndabaningi Sithole, has largely been edited out of the country’s history. But thanks to the tremendous archive of writing Sithole left behind, we can edit him back in. Sithole, who died in 2000, did not have the benefit of Google. He was frozen in time, at the twilight of his life. For a long time on YouTube, the only clips of Sithole were of an ageing man, hobbling to court, fighting for his life after being accused of treason and attempting to kill his rival, Mugabe. More here.
ZIMBABWE’S STATE VIOLENCE: ‘Crush and Grind Them Like Lice’: Harare Old Guard Feeling Threatened. With the launch of the Citizens Coalition for Change, Zimbabwe’s political landscape has undergone a significant shift, with a younger activist generation increasingly impatient with the unfulfilled promises of liberation. The launch of the Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) has galvanized the opposition. Going by the youthful excitement at the rallies, the violence flaring against its supporters. More here.
ZIMBABWE’S RELIGIOUS VIOLENCE: The Dictatorship of the Church. From the enormously influential megachurches of Walter Magaya and Emmanuel Makandiwa to smaller ‘startups,’ the church in Zimbabwe has frightening, nearly despotic authority. In Zimbabwe, the most powerful dictatorship is not the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) party, nor any of their associates pose as significant an existential threat to Zimbabweans as the most influential dictatorship at play in the country: the church. More here.
ZIMBABWE’S MILITARY-CIVILIAN SHIFT: Zimbabwe Dared to Be Free, Then the Military Arrived. What has emerged since that “military-assisted transition” is Zimbabwe which is now policed by the military. Democratic-constitutional institutions have been subverted and the rule of law has been shredded. The dominant political class has become a network of very powerful military elites, or what can be referred to as military nationalists. The dominant political class has become a network of very powerful military elites, or what can be referred to as military nationalists. More here.
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Vol. 01, Issue No. 19, 31?August 2023
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