After Mugabe

Transitional Justice in a Failed Zimbabwe

Bibliographic Data

ID20242007
AuthorsTaurai Kachembere (0009-0003-4866-2708, University of Johannesburg, corresponding author)
Year2025
Volume20
Issue2
Pages61-80
Publication date2025-07-03
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueInternational Journal of African Renaissance Studies - Multi- Inter- and Transdisciplinarity (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1753-7274 • E-ISSN: 1818-6874
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/18186874.2025.2572074
OpenAlexW4417024919
LanguageEN
References cited20

The demise of the authoritarian ruler Robert Mugabe after almost four decades in power brought new hope and expectations of justice for past wrongs in Zimbabwe. With his departure, many had hoped that the country would eventually confront its violent past such as the Gukurahundi atrocities, farm invasions, state-sponsored violence, and arbitrary arrests. Many citizens had hoped for improved living conditions and better life prospects. Unfortunately, the post-Mugabe era has mostly maintained totalitarian permanence, excessive power of political elites, selective memory, and self-enrichment of the dominant elite. Through the lens of transitional justice, this articles examines the post-Mugabe era (2017–2025), exploring the often neglected dimensions of authoritarian continuity, economic injustice, and institutional decay. Zimbabwe exemplifies the challenges of transitional justice in the context of failed states where the dominant elite connected to the past wrongs continue to cling to political power. The article argues that in such a context many are injured and seek ways in which they can overcome their fears, yet the country’s transition has been more allegorical than practical. Initiatives that have been put in place are impelled by state intervention, dearth of autonomy, victim-centredness, and execution which is required by meaningful justice. Hence, the analysis submits that transitional justice in Zimbabwe continues to be a project that is truncated and contested, performed mostly by civic society and victims rather than by the state. The article concludes by proposing contours of a more viable and victim-centred transitional justice framework rooted in virtues such as economic equality, accountability, restoration of human dignity, and an undertaking that past wrongdoings will never be repeated

Economic Justice · Transitional justice · African cultural and philosophical studies · African studies and sociopolitical issues · Political Conflict and Governance