Development denied: Autocratic militarism in post-election Zimbabwe

This article examines the recent ideological position of ‘Vote for Development’ which the ZANU-PF government in Zimbabwe pursued during the election campaign of March 2005, and the brief period of freer expression that accompanied the campaign. This strategy of power, the willingness to seemingly embrace democratic process, is then compared with the postelection situation in Zimbabwe, where despite having entrenched themselves in government, the ZANU-PF leadership is conducting a campaign to destroy the infrastructural, physical, economic and social assets of the urban poor. I review the ‘Operation Restore Order’ against informal traders, and the ‘Operation Murambatsvina’ (‘Operation Clear Away the Trash’ – or grime, rubbish, filth) of 25 May to early July 2005 against peoples homes, and ask how we can categorise the Zimbabwean state in its contemporary, seemingly contradictory, form.