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Politics, Privileges, and Loyalty in the Zimbabwe National Army

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 May 2017

Godfrey Maringira
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Abstract:

In postcolonial Africa, the military has become an actor in politics, often in ways that can be described as unprofessional. This paper focuses on the manner in which the Zimbabwean National Army (ZNA) has become heavily politicized since independence, directly supporting the regime of President Robert Mugabe while denigrating the opposition political party. The military metamorphosed, to all intents, into an extension of President Mugabe’s political party, the ZANU-PF. I argue that even though the military is expected to subordinate itself to a civilian government, the ZNA is highly unprofessional, in- and outside the army barracks. The ways in which politics came to be mediated by army generals, as “war veterans” serving in the military, directly influenced not only how soldiers who joined the army in postindependence Zimbabwe were promoted and demoted, but how they lived their lives as soldiers in the army barracks. This article is based on fifty-eight life histories of army deserters living in exile in South Africa.

Résumé:

Dans l’Afrique postcoloniale, l’armée est devenue un acteur politique, qui peut être souvent décrit comme non professionnel. Cet article se focalise sur la manière dont l’armée nationale du Zimbabwe (ZNA) est devenue fortement politisée depuis l’indépendance, se transformant, de fait, comme une extension du parti politique du Président Robert Mugabe, le ZANU-PF et dénigrant l’opposition. Faisant appel à des histoires vécues de cinquante-huit déserteurs de l’armée en exil en Afrique du Sud, cet article décrit les manières dont les affaires politiques au Zimbabwe sont médiés par les généraux de l’armée, comme « vétérans de guerre » servant dans l’armée. Cette situation influence directement non seulement comment les soldats qui ont rejoint l’armée au Zimbabwe postindépendance sont promus et rétrogradés, mais aussi comment ils vivent leur vie comme soldats dans les casernes de l’armée.

Keywords

Army desertersmilitary professionalismpoliticswar veteransoldiersZimbabwe
Type
ARTICLES
Information
African Studies Review , Volume 60 , Issue 2 , September 2017 , pp. 93 - 113
Copyright
Copyright © African Studies Association 2017 

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