Seeking social justice in crisis: socio-economic rights and citizenship in post-2000 Zimbabwe

The manifestations of the post-2000 economic crisis in Zimbabwe have long been a research subject for scholars who study issues of social justice in Zimbabwe. This article reviews three recent books written on the topic: Simukai Chigudu’s The political life of an epidemic: cholera, crisis and citizenship in Zimbabwe, Davison Muchadenyika’s Seeking urban transformation: alternative urban futures in Zimbabwe, and Building from the rubble: the labour movement in Zimbabwe since 2000, edited by Lloyd Sachikonye, Brian Raftopoulos and Godfrey Kanyenze. Although these works focus on different issues – a healthcare emergency, an urban housing crisis, and the labour movement’s decline, several themes cut across all of them: the economic and political crises, urban politics, experiences of citizenship, and social injustice. Addressing different socio-economic and political processes that emerged due to the crisis, the authors come to a common and important conclusion that despite the rigid political system and persisting social injustice, substantive and substantial changes in Zimbabwe may be achieved through grassroots social mobilisation and collective action.