Change and Continuity—Traditional Leadership’s Political and Developmental Footprint in Zimbabwe’s Second Republic

This chapter examines the role of traditional leaders in the Second Dispensation under Emmerson Mnangagwa in Zimbabwe. It seeks to understand whether there are continuities or discontinuities in the relationship between the traditional leadership and the Mnangagwa presidency in comparison to the previous Mugabe regime. It concludes that the Mnangagwa regime has adopted the same forms of bargains and compromises that were part of the Mugabe regime’s political strategy vis-à-vis traditional leaders. In particular, though the Mnangagwa-led government has “changed” the strategy of fetishising traditional leaders, it has ensured that this leadership institution in rural spaces has remained constant and captive to political interests, with development strategies pertinent to the areas of jurisdiction of traditional leaders administered as part of the ruling party’s clientelist politics. At the same time, Mnangagwa’s “open for business mantra”—as part of his formative project—implies the possibility of a strengthened state-corporate alliance which lessens the dependence of his regime and its legitimacy on traditional leaders and the interests of the rural populace, leading to possible tensions which the Mnangagwa administration will need to balance.