Mnangagwa vs Chiwenga: The Existential Battle for Power in Zimbabwe

The November 2017 military move in Zimbabwe that marked the end of Robert Mugabe’s 37-year rule opened a completely new phase in the southern African country’s troubled politics. Although the military leadership insisted that its intervention was not a coup, the events were clearly a military-led transfer of power. Soldiers moved into the capital city of Harare, seized the state’s broadcaster and other strategic points, and confined Mugabe to his residence while declaring that they were targeting “criminals” around him rather than the president himself. The operation, code-named Operation Restore Legacy, arose from a deep struggle within the…