Cheryl Hendricks, Human Sciences Research Council

Zimbabwe’s general elections on July 30 were being labelled as “historic”. For the first time since independence in 1980, the ballot paper featured the faces of new presidential candidates, Emmerson Mnangagwa and Nelson Chamisa. And, prior to the poll, there was no large scale violence by security institutions and youth militia, as had happened previously.

Indeed, the elections were peaceful and voters turned out in large numbers. But that’s where the good news ended as violence broke out after the release of the parliamentary results.

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