Why was Zimbabwe a non democratic country till 2017?
Answers
Answer:
The military settled this struggle decisively in November 2017,putting mugabe under house arrest. Grace fled the country, and mnangagwa was installed as acting president...... Zimbabwe held an election without mugabe. Unfortunately, all it got was another despot in mugabes mold
In theory Zimbabwe is democratic as we hold elections among activities practiced in democracies. We also have laws that again in theory protect the rights of individuals especially in the most fundamental law of a democracy, the constitution under chapter 4. We also have a court system that is on paper independent of the executive.
Here is were the sticking point is, its just theoretical and not practical. The elections are most followed by accusations of rigging, something the majority of the country can agree on is true, our elections are a rigged process. Case in point being the 2008 election and the subsequent run off. On top off that, the democratic activities that we are alleged to participate in are usually a at your own risk kind of thing. If you engage in them you become locked on the radar of the intelligence community and a host of political activists have disappeared not to be seen, found dead or found wounded and discarded after being tortured. Some, after having been kidnapped then tortured, with security officials denying knowledge of their whereabouts, have miraculously appeared in police custody with statements of them professing guilt to crimes they never committed. In addition to that, there are laws that contradict the constitution directly which makes it near impossible to practice some of the rights which are supposed to be exercised in a democracy, with the most ridiculous being Section 96 of the Criminal Code which is mostly referred as the President’s “Insult law” which has seen many people who are in opposition to government policy being thrown behind bars for practicing their rights and thereby violating the constitution. One would expect the courts to come in to cool the executive and the law enforcement when they do so, but they have been a seal of approval for most parts to these crimes mostly because they are filled with cronies of the government at the top.
In short, NO ZIMBABWE IS NOT A DEMOCRATIC COUNTRY
However, it is worth pointing out that most of these things being by design are not really sown in the DNA of the citizens and the majority of the judiciary and can be easily struck down. It is only a matter of having a government that is willing to guarantee the democracy rather than oppress it like what is the case right now.