Robert Mugabe’s rule in Zimbabwe is over. But the country’s road to democracy remains a bumpy one as Zanu-PF, the new president and the military go about entrenching power.
Changing the South African system to allow for direct election would require the country to look carefully at how a directly elected president should be held accountable to parliament.
The past 12 months provided further evidence of the danger of democratic backsliding in Africa. But it also saw powerful presidents suffer embarrassing setbacks in a number of countries.
Cobus van Staden, South African Institute of International Affairs et Chris Alden, London School of Economics and Political Science
A narrow interest in whether Beijing actively pushed for Mugabe’s fall is based on the assumption that the China-Africa relationship is an isolated phenomenon.
Zimbabweans have every right to celebrate the end of Robert Mugabe’s long and disastrous reign, but they would be wrong to assume that this is the end of their political problems.
It’s still unclear whether Zimbabwe will manage an effective transition to participatory democracy and freedom. And the current signs are not encouraging.
The single greatest failure of current punditry is the refusal to recognise that context matters. A one-size-fits-all approach to solving Zimbabwe’s complex set of problems simply won’t help.
The political crisis in Zimbabwe reveals the shortcomings of African intergovernmental organisations and their (in)capacity to guarantee democratic functioning in the member states.
By intervening in Zimbabwe’s politics the military could plunge the country into a prolonged period of uncertainty. Could President Emmerson Mnangagwa be its saviour?
After the fall of autocratic ruler Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe faces a difficult choice between the stability of a transnational government or a potentially divisive election contest.
Countries - including many in Africa - have moved towards democracy incrementally. They have zig-zagged and sometimes regressed. Events in Zimbabwe should be seen in this light.
As a young radical in the 1980s, Museveni publicly scorned African rulers who clung to power. Now, after 30 years in office, he is clearly clinging pretty hard himself.
Contrary to popular sentiment that the coup in Zimbabwe would usher in a new era of democracy, the military intervention is much more about a succession crisis in the ruling Zanu-PF.
A week after the army issued its limp-wristed and ambiguous statement that Mugabe should go, he remains in place, and a new avenue - impeachment - is being pursued to get rid of him.
The unfolding misfortunes of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe hold key lessons for his South African counterpart Jacob Zuma who faces the possibility of a forced exit.
Are we witnessing the end of an era in which dictators stayed in power for decades? If so this must be good not only for Angola and Zimbabwe but for southern Africa as a whole.