The departure of Mugabe represents neither the end of an era nor the birth of a new one. The ruling party and military will emerge stronger, taking the credit for Mugabe’s exit. The opposition’s change mantra will fade away. ZANU-PF will bring about cosmetic changes to endear itself to the people and the world. But the elite, predatory politics of Zimbabwe will largely remain. The struggle continues.

President Robert Mugabe’s firing of his deputy, accusing him of disloyalty, surprised many people. One of Zimbabwe’s liberation heroes, Manangagwa a.k.a the Crocodile was assumed to be well-placed to succeed his 93-year-old boss. But a closer look at the Crocodile reveals a man with little strategic grasp of Zimbabwe’s political chessboard controlled by the grandmaster Robert and his wife Grace.

Why is it that, despite its notorious legacy of mismanaging the country and an atrocious human rights record, Zimbabwe’s ruling party ZANU-PF still wins elections? It is not only by rigging; the party knows well the character of its core support base of mostly irrational voters. The opposition should not only go into next year’s election as a united front; in addition they must craft strategies to raid ZANU-PF’s support base.

The events of 2008 in Zimbabwe led to bloodshed and the present-day Government of National Unity. ZANU PF has exposed its cast-iron willpower to thwart the implementation of any meaningful reforms and the prognosis for the 2013 elections appears bleak

In Africa’s last monarchy – the kingdom of Swaziland, the major question is: for how long multi-party politics should be construed as incompatible with Swazi tradition, when that tradition is static? It appears that Swazi tradition was not only hijacked by the monarchy but has arrested the development of genuine democratic participation of Swazi citizens