Mugabe’s Neo-sultanist Rule: Beyond the Veil of Pan-Africanism

Abstract

This chapter sets out to deconstruct the Afro-radical rhetoric so constructed to portray the president of Zimbabwe Robert Mugabe as a pan-Africanist par excellence. This Afro-radical rhetoric was carefully manufactured by a pantheon of “palace intellectuals,” ZANU-PF officials, and state media to present Mugabe’s liberation war credentials; his neopopulist redistributive policies; and his anti-Western antics as the befitting descriptors and signifiers of his pan-Africanist pedigree. Admittedly, the pan-Africanist portrayal of Mugabe has earned him some respect among a legion of admirers in mainland Africa and not least the Diaspora who are genuinely searching for champions and bulwarks against the global epistemic designs. To this group, Mugabe stands out as an exemplar and a veritable paragon of pan-African struggles.