IDCPPA Research Seminar - 7 May 2026 - Brian Raftopoulos - The Challenges of Civil Society in Zimbabwe

You are kindly invited to the IDCPPA Research Seminar on

Thursday, 7 May 2026, 14:00 – 15:30 SAST.
CSSR Seminar Room 4.29
Robert Leslie Social Sciences Building
University of Cape Town

Speaker

Professor Brian Raftopoulos

Professor and Senior Scholar of Democratic Governance, University of Cape Town, Nelson Mandela School of Public Governance

The Challenges of Civil Society in Zimbabwe

Abstract

Civil Society in Zimbabwe in 2026 faces its greatest challenges in the post-colonial period. The resurgent authoritarian politics of the Mnangagwa regime since the coup in 2017 has presented civic groups with a cumulative wave of repressive state politics.  Over the last decade, fatigue, dwindling donor funds, and growing informalisation of the economy has undermined CSO momentum. At the same time, ZANU PF has carried out a sustained and relentless attack on the civic space using lawfare, threats, harassment, arrests and kidnappings. While civil society is in a state of lull, ZANU PF is consolidating and capitalizing on the economic disaster that has generated growing elite corruption to build a narrative that ‘Zimbabwe is open for business’. The constitution and key state institutions have become instruments of control in the hands of the ruling party. The presentation will examine the national, regional and international dynamics shaping the current political conjuncture in Zimbabwe.  

Bio

Professor Brian Raftopoulos is a leading Zimbabwean scholar and activist. Formally a Professor of Development Studies at the University of Zimbabwe from 1990-2006, he moved to Cape Town at the end of March 2006 and was the Director of Research and Advocacy in the Solidarity Peace Trust from 2007-2024, an NGO dealing with human rights issues in Zimbabwe. He is currently a Senior Scholar-Democratic Governance, at the Nelson Mandela School of Public Governance, at UCT. He has published widely on Zimbabwean history, labour history, historiography, and politics and is a regular contributor to public debates in Zimbabwe. Raftopoulos was also Mellon Senior Research Mentor at the Centre for Humanities Research at the University of the Western Cape from 2009-2013. He was co-chair of the Editorial Board of the Journal of Southern African Studies (JSAS) from 2021-2025. As an activist he was a founder member of the National Constitutional Assembly in 1998, and the Chair of a broad civic coalition called the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition from 2001-2003. He continues to work closely with the labour movement in Zimbabwe as a board member of the Labour and Development Research Institute of Zimbabwe (Ledriz).  He was also the Chair of the Board of the Zimbabwe Institute, a research and policy institute, from 2002-2013.