Until roughly 2,000 years ago,what would become Zimbabwe was populated by ancestors of the San people. Bantu inhabitants of the region arrived and developed ceramic production in the area. A series of trading empires emerged,including the Kingdom of Mapungubwe and Kingdom of Zimbabwe. In the 1880s,the British South Africa Company began its activities in the region,leading to the colonial era in Southern Rhodesia.
The politics of Zimbabwe occurs in a society deeply divided along lines of race,ethnicity,gender and geography. The ZANU–PF party has historically been dominant in Zimbabwe politics. The party,which was led by Robert Mugabe from 1980 to 2017,has used the powers of the state to intimidate,imprison and otherwise hobble political opposition in Zimbabwe,as well as use state funds and state media to advance the interests of the party.
Ndabaningi Sithole was a Zimbabwean politician and statesman who was the founder of the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU),a militant,nationalist organisation that opposed the government of Rhodesia,in July 1963. He worked as a United Church of Christ in Zimbabwe (UCCZ) minister. He spent 10 years in prison after the government banned ZANU. A rift along tribal lines split ZANU in 1975,and he lost the 1980 elections to Robert Mugabe.
Roy Leslie Bennett was a Zimbabwean politician and member of the British South Africa Police. He was also a member of the House of Assembly of Zimbabwe for the seat of Chimanimani,where he was affectionately known as Pachedu. He was the Treasurer of the Movement for Democratic Change party led by Morgan Tsvangirai and a member of the Senate of Zimbabwe. He was set to become the Deputy Minister of Agriculture of Zimbabwe until President Robert Mugabe refused to swear him in.
Pius Alick Mvundla Ncube served as the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Bulawayo,Zimbabwe,until he resigned on 11 September 2007. Widely known for his human rights advocacy,Ncube was an outspoken critic of former President Robert Mugabe while he was in office.
Operation Murambatsvina,also officially known as Operation Restore Order,was a large-scale Zimbabwean government campaign to forcibly clear slum areas across the country. The campaign started in 2005 and,according to United Nations estimates,affected at least 700,000 people directly through loss of their homes or livelihood and thus could have indirectly affected around 2.4 million people. Robert Mugabe and other government officials characterised the operation as a crackdown against illegal housing and commercial activities,and as an effort to reduce the risk of the spread of infectious disease in these areas.
The Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) is the national intelligence agency of Zimbabwe. It was conceived as the external intelligence-gathering arm of the British South Africa Police Special Branch in the early 1960s,under the Southern Rhodesian Prime Minister Winston Field,and later served as one of the secret police organizations for President Robert Mugabe's regime.
Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa is a Zimbabwean politician who is serving as the third president of Zimbabwe since 2017. A member of ZANU–PF and a longtime ally of former President Robert Mugabe,he held a series of cabinet portfolios and he was Mugabe's first-vice president from 2014 until 2017,when he was dismissed before coming to power in a coup d'état. He secured his first full term as president in the disputed 2018 general election. Mnangagwa was re-elected in the August 2023 general election with 52.6% of the vote.
Lesbian,gay,bisexual,and transgender (LGBT) people in Zimbabwe face legal challenges not experienced by non-LGBTQ residents. Since 1995,the Government of Zimbabwe has carried out campaigns against LGBT rights. Sodomy is classified as unlawful sexual conduct and defined in the Criminal Code as either anal sexual intercourse or any "indecent act" between consenting adults. Since 1995,the government has carried out campaigns against both homosexual men and women.
There were widespread reports of systematic and escalating violations of human rights in Zimbabwe under the regime of Robert Mugabe and his party,ZANU-PF,between 1980 and 2017.
Patrick Antony Chinamasa is a Zimbabwean politician who served in the government of Zimbabwe as the minister of various cabinet ministries. Previously he served as the Minister of Finance and Investment Promotion and the Minister of Justice,Legal and Parliamentary Affairs.
Zimbabwe began experiencing a period of considerable political and economic upheaval in 1999. Opposition to President Mugabe and the ZANU-PF government grew considerably after the mid-1990s in part due to worsening economic and human rights conditions. The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) was established in September 1999 as an opposition party founded by trade unionist Morgan Tsvangirai.
Presidential elections was held in Zimbabwe on 16 and 17 March 1996. The elections were contested by the incumbent President Robert Mugabe,Zimbabwe Rhodesia-era Prime Minister Abel Muzorewa,and ZANU–Ndonga leader Ndabaningi Sithole. Mugabe won,claiming over 90% of the vote,though turnout was just 32.3%,largely as a result of Sithole and Muzorewa withdrawing their candidacies shortly before the election due to threats of violence.
Robert Gabriel Mugabe was a Zimbabwean revolutionary and politician who served as Prime Minister of Zimbabwe from 1980 to 1987 and then as President from 1987 to 2017. He served as Leader of the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) from 1975 to 1980 and led its successor political party,the ZANU –Patriotic Front (ZANU–PF),from 1980 to 2017. Ideologically an African nationalist,during the 1970s and 1980s he identified as a Marxist–Leninist,and as a socialist during the 1990s and the remainder of his career.
Jestina Mukoko is a Zimbabwean human rights activist and the director of the Zimbabwe Peace Project. She is a journalist by training and a former newsreader with the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation.
Morgan Richard Tsvangirai was a Zimbabwean politician who was Prime Minister of Zimbabwe from 2009 to 2013. He was president of the Movement for Democratic Change,and later the Movement for Democratic Change –Tsvangirai (MDC–T),and a key figure in the opposition to former president Robert Mugabe.
Sekai Holland is a Zimbabwean former politician who served as Minister of State for National Healing,Reconciliation and Integration in the administrations of President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai. Sekai has been involved in campaigning on a number of human rights issues,including those relating to Aboriginal Australians,apartheid in South Africa and the women's rights and democracy in Zimbabwe.
Presidential elections were held in Zimbabwe between 9 and 11 March 2002. The elections were contested by the incumbent president Robert Mugabe,Movement for Democratic Change leader Morgan Tsvangirai,ZANU–Ndonga leader Wilson Kumbula,Shakespeare Maya of the National Alliance for Good Governance and independent candidate Paul Siwela. Although Mugabe won with 56.2% of the vote,it was the closest presidential election to date.
Jenni Williams is a Zimbabwean human rights activist and a founder of Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA). A prominent critic of President Robert Mugabe's government,she was described by The Guardian in 2009 as "one of the most troublesome thorns in Mugabe's side".
General elections were held in Zimbabwe on 29 March 2008 to elect the President and Parliament. Because of Zimbabwe's dire economic situation,the elections were expected to provide incumbent President Robert Mugabe with his toughest electoral challenge to date. Mugabe's opponents were critical of the handling of the electoral process,and the government was accused of planning to rig the election. Human Rights Watch said that the election was likely to be "deeply flawed." The elections were characterized by violence.
Rhodesia and Nyasaland 