While Zimbabwe entered independence in 1980 with promises for peace and prosperity, enlightened by President Mugabe’s policy of reconciliation, several underlying and unresolved issues became the root causes of future conflicts and, arguably, laid the grounds for the circumstances which allowed for a disastrous clean-up operation to take place. Among such causes one could list the failure to meaningfully address the land question and governance problems. Since independence in 1980, Zimbabwe has been governed by ZANU-PF. Zimbabwean nationalism was forged in opposition to colonialism, and socialism became the basis of party ideology (though not necessarily of the economy) in the years following independence. The ruling party attempted, but failed, to introduce a one-party political system in the late 1980s. However, it maintained a highly centralised style of governance in which dissent and political opposition were hardly tolerated. The historical relationship of ZANU-PF and the minority party Patriotic Front-Zimbabwe African People’s Union (ZAPU-PF) during the liberation struggle and the subsequent civil war formed the basis of the ZANU-PF’s policy and attitude towards political opposition14. While the Government successfully provided social services such as education, health care, higher wages and better working conditions to the black majority during the early years of independence, underlying socio-political and economic problems were left unresolved that would eventually produce a national crisis. Of these, the land question was the most profound, as the liberation war was fought over land and the promise to return it to the indigenous African population. Historical inequity was embedded in the constitutional settlement (the ‘Lancaster House Constitution’) that preserved the colonial settler pattern of white ownership of most of the fertile land and, despite legislation in 1992 to address the inequities, the process of redistributing land remained slow and did not produce equitable results for the majority population. Some of the reasons for this failure included ineffectiveness of the willing-seller willing-buyer policy stipulated in the ‘Lancaster House Constitution’, as well as non-availability of funding. With respect to the funding issue, some in the Zimbawe political elite and intelligentsia, as well as others of similar persuasion around the continent, believe that the international community is concerned more with “regime change” and that there is no real and genuine concern for the welfare of ordinary people. They cite the fact that, following independence, many donors who pledged resources for the reconstruction of the country at the Zimbabwe Conference on Reconstruction and Development (ZIMCORD) held in 1981 did not honour their pledges. To the minds of many Zimbabweans, the international community did this because the ‘wrong party’ had won the elections at independence. Over the years, when Zimbabwe appealed for funds to buy land from white farmers, on a willing-seller willing-buyer basis, the international community is considered to have turned a deaf ear. Even when it was apparent that the African communal areas (former tribal trust lands) were congested and no longer able to sustain the increasing population. Western countries did not provide the necessary funds, even where these had been promised, as in the case of UK.15 Subsequently, a draft constitution that finally proposed compulsory acquisition of land without compensation, was rejected in a referendum in 2000. Spontaneous commercial farm invasions by peasants had started in February 1998, followed by violent invasions in some parts of the country. 14 Shortly after independence, Zimbabwe entered into a protracted civil war (1982 and 1987) including a brutal military campaign in Matebeleland, Gukurahundi, which claimed the lives of some 20,000 people. The repression was mainly against the minority Ndebele population which also became a strong basis for the opposition Patriotic Front of the Zimbabwe African Patriotic Union (PF-ZAPU). A unity accord was signed between ZANU-PF and ZAPU in 1987, cementing the basis of a strong dominant party system. 15 Confidential submission by a Professor from the University of Zimbabwe. 15