dismissal of the-then Vice President, Joice Mujuru, in December 2014, who was the leader of the party’s women’s wing. President Mugabe appointed his wife, Grace Mugabe, as leader of the women’s wing, giving her automatic membership into the party’s politburo and fuelling speculation that she was being positioned to succeed the ageing President. Emmerson Mnangagwa, who was Justice Minister, replaced Joice Mujuru as Vice President. He had earlier been the minister responsible for state security during the massacre of the 1980s. There were subsequent reports of a succession struggle within the party, particularly between factions aligned with Grace Mugabe and Mnangagwa. Eventually, President Mugabe dismissed Mnangagwa on 6 November 2017, accusing him of undermining his authority. The latter went into exile in South Africa. The November 2017 transition On 15 November, members of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces (ZDF) seized control of the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation and key areas of Harare. The ZDF subsequently issued a statement explaining that it was not a coup d'état and that President Robert Mugabe was safe. On 19 November, ZANU-PF expelled Mugabe as party leader, replacing him with Mnangagwa. Mugabe resigned on 21 November, paving the way for Mnangagwa to be sworn in as President on 24 November 2017. The regional and international community’s silence over the nature of the military transition, often referred to in Zimbabwe as the ‘new dispensation’, provided an opportunity for the Mnangagwa government to pursue a reformist agenda involving a strong re-engagement with the international community. The message of reintegration into the international community, especially to attract much-needed investment for development, was one that appeared to be shared by the MDC opposition during this period. Tsvangirai’s death and emergence of the MDC Alliance The MDC-T also experienced its own challenges. The death of its leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, on 14 February 2018, triggered a succession row in the main opposition MDC-T party among three rival leaders: Nelson Chamisa, Elias Mudzuri and Thokozani Khupe. Nelson Chamisa, an appointed Vice President of the party, was eventually appointed its Acting President. Thokozani Khupe, former Deputy Prime Minister of Zimbabwe from February 2009 to August 2013 (during the Global Political Agreement), and an elected Vice President of the party, challenged Nelson Chamisa for the leadership of the party. She did so on the basis that the party’s rules required the acting party president to be an elected leader of the party. Khupe was subsequently dismissed from the party and she formed her own faction. A legal dispute arose between Chamisa and Khupe over the use of the party name and symbols. In what is seen as a compromise, Khupe’s faction retained the MDC-T 8