Robert Mugabe’s Legacy: Coups, Conspiracies and the Conceits of Power in Zimbabwe

In November 2017, having ruled Zimbabwe for almost four decades, Robert Mugabe’s long and repressive reign finally came to an end. In a remarkably rapid turn of events, Mugabe was toppled by his own party and replaced by his former ally Emmerson ‘The Crocodile’ Mnangagwa, who he had exiled only days before. Most had assumed Mugabe would die in office, and Zimbabwe’s ‘soft coup’ surprised many with both the speed of change and its relative lack of bloodshed. Zimbabwe after Mugabe both takes us behind the scenes of these incredible events, offering new insights into the inner working of Zanu-PF, as well as exploring their aftermath - including the alleged assassination attempt on Mnangagwa and the 2018 general election - and what this means for the country's future.

Drawing on his decades of experience in the country, as well as extensive contacts both among Zimbabwe’s dissidents and within the ruling ZANU-PF, David Moore uncovers the power plays and competing agendas which made the coup possible, and explains how it was able to succeed. For years, Mugabe was a totemic figure who dominated Zimbabwean politics, and his fall from power overturns all the old certainties about the country’s direction. Moore’s book therefore looks beyond the coup to address the most pressing question of all: After Mugabe, what next?