The politics of sustainability: discourse and power in post-2000 Zimbabwean political texts
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Date
2019-12
Authors
Matsika, Tsiidzai
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of the Free State
Abstract
Discourse (language in social context) has ‘dimensions’ that make and unmake power. Power is created, sustained and contested through language. This is mainly because by its nature, if not forcibly acquired, power is discursively attained. As the chief mechanism of enabling (and also disabling) power, discourse is an indispensable site to understand Zimbabwean politics and policies shaped by the economic crisis of the post-2000 period. Yet despite its important significance and function as a medium of self-articulation and identification, very little research has been done on the potential of discourse approaches to dynamics and dimensions of the Zimbabwean crisis. Shifting focus to previously unstudied sites of Zimbabwean political discourse (political texts - mainly party manifestos), this study extends what is known about the uses of rhetoric and discourse in guiding perceptions and conceptions of the crisis and connected to that, the making, sustenance and unmaking of power. The question that this thesis answers concerns how, what is said as part of political promises makes political sense vis-à-vis the urgency of containing the crisis and, related to that, gaining or maintaining power to run the nation. This involves a careful analysis of rhetoric to ascertain the political function of discourse in concretising certain conceptions of the crisis, how it can be addressed and who is (and is not) best suited to address it. At the centre of the crisis discourse in Zimbabwe is the agenda for sustainable socio-economic development and contestation for power. In contemporary Zimbabwe, sustainability is a concept that has taken a wide range of meanings, inter alia, because of its natural relevance to economic development paradigms in the face of the economic crisis characterising the post-2000 period. Central to the concept of sustainability discourse are political promises to deal with the crisis, eradicate poverty, protect the environment, address equity imbalances and safeguard national sovereignty. However, underlying discourses on sustainability are numerous conflicting assumptions and guidelines for action. Such contradictions emanate from the fact that in a crisis situation, what is sustainable vis-à-vis strategies for economic recovery is often political and politicised, thus policies on sustainable national development are (re)packaged, (re)modelled, and (re)presented to serve both institutional (party) politics and policies. That Zimbabwe has been experiencing an economic and political crisis is not the debate; rather, what is in question concerns what necessary interventions are needed and adjunct to this, who is best situated to intervene. These are the questions that political parties, such as, the ruling party, Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front (ZANU PF) in #Team ZANU PF (2013), Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Socio-Economic Transformation (Zim Asset) (2013) and The People’s Voice (2018); and oppositional parties such as the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) in Jobs, Upliftment, Investment Capital and Environment (JUICE) (2013), Zimbabwe People First (Zim PF) and National People’s Party in Blueprint to Unlock Investment and Leverage for Development (BUILD) (2015) and People’s Rainbow Coalition (PRC) in Inclusive Development Agenda (IDEA) (2018) are grappling with in contemporary Zimbabwe. The questions have informed policy and more importantly (with regards to this study’s focus) the discourse of policy. Guided mainly by Fairclough’s theorisation on the ways in which representing reality is informed by and reflect (on) ideologies impacting various forms of power relations, this study explores the politics of rhetoric in post- 2000 Zimbabwe. The study asks the following questions: what is the nature of the Zimbabwean crisis as perceived from the various political vantage points in political texts; what characterises the rhetoric on who and/or what is responsible for the crisis; what are the discursive strategies used by parties to influence people to align with certain interpretations of the crisis (believability) and suspect others, and lastly, how does a discourse-focused approach to the politics of representing the Zimbabwean crisis refresh modes and epistemologies of knowing its nature, historical trajectory and how it has shaped policy and political practice in contemporary Zimbabwe?
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Keywords
Thesis (Ph.D. (English))--University of the Free State (Qwaqwa Campus), 2019, Rhetoric, Economic sustainability, Zimbabwean crisis, Manifesto, Policy, Discourse, Critical discourse analysis, Power, Zimbabwean politics