Abstract
The departure of Robert Mugabe whose 37-year authoritarian rule was ended by a military coup in November 2017 was accompanied by celebrations and much optimism. The emergent ‘new dispensation’ led by President Emmerson Mnangagwa promised an end to authoritarian rule, despotism, a cartelised and patronage-based economy, and economic malpractices to revive the battered economy. Agriculture would remain one of the key economic sectors with Zimbabweans themselves as the cornerstone and the strongest pillar to build a strong and sustainable economy. However, a qualitative review of land discourses and policy practices reveal the contrary. Predicated on secondary sources, and based on a discourse analysis, this article shows how the new regime has abandoned its promises and relaxed policies, thereby easing investment conditions for monopoly finance capital which now engages in financialised agrarian primitive accumulation. The result has been forcing production models for peasants, livelihoods and tenure insecurity, impending peasant displacements, and a sustained cartelised and patronage-based economy and politics reminiscent of the Mugabe era.