Abstract
Politics have a universal presence, as it affects our lives on a macro and micro level. The same
can be said for
road-tolling systems around the world. In Zimbabwe, road tolls were introduced to raise money for
the rehabilitation, maintenance and construction of existing and new highway infrastructure.
Politics helped steered the course in several ways. Many scholars have developed diverse and
complementary definitions of the term ‘politics’. This article is underpinned by Lasswell’s (1936)
definition of politics, namely “who gets what when and how”. As such, it focuses on the key actors
or role-players in the road-tolling discourse (who), the services that they receive from the
road-tolling system (what), at which times they receive these services (when), the strategies and
routes used to access the services (how) and the reasons for accessing these services (why).
Against this backdrop, this article seeks to explore the politics that surrounds Zimbabwe’s
road-tolling processes and
practice by using the ‘Lasswellian lens’ or ‘definitional framework’.