A Public Talk by Gerald Chikozho Mazarire, Associate Professor in the History Department of the Midlands State University, Zimbabwe.

This talk explores ZANU (PF)’s 1984 Congress which was a public expression of a liberation movement struggling to transform itself into a modern political party, and argues that in managing these roles, the party became heavily dependent on its leader, Robert Mugabe, who re-organised it through subsequent ‘congresses’ by balancing the twin factors of incumbency and entitlement in a format that allowed him unbridled control over ZANU PF. The paper traces the various stages of transformation that the party underwent both constitutionally and by strategic ‘re-organisation’ of its civilian and military arms to explain how this created the necessary ingredients of a subsequent implosion. It explores this in the context of the November 2017 ‘Operation Restore Legacy’ and the implications of military takeover of both the party and government.