Situation Report: Zimbabwe's Movement for Democratic Change: Briefing notes, Chris Maroleng

Since attaining its independence from Britain in 1980, Zimbabwe has been ruled by one party, the Zimbabwe African National Union–Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF), led by the president, Robert Mugabe. Even though this country is considered a de jure democracy, credible opposition to ZANU-PF did not begin to emerge until the early 1990s, in a context of growing poverty and unemployment.