Rethinking the Language of Politics in 21st century Zimbabwe: A Critical Discourse Analysis Perspective

Abstract

The struggle for political supremacy in postcolonial Zimbabwe has of late assumed a new form in which discourse contestations have taken centre-stage. The Zimbabwe African National Union Patriotic Front (ZANU PF) politicians have engaged in discourse construction and discourse manipulation as tools of discrediting, vilifying and outmanoeuvring their perceived political opponents. This has been evident during and after the execution of the Fast Track Land Reform Programme (the 'Third Chimurenga') and the urban slums clearance exercise ('Operation Murambatsvina'). Applied propaganda techniques in the form of discourse control, semantic twists, popular appeal, word approval, semantic forgery and semantic shifts have been deployed in attempting to justify the nobility of unpopular government programmes that have been condemned both locally and internationally. The article concentrates on ZANU PF political discourse because other political players in do not have access to the state controlled media. In attempting to unravel these deep-seated political machinations of the ZANU PF government, the article uses a mixed conceptual framework of hegemony theory and critical discourse analysis, coupled with empiricism.