Dr Gift Mwonzora

gift.mwonzora@uni-erfurt.de

Postdoctoral Researcher (Willy Brandt School of Public Policy)

Contact

C19 - Research Building "Weltbeziehungen" / C19.02.15

Visiting address

University of Erfurt
Willy Brandt School of Public Policy
C19 - Research Building "Weltbeziehungen"
Max-Weber-Allee 3
99089 Erfurt

Mailing address

Universität Erfurt
Willy Brandt School of Public Policy
Postfach 90 02 21
99105 Erfurt

Research Associate (Willy Brandt School of Public Policy)

Contact

C19 - Research Building "Weltbeziehungen" / C19.02.15

Visiting address

University of Erfurt
Willy Brandt School of Public Policy
Max-Weber-Allee 3
99089 Erfurt

Mailing address

Universität Erfurt
Willy Brandt School of Public Policy
Postfach 90 02 21
99105 Erfurt

Dr Gift Mwonzora

Research Area

Development and Socio-Economic Policies 

Short Biography

Gift is a scientific Coordinator/Post-doctoral Researcher to the Gerhard Haniel Professor of Public Policy and International Development, Prof. Achim Kemmerling. He is interested in development policy, governance, political economy, peace and conflict, environmental sustainability, urban safety, cities, the future of work and digitalisation in Africa. He holds a PhD in Sociology (specialising in Political Sociology) from Rhodes University in South Africa, B.A Honours in History and Development studies from the Midlands State University (MSU) - Zimbabwe, Certificate in Monitoring and Evaluation (M & E) from University of Zimbabwe (UZ).

He studied for an M.A in Development studies majoring in Human Rights, Development & Social Justice from Erasmus Universitiet Rotterdam (ISS) in the Netherlands. He previously held several academic positions in South African universities.  He worked as a Research Fellow in the Unit for Zimbabwean Studies – Department of Sociology at Rhodes University in Grahamstown. He also worked under the South African Research Chair in Cities, Law and Environmental Sustainability (CLES) in the Faculty of Law at Northwest University in Potchefstroom. He then worked as a post-doctoral Research Fellow in the Institute of Social Justice and Institutional Change at the University of Free State (UFS) in Bloemfontein. In 2014 he was a Visiting Research Fellow at the (VU) Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam in the Netherlands.

Before joining the Brandt School, Gift worked as a Rapporteur in the constitution making process in Zimbabwe and as a trade-unionist for the General Agriculture and Plantation Workers Union of Zimbabwe (GAPWUZ). He also worked as a Researcher and Lecturer in Zimbabwe. He has published extensively on transitional justice, elections, comparative politics, democracy, (urban) governance and informality.

Publications

Journal Articles

Mwonzora, G. (2023). ‘Too many parties and still counting’: in defense of multiparty democracy in Zimbabwe. Politikon, 1-24. https://doi.org/10.1080/02589346.2023.2213501

Mwonzora, G. (2023). ‘Who is patriotic, who is not’? Enactment of patriotism law in Zimbabwe. African Identities, 1-16. https://doi.org/10.1080/14725843.2023.2222920 

Mwonzora, G. (2022). Demolitions of informal business structures in Harare, Zimbabwe under the guise of COVID-19 city clean up. Journal of Asian and African Studies, 57(7), 1446-1460. https://doi.org/10.1177/00219096211058878 

Mwonzora, G. (2022). ‘The Hand that Gives and the Hand that Takes’: The Taming of Zimbabwe Medical Doctors Industrial Job Action. Journal of Asian and African Studies. https://doi.org/10.1177/00219096221130341 

Mwonzora, G. (2022). Opposition failures in forming pre-electoral coalitions in Zimbabwe. Journal of Contemporary African Studies, 40(4), 544-560: https://doi.org/10.1080/02589001.2023.2180141

Mwonzora, G. (2022). Local governance and wetlands management: a tale of Harare City in Zimbabwe. Urban Forum, 33, (3): 309-328. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12132-021-09448-2

Mwonzora, G., & Helliker, K. (2022). Truce and reconciliation in Zimbabwe: from Mugabe to Mnangagwa: Trêve et réconciliation au Zimbabwé: de Mugabe à Mnangagwa. Critical African Studies, 14(2), 124-137. https://doi.org/10.1080/21681392.2022.2067069 

Mwonzora, G., & Hodzi, O. (2021). Movement for democratic change and the rise of Nelson Chamisa. Journal of Asian and African studies, 56(2), 251-266. https://doi.org/10.1177/0021909620986588 

Mwonzora, G., & Xaba, M. B. (2020). From the Booth to the Dock: 2018 elections in Zimbabwe and the elusive search for electoral integrity. Commonwealth & Comparative Politics, 58(4), 433-451. https://doi.org/10.1080/14662043.2020.1813457

Mwonzora, G. (2020). Social media and citizen mobilisation in the biometric voter registration (BVR) process in Zimbabwe. Journal of Contemporary African Studies, 38(1), 103-120. https://doi.org/10.1080/02589001.2020.1746753 

Mwonzora, G., & Helliker, K. (2020). Learning and performing political violence: ZANU-PF Youth and the 2008 presidential run-off election in Zimbabwe. African Studies, 79(4), 367-386. https://doi.org/10.1080/00020184.2020.1821351

Mwonzora, G., & Mandikwaza, E. (2019). The menu of electoral manipulation in Zimbabwe: Food handouts, violence, memory, and fear–Case of Mwenezi East and Bikita West 2017 by-elections. Journal of Asian and African Studies, 54(8), 1128-1144. https://doi.org/10.1177/0021909619862595 

Book Chapters

Mwonzora, G. (2023). Traditional Leaders as Vote Brokers and 'Kingmakers' in Zimbabwe's Elections." Electoral Politics in Zimbabwe, Vol II: The 2023 Election and Beyond, pp. 289-307. https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-031-33796-3_16

Mwonzora, G. (2023). ‘Shifting the Voting Burden to Others’: Abstainers and Turn Outers in Zimbabwean Elections. In Electoral Politics in Zimbabwe, Volume I: The 2023 Election and Beyond (pp. 111-128). Cham: Springer Nature Switzerland. https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-031-27140-3_6 

Mwonzora, G. (2022). Righting the Future from the Past: Four Decades of Human Rights (Illusions) in Zimbabwe. In The Palgrave Handbook of Democracy, Governance and Justice in Africa (pp. 235-258). Cham: Springer International Publishing. https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-74014-6_13

Helliker, K., Chiweshe, M. K., Bhatasara, S., & Mwonzora, G. (2021). Everyday crisis-living in Zimbabwe. In Everyday Crisis-Living in Contemporary Zimbabwe (pp. 1-20). Routledge.

Other Outputs

Electoral reform is not a panacea to Zimbabwe’s democratic deficit available at: https://theloop.ecpr.eu/electoral-reform-is-not-a-panacea-to-zimbabwes-democratic-deficit/

Zimbabwe’s experience of contested elections and elusive electoral reform holds lessons for Africa available at: https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/africaatlse/2023/04/14/zimbabwes-experience-of-contested-elections-and-elusive-electoral-reform-holds-lessons-for-africa/

Locking Down Democracy: The Banning of By-elections in Zimbabwe in the COVID-19 Era available at: https://deliberativehub.wordpress.com/2021/10/07/locking-down-democracy-the-banning-of-by-elections-in-zimbabwe-in-the-covid-19-era/

Political Will or Not? The Right to Health in Zimbabwe in the Era of SDGs available at: https://impakter.com/the-right-to-health-in-zimbabwe/

Why Zimbabwe’s first elections after the Mugabe ouster are so significant available at: https://theconversation.com/why-zimbabwes-first-elections-after-the-mugabe-ouster-are-so-significant-100505

Scene is set for interesting contest in Zimbabwe’s upcoming poll available at: https://theconversation.com/scene-is-set-for-interesting-contest-in-zimbabwes-upcoming-poll-98867

The lack of a succession plan has left Morgan Tsvangirai’s party in disarray available at: https://theconversation.com/the-lack-of-a-succession-plan-has-left-morgan-tsvangirais-party-in-disarray-91714

The politics of reconciliation in Zimbabwe available at: http://www.transconflict.com/2013/11/framing-politics-reconciliation-new-constitutional-epoch-zimbabwe-211/