Beware the Zanu-PF threat

2008, when Zimbabwe was at its nadir, South African political leaders and security officials began warning of a potential military threat to the southern African region. The country was facing a humanitarian, economic and political crisis, and was teetering on the brink of becoming a failed state. The inflation rate had rendered the country’s currency worthless; supermarket shelves were empty; and the agricultural sector had been devastated by farm invasions and the exodus of commercial farmers. Being an election year, state-sanctioned violence was at its height –