Will 2013 see the end of Mugabe’s 33-year rule?

On 31 May Zimbabwe’s Constitutional Court, the nation’s highest court, ordered that elections should take place by the end of July. The elections will end an uneasy power-sharing government between President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, which was formed following tense negotiations in September 2008.

As the country goes to the polls we will be joined by a panel of experts to discuss what this election will mean for the future of Zimbabwe. Will 2013 see the end of Mugabe’s 33-year rule and who will replace him?

Chaired by Dr Sue Onslow, a leading oral history practitioner who has published extensively on Rhodesia/Zimbabwe, South Africa and Southern Africa in the Cold War era. Between 1994 – 2010 she lectured and taught at the London School of Economics, and also at King’s College, London. She is currently Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, London, working on the major AHRC oral history project on the History of the Commonwealth since 1965.

The panel:

Wilf Mbanga is the founder, publisher and editor of  The Zimbabwean newspaper. He is also the founder and first Chief Executive of Associated Newspapers of Zimbabwe, the publishers of The Daily News which closed down in 2003.

Chofamba Innocent Sithole is a Zimbabwean journalist and currently works as assistant editor of London-based NewsAfrica magazine. He is also a regular commentator on African affairs and has appeared on BBC’s Focus on Africa and Al Jazeera’s The Listening Post, among others.

Simukai Tinhu is an African Affairs Analyst based in London. His work has been published in The Financial Times, the Guardian, Sky News Website, The Christian Science Monitor and Think Africa Press amongst others.