Africa-Press – Zimbabwe. AS 2025 draws to a close, many Zimbabweans are not judging the year by milestones achieved, but by hurdles cleared.
For millions, the central question was never about development or improving livelihoods, but about survival.
Across politics, the economy and agriculture, the dominant story of 2025 has been one of endurance in the face of uncertainty, policy inconsistency and climate shocks, with citizens adapting faster than the systems meant to support them.
Politically, the year unfolded less as a period of bold reform and more as an exercise in damage control. Government energies were largely consumed by managing internal Zanu PF party dynamics, recurring by-elections and projecting an image of stability.
Political analyst Rashweat Mukundu said citizens were effectively sidelined as succession battles within Zanu PF took centre stage.
“The consolidation of power by President (Emmerson) Mnangagwa, particularly through the ED2030 campaign and the rise of [war veteran Blessed] Geza, has divided Zanu PF into two distinct factions now sharpening knives for a final battle,” Mukundu said.
Opposition political leader Wurayayi Zembe echoed similar sentiments, describing 2025 as a year of internal disintegration within the ruling party.
“The year witnessed Zanu PF’s continued disintegration, characterised by internal succession battles epitomised by the Geza revolution, looting of public resources, large-scale treating and bribery of citizens using cars and money, and the adoption of a retrogressive 2030 life-presidency resolution intended to mutilate Zimbabwe’s Constitution,” said Zembe.
Despite the grim assessment, Zembe expressed optimism for the year ahead.
“2026 shall witness a formidable convergence of citizens against Zanu PF’s political monopoly and violent dictatorship. Watch the political space unravel,” he said.
Labour, Economists and Afrikan Democrats president Linda Masarira said the year forced citizens to focus on endurance rather than advancement.
“It was a year when citizens expended more energy trying to endure economic pressure, currency instability, unpaid wages, shrinking civic space and policy uncertainty rather than advancing their livelihoods or democratic aspirations,” she said.
“The State prioritised political contentment over economic reform, while institutions meant to protect citizens continued to weaken.”
Civil society organisations also felt the pressure of political and economic decisions.
Zimbabwe Human Rights Association chairperson Takesure Musiiwa said the struggle for human rights and democracy remained far from over.
“As we close the year, it is clear that the fight for human rights and democracy continues. While challenges persist, our collective efforts can still make a difference,” he said.
Musiiwa said food insecurity stood out as one of the most pressing issues in 2025.
“Despite the difficulties, we look towards 2026 with hope and determination. We are calling on leaders to prioritise human rights, democracy and the welfare of citizens. It is time for accountability, transparency and people-centred governance,” he said.
Centre for Youth Empowerment Development Trust programmes coordinator Daniel Madungwe said 2025 was particularly difficult for civic organisations following the promulgation of the Private Voluntary Organisations (PVO) Act.
“It was, indeed, a tough year. The PVO Act has severely shrunk civic space. Securing memoranda of understanding has been nearly impossible and the closure of USAid in January resulted in severe funding cuts,” he said.
“Many programmes ended abruptly and competition for funding intensified.”
Madungwe said organisations were being forced to explore domestic resource mobilisation to survive.
“Despite the challenges, we have soldiered on. Lessons have been learnt and we remain hopeful for a better 2026,” he said.
On service delivery, water supply, refuse collection and road maintenance continued to deteriorate in many urban centres, pushing local authorities into survival mode.
Councils cited shrinking budgets, rising debts and excessive central government oversight, which blurred accountability lines.
Meanwhile, residents learned to live with sewage, garbage and dry taps.
The cumulative effect was a widening trust gap. Politics increasingly felt distant from everyday struggles, even as its consequences were deeply felt in household budgets and food security.
Economically, 2025 was defined more by adjustment than growth. Currency instability remained a daily reality, with most transactions conducted in United States dollars despite official efforts to promote the local currency.
The gap between policy pronouncements and market behaviour in most sectors, especially farming, underscored a deeper crisis of confidence.
Centre for Resource Governance director Farai Maguwu said the economy continued to suffer as the country remained in what he described as “permanent election mode”.
“2025 was a tough year for most Zimbabweans. The economy continued to shrink as businesses closed under a harsh operating environment driven by an unending currency crisis,” said Maguwu.
“The government showed extreme indifference to human suffering by increasing the tax burden while prioritising political agendas, particularly the push to extend President Mnangagwa’s term to 2030. This instability forced potential investors into a wait-and-see position.”
Inflation, though officially moderated, was keenly felt on supermarket shelves, transport fares and school fees. Wages lagged rising costs, forcing families to juggle multiple income streams.
Formal employment continued to shrink, while vending, cross-border trading and piecework expanded, cementing the informal economy as the country’s true economic backbone.
In this environment, survival became a skill. Citizens planned around uncertainty, priced goods defensively and saved in currencies they trusted rather than those they were instructed to use.
In rural areas, survival took on a literal meaning. Erratic rainfall, drought conditions in some regions and the growing impact of climate change disrupted traditional farming cycles.
For many smallholder farmers, the season became a gamble rather than a plan.
State-led input schemes once again dominated the agricultural narrative, but questions around timing, coverage and transparency persisted. Some farmers planted late, others planted without adequate inputs, while many relied on remittances or casual labour to survive the hunger months.
Food security, once framed as a national objective, increasingly became a household responsibility. Communities shared grain, reduced meals or turned to informal markets, reinforcing resilience at the grassroots level while exposing fragility at the policy level.
What united politics, the economy and agriculture in 2025 was not total collapse, but stagnation. Systems neither failed nor advanced meaningfully. The burden of adjustment shifted steadily from the State to the citizen.
Zimbabweans survived by improvising, urban families drilled boreholes where councils failed, vendors replaced factories as employers and farmers diversified crops and livelihoods.
Survival became the nation’s most reliable strategy, although it is not progress.
As the year ends, the unresolved question remains whether governance in 2026 will move beyond crisis management to addressing root causes or whether survival will once again be mistaken for success.
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