ZANU–PF as recently as 1999. ZANU–PF has not attended any SI congresses or meetings since, and the party's opposition, the Movement for Democratic Change – Tsvangirai, in fact joined SI in 2008. Socialist International has condemned the actions of Zimbabwe's ZANU–PF-dominated government and military. ZANU–PF The Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front (ZANU–PF) has been the ruling party in Zimbabwe since independence in 1980. The party was led for many years under Robert Mugabe, first as Prime Minister with the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) and then as President from 1987 after the merger with the Zimbabwe African People's Union
2000s in Zimbabwe to the poll, ZANU-PF, with the support of the army, security services and especially the so-called 'war veterans' – very few of whom actually fought in the Second Chimurenga against the Smith regime in the 1970s – set about wholesale intimidation and suppression of the MDC-led opposition. Despite strong international criticism, these measures, together with organised subversion of the electoral process, ensured a Mugabe victory. The government’s behaviour drew strong criticism from the EU and the USA, which imposed limited sanctions against the leading members of the Mugabe regime. Since the 2002 election, Zimbabwe has suffered further economic difficulty and