SINCE time immemorial, the political class has been defined across the world by class, capital and raw power. Paidamoyo Muzulu In many instances, these groups of people have formed elite pacts to foster their hegemony in communities and are generally referred to as the establishment. British scholar and newspaper columnist Owen Jones in his book The Establishment unravelled who is the establishment in the British Isles. He pointed out how politicians who have studied at Oxford and Cambridge universities have dominated political offices in the United Kingdom. He further invented a new political term — the revolving door — in reference to people who now blurred the lines between and among politicians, media personalities, big capital, non-governmental organisations’ officials and politicians. Jones argued that these groups have formed what can be called the establishment, a ruling class, an elite group that decides who becomes a premier, what policies will he/she pursue and above all despite some perceived differences between the Conservatives and Labour —the two major parties — they were all beholden to the establishment. He further noted that the aforementioned groups — the establishment — could move seamlessly from one group to another. This was exemplified by how one can leave politics to join the media or non-governmental organisations or vice-versa. Another interesting book that touches on the political establishment is Frantz Fanon’s The Wretched of the Earth. Fanon was clear that after independence, the nationalist governments should establish a national bourgeoisie. Fanon, however, laments the lack of national bourgeoisie and mimicry of the former colonisers by new rulers without the attendant capital to keep the position safe. Zimbabwe’s establishment has been difficult to define because it has been very fluid since independence in 1980. After the late Robert Mugabe became Premier, power resided in Kutama Old Boys Association. These people decided many of the senior political appointments, debated economic policies and generally became the natural reservoir for government leadership positions. The other group was made up of former Goromonzi High School students. Still from the education sector, University of Zimbabwe (UZ) played a crucial role in creating national intelligentsia. It had the unrivalled position of being the only university in the country from the 1950s to 1990 when National University of Science and Technology was established in Bulawayo. In other words, UZ had a 40-year headstart to other colleges in developing national leaders. UZ also enjoyed the position of refining the military raw power. The former guerrilla leaders who had assumed political power with requisite political education have all drunk from the Mount Pleasant fountain of education. Many Cabinet ministers attained their degrees after 1990 and many in the military received their degrees at the institution. The other group that is part of the establishment locally is the capitalists — unfortunately many of them are white. This is