Abstract:
This article is built on a study that investigated a development projects' life cycle
in the context of Zimbabwe's political and economic cycles. These projects bring
about visible and tangible public goods that can be used as evidence that
development is taking place. The study's main goal was to figure out the reasons
for the failure of some megaprojects in Zimbabwe within the context of political
and economic cycles and provide recommendations on improving that nexus. This
study's approach included a desktop review and topic and content analysis for
indepth analysis. As argued in the study findings, numerous projects that have
been set to fit in particular political and economic periods, have failed to meet
the completion deadlines because of constraints within and beyond the project’s
control. These include unsustainable use of resources, poor project planning,
lack of stakeholder involvement, incompetent project managers, poor inadequate
monitoring and evaluation and lack of funding and an unconducive political
climate, resulting in the so-called white elephants.
