Population ageing has become a major global demographic shift but perhaps less noticeable in the Global South. Zimbabwe, like many African countries, is experiencing and will continue to witness an increase in older age, hence questioning its readiness to handle such change. Ageing in Zimbabwe is currently occurring in the context of increasing poverty, political unrest, changing family structures, and weakening infrastructures. Despite this, Zimbabwe is committed to promoting change and betterment for its citizens through adherence to international agendas and national development strategies. However, the first step towards the realisation of an inclusive urban environment begins with a fair representation of the various actors and social groups. This review paper is aimed at examining the representation of Zimbabwe’s older people, a subject that has rarely been the focus of critical analysis, concentrating on the political discourse in urban development programmes. A sample of 45 international and national policy documents published post-2002, was carefully selected and inspected to determine the level of presence of older people using discourse analysis. The findings reveal that in the context of the efforts made towards a Zimbabwe that is inclusive of all citizens, the idea of older persons as subjects of rights and active participants has yet to truly gain sufficient currency. There is a dominance of a one-dimensional perspective across the majority of the publications, with older people constructed as “dependent”, “vulnerable” and “passive”, overseeing vital contributions to society. A realistic and more empowering representation of this social group, showing them as active caregivers rather than passive recipients is therefore a necessity if Zimbabwe is to fulfil its vision of inclusivity.

中文翻译：

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摆脱边缘：在津巴布韦政策话语中实现老年人的包容性城市代表性

人口老龄化已成为全球人口的主要转变，但在南方南方也许不那么明显。像许多非洲国家一样，津巴布韦正在经历并将继续见证老年人口的增加，因此质疑津巴布韦是否准备好应对这种变化。目前，津巴布韦的人口老化是在贫困加剧，政治动荡，家庭结构变化以及基础设施薄弱的背景下发生的。尽管如此，津巴布韦仍致力于通过遵守国际议程和国家发展战略来促进其公民的变革和改善。但是，实现包容性城市环境的第一步始于各个参与者和社会群体的公平代表。这篇评论文章旨在研究津巴布韦老年人的代表，这个主题很少成为批判性分析的重点，而是集中于城市发展计划中的政治论述。仔细选择并检查了2002年后发布的45份国际和国家政策文件的样本，以便通过话语分析确定老年人的存在水平。调查结果表明，在为包括所有公民在内的津巴布韦所做的努力的背景下，将老年人作为权利主体和积极参与者的想法尚未真正获得足够的收益。在大多数出版物中，一维视角占主导地位，老年人被构造为“依赖”，“弱势”和“被动”，监督着对社会的重要贡献。这个社会群体的现实代表和更赋权的代表，