Anticolonialism was not only a key political force in twentieth-century world history, but also a major inspiration for the emergence of postcolonial theory and criticism; even today, the idea that “postcolonialism” is essentially concerned with deconstructing the legacies of colonial discourse and with dismantling “Western imperial narratives” remains highly popular among many of its academic practitioners. Yet, in many formerly colonised parts of the world, particularly in Africa, anticolonialism has turned into a new ideology utilized by new power elites to legitimate their oppressive regimes. Present-day Zimbabwe offers one of the most blatant examples in this respect, and this paper will look at different modes in which Zimbabwean writers such as Dambudzo Marechera, Tsitsi Dangarembga, Yvonne Vera and Brian Chikwava have confronted the official anticolonialism mobilized by the Mugabe regime in a literary defence of freedom and human rights.