The papers in this special edition of Politikon emanate from a joint South African Association of Political Studies (SAAPS)/University of Johannesburg (UJ) Colloquium held by the Department of Politics and International Relations at UJ from 31 August to 1 September 2015. The theme of the colloquium, Progress or Stagnation: Quo Vadis Southern African Politics? sought to draw a cross-generation of scholars from the region to engage in a critical reflection on issues of democratisation, political economy, peace and security, identity politics, regional integration and international relations. Among these scholars was Prof. Sam Moyo. It would be the last time that we had the privilege of listening to, and learning from, one of Southern Africa’s prominent, engaging, committed and humble scholars as he died in a car crash in India a month later. We therefore wish to dedicate this issue of Politikon to his memory and in tribute and thanks to his tireless struggle across the continent in search of justice, equality and the production of knowledge by African scholars. The nurturing of new generations of African researchers was an important part of Sam’s professional life. The representation of young scholars amongst the participants in the colloquium and contributors to this special edition pays homage to his enviable commitment to growing African researchers and scholars.
Prof. Moyo presented the key note address at the colloquium on a theme he was passionate about, The Political Economy of Agrarian Transformation in Southern Africa. He reiterated his familiar arguments about the kind of economic growth we were experiencing in Southern Africa, namely, ‘economic growth without development’ that is characterised by ‘limited large-scale employment; narrow forms of accumulation; poor production technologies and exclusive development’. The challenges he identified remained those of
land alienation, an agrarian crisis (food insecurity and malnutrition; low food crop and livestock productivity; exposure to volatile world food prices and supplies; food aid dependence; low labour productivity; low agrarian wages and peasant incomes and the persistent dependence on agricultural raw materials for exports)
These are then also the preoccupations that framed the conference and are mirrored in the papers in this volume. We have seen progress on many fronts across Southern Africa, but we have also seen stagnation and reversal. Mozambique is a new giant in the production of natural gas on the continent and it, along with Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of Congo, is among the fastest growing economies in Africa. We have also had ‘free and credible elections’ in many countries, including the election of new state leaders in Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, Tanzania and Zambia. Equally significant is the rise of women as state leaders in Malawi (Joyce Banda) and Mauritius (Ameenah Gurib) and as leaders of regional organisations, Stergomena Tax as Executive Secretary of the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) and Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma as chairperson of the African Union Commission.
The prospects for peace and prosperity in Southern Africa have brightened over the last two decades. However, the impulses of authoritarianism, beliefs of entitlement to state rule, disregard for the rule of law, poor governance, corruption, poverty, inequality, unemployment, infrastructure and capacity challenges, xenophobia, weakening civil society, gender-based violence, high HIV/AIDS prevalence, organised crime, inadequate service delivery and numerous other socio-economic ills persist. Particularly worrying trends are the decline in economic growth in two major countries in the region, South Africa and Angola, the postponement of elections in the DRC, unrest in South Africa, Zimbabwe and the DRC, an uneasy peace in Lesotho and Madagascar and drought and food shortages across the region. We may well be witnessing a reversal in the gains made to secure peace, democracy and development in SADC.
William Gumede, Khabele Matlosa and Julia Plessing’s articles focus on the types of democratic transitions we have had and the challenges to democracy and governance. Gumede situates the main obstacle to democratisation in the inability of liberation movements to transform themselves into democratic governing parties. This inability is rooted in the lack of a political culture that supports democracy. He asserts that ‘African political leaders, movements, elites and citizens themselves – although many professed support for democracy – have largely been unable to internalise a set of values, norms, beliefs, attitudes, patterns of behaviour and way of doing things, which are democratic’. His paper, in particular, highlights one-party rule, the fusion of state and party, cult leadership and fractured opposition parties as hallmarks of African politics. Gumede argues for the need to hold leaders/parties to account and to inculcate democratic practices.
Matlosa poses the question whether or not Southern African states are ‘becoming fit through democracy’. He cautions against ‘broad generalisations about the state of democracy in Southern Africa’ as there are ‘different patterns and trajectories of the democratisation path each country has been taking’. Which criteria should be used to determine whether or not countries are becoming more democratic? Should this be the frequency of elections and/or the alteration of state power or by improvement in the socio-economic well-being of the citizens of the country? Matlosa is in favour of the latter criteria: ‘institutions matter (the hardware of democracy) and, yes, political culture matters (the software of democracy), but at the heart of democratisation should be the socio-economic condition of ordinary citizens (political economy of democratisation)’. He also highlights two other conditions as important for sustainable democracy, namely, ‘the existence of a visionary and transformative leadership and a well-organised, meaningfully engaging and vibrant civil society capable of mobilising society in order to entrench a broadly representative, responsive, transparent and accountable governance’. For Matlosa, the majority of SADC countries fall into the categories ‘electoral democracies’ (Tanzania, Zambia, Malawi, Mozambique and Lesotho) or ‘electoral authoritarian regimes’ (Angola, DRC, Madagascar and Zimbabwe). Only Botswana, Mauritius, Namibia, South Africa and the Seychelles are considered as liberal democracies. Swaziland is categorised as a ‘closed authoritarian regime’. He argues for the need to go beyond liberal democracy to social or development democracy, which can address some of the fundamental challenges of the region: inequality, poverty and unemployment. Plessing explores the inadequacies of public participation in South Africa noting the disjuncture between theory and practice. This disjuncture, she argues, emerges from the largely technical, public management approaches to participation that seek to contain rather that promote participation as ‘real participation would fall outside of achievable objectives and time frames’. Plessing notes the need for more ethnographies to fully understand what drives the different forms of citizens participation, or non-participation, and to link this to an analysis of the state of local democracy.
Mulubale takes us back to the debate about the role of ethnic identity in generating conflict using Kenya and Zambia as case studies. He argues against the academic tendency to generalise identity politics in Africa as inherently conflict-ridden. Employing instrumentalist theory, he notes that the key factor for determining whether or not identity politics will generate stability or instability is political leadership. Nyabereka looks at the positives and negatives of the Washington Consensus and the Beijing Consensus on the socio-economic development of Zimbabwe. She concludes that the advantages of funding from the Bretton Woods institutions were related to the reliability and the comprehensiveness of the funding, but that it came with conditionalities. Funding from BRICS, by contrast, is ‘hands-off’ enabling government’s local ownership over policy formulation and implementation, which she asserts has had a positive effect on the standard of living in Zimbabwe.
The political crisis in Lesotho reinvigorated debates about the unification of South Africa and Lesotho. Caromba tackles this thorny issue through an analysis of the various arguments that have been advanced. He concludes that although it will eliminate waste and inefficiency at the border and reconstitute civil military relations in Lesotho (as the military’s involvement in politics has been a key concern for this country), there will be more economic consequences for South Africa than it may be willing to bear. Graham focusses our attention on the drivers of foreign policy in small states in Southern Africa. She adds to a rather limited body of knowledge on the foreign policies of states in Southern Africa. In these small states, like the bigger ones, she contends, defence and national interests largely determine foreign policy objectives.
Van Wyk visits the phenomenon of the First Lady in Southern Africa whose political significance appears to be increasing. She comments on the wide variety of roles they are playing (for example, ceremonial, political, policy advisor to the president, diplomatic and forming socially conscious organisations). Despite their increasing visibility, she contends, they remain ‘subordinate to the patriarchy in their society’. Much more research is however needed to better understand how they navigate their roles, responsibilities and ambitions.
These papers collectively highlight the continued legacies of colonialism on the democratisation and development of Southern African states; the weaknesses of post-colonial governments to bring about meaningful transformation in the lives of ordinary citizens; and the need to reorder our societies through reduction of all forms of inequality, discrimination and abuse of power. The contributors are predominantly a new generation of scholars giving voice and perspective to old concerns. This is the intellectual and activist tradition that Prof. Moyo personified and which we need to keep investing in. The advance of African scholarship and activism that can produce critical analysis and advocate for ‘ethical, transformative leadership’ is imperative to the positive transformation of our politics and political economies. This sentiment is at the heart of the struggle for a decolonised higher education in South Africa and one that SAAPS, as a premier intellectual organisation in the country, should lead on. There is both a need to recognise the contribution of all those scholars that have shifted our gaze on how we study and interpret African politics and to continue to nurture a new generation of critical thinkers on African Politics and International Relations.