A piece of news caught my eye last week. It was a story from Tanzania about how Tundu Lissu, the leader of the main opposition party, had been arrested and charged with treason. This is ahead of elections that are due to be held in October.
Tanzania has been governed by the Party of the Revolution (generally known by its Swahili name and abbreviation, Chama Cha Mapinduzi [CCM]) and its predecessors, since independence in the 1960s. It was the sole legal party until the country democratised in the 1990s but the CCM has still dominated Tanzanian politics since, winning majorities in every election and with all democratically elected presidents coming from the CCM.
More recently, however, Tanzania has been backsliding into authoritarianism, with opposition figures being arrested on trumped-up charges or being abducted. This has now culminated in Lissu’s arrest and a decision by the country’s electoral authority to not allow his party – Chadema – to run in October’s election, claiming it had failed to sign a code of conduct document due this past weekend.
Tanzanian democracy, such as it was, is now in tatters.
Most Southern African parties – especially those that have been in power for some time – mostly pay lip service to democracy, like the CCM.
Elections were held in Mozambique and Namibia last year, with the two countries’ governing parties, Frelimo and Swapo, respectively, both subverting election results. After the disputed election results were announced in Mozambique there was widespread unrest with a number of senior opposition figures being killed. Overall about 350 people were killed.
Ballot stuffing
In Namibia Swapo also almost certainly undermined the election process to some degree. There were credible reports of ballot stuffing in Swapo strongholds, along with other irregularities, such as the extension of voting only in places where the party traditionally does well. While there was no outbreak of violence the official results likely do not reflect the true will of the Namibian people.
There is also Zimbabwe, which last held elections in 2023, but where democracy has long been subverted, with the opposition neutered through a combination of bribery and violence.
Which makes ANC behaviour since 1994 something of an anomaly, and not something that we should take for granted.
Since it came to power the party has accepted democratic norms, with opposition political parties being free to make their case to the voters. People are free to voice their opinions, with the press and civil society also acting as important watchdogs over the government.
The kind of thing that has happened in Tanzania, with the arrest of Lissu and the effective banning of Chadema, would be unthinkable in South Africa. Even more unthinkable would be grotesque images such as those which emerged from Zimbabwe nearly 20 years ago, of Morgan Tsvangirai, bruised, with torn clothes and his eyes swollen shut after having been beaten by the police. It is almost unimaginable to think of John Steenhuisen or Julius Malema being abducted and beaten by police.
Free to campaign
In some other countries, Jacob Zuma’s return to active politics would have been sabotaged in some way, either overtly or covertly, yet in this country he has been free to campaign against his former political party.
The ANC’s acceptance of last year’s election results is also noteworthy. As shown in most of our neighbours and other countries in Southern Africa, election rigging is more common than not. There is little evidence that the ANC has ever done this and it certainly didn’t do it last year – if it had, surely it would have given itself more than the 40% of the vote official results showed it won.
It also accepted the results of the election with good grace, with even the sometimes buffoonish Fikile Mbalula releasing a measured statement shortly after it became clear that the ANC was going to lose its majority.
Of course, none of this excuses the ANC’s other faults. Since the formation of the Government of National Unity (GNU), the party has done little to take into account the concerns of its partners in the government. It is still looking to implement growth-destroying policies such as NHI and EWC and has on numerous occasions since last year’s election expressed its commitment to the National Democratic Revolution.
Horrendous
The ANC’s historical behaviour has also often been horrendous, especially the People’s War it waged in South Africa’s townships in the 1980s. And while it has accepted election results when it has been voted out in various municipalities previously, ANC politicians often make it difficult for the council to do its job, or they engage in outright sabotage. It has also not been above bribery – after the last local government election, eThekwini was apparently on course to elect a DA mayor until a number of brown envelopes allegedly changed hands, thus helping members of smaller parties to switch their support from the DA to the ANC.
With that all said, accepting election results is the kind of behaviour you expect from a mature political party – civil and other rights must be respected, as must election results. As the saying goes, one should not praise a dog for barking, but as the experience of many other African countries shows us, on this continent too often the dogs don’t bark. The ANC has, in many ways, been a disaster for South Africa, especially in the past 15 years or so, but kudos should be given when deserved.
And the importance of the pressure valve of democracy – especially electoral democracy – cannot be overestimated. Countries with free and regular elections can correct course, ones that don’t obviously cannot – Venezuela and Zimbabwe are two examples. And while some people will argue that South Africa’s elections are little more than racial or ethnic censuses, analysts such as former IRR CEO Frans Cronje argue persuasively that South African voters are swayed by economic issues. Recent IRR polling shows something similar. Ensuring that future elections are free and fair in South Africa has important consequences for the country and our future economic prospects.
Democracy is not a gift for the ANC to bestow on South Africans and true power lies with voters. It’s time for voters to realise that – even the ANC is starting to come to terms with that fact.
[Image: Tundu Lissu, by Likumbage – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=62492104]
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