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Power elites have it sewn up
S-Thembiso Msomi, The Times
August 20, 2008

http://www.thetimes.co.za/News/Article.aspx?id=825555

There are too many countries in Africa in which it is impossible for voters to fire their rulers

As Southern African heads of state and government met in Sandton at the weekend to discuss, among other issues, Zimbabwe, another international gathering was taking place elsewhere in Johannesburg.

It was a gathering of communists, socialists and other left-wing parties from various parts of the world to discuss participatory democracy in Africa.

Since the fall of the Soviet bloc and the spectacular failure of socialist projects across the globe, very few people now pay attention to what "the left" has to say.

Especially when the subject is democracy!

A contributor to a radio talk show this week found the notion of communist parties gathering to advise Africans about democratic practice laughable.

No doubt many others found the gathering ironic, and justifiably so.

Self-styled communist regimes were among the most brutal and repressive opponents of multi-party democracy in the 20th century.

Today, China and North Korea remain examples of "socialist republics" that have no qualms about using the might of the state to suppress opposition voices — no matter how minuscule and harmless those voices might be.

But not all socialist parties can be accused of being anti-democratic, in the same way that we cannot assume that all the parties that advocate free markets are democrats and human rights champions.

In the South African context, very few can deny the left-s role in bringing about the constitutional democracy we enjoy today.

The meeting of the 14 parties, which included the ANC and the SA Communist Party, had some useful points to make about the state of democracy in Africa — points that might help the Southern African Development Community resolve the never-ending Zimbabwean crisis and the many other conflicts that are likely to emerge.

Among the important points made at the meeting is that, unless African citizens are directly involved in the running of their affairs, many parts of the continent will continue to suffer from periodic political and economic instability.

Too many of the countries on the continent continue to be run by elites that are not accountable to the rest of the population.

In many of the countries in which multi-party democracy does exist, the system is often turned into a sham by the rulers, who tend to believe that the role of "the masses" should be limited to merely forming long queues every four or five years to vote their rulers back into office.

Once they have voted, the citizens have no say in the running of their affairs. If they dare question this, or punish the ruling party by voting in another one, the rulers simply refuse to accept the results of the poll and use violence to force a "negotiated settlement".

For democracy to thrive throughout the continent, the power to elect and recall a public representative should remain the exclusive right of the electorate.

The SADC-s efforts to find a negotiated settlement in Zimbabwe have to be commended, but the solution our regional leaders are pushing for is likely to result in an elitist deal that will not be sustainable in the long run.

Various stakeholders in Zimbabwe have been denied the right to have a say in the shaping of their country-s future because SADC and the African Union have focused on striking a deal between Zanu-PF and the MDC.

As a result, the talks have now degenerated into a clash of egos, with Morgan Tsvangirai and Robert Mugabe fighting over who will have the most power in a new unity government.

Nothing is being said about how this unity government is to go about changing the economic fortunes of the troubled country, following years of mis- management.

Millions of Zimbabweans have been forced into poverty and many have had to flee to neighboring countries in search of a better life.

But they are far from the minds of the political elite as it fights over cabinet positions.

And this, I am afraid, is the state of many other countries on the continent.

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