Dilemmas of Southern Africa Former Liberation Movements as Ruling Parties.

 By Takura Zhangazha*

Former liberation movements that are also ruling parties recently held a summit in South Africa.  They were hosted by the current African National Congress (ANC) president Cyril Ramaphosa.. There were also at least three other Southern African Presidents representing their ruling parties.  These were Daniel Chapo of the Front for the Liberation of Mozambique (FRELIMO), Nandi Ndaitwa of the South Western Africa People’s Organisation (SWAPO) and Emerson Mnangagwa of the Zimbabwe African National Union Patriotic Front (Zanu PF).  This event was also attended by former presidents Thabo Mbeki (ANC) and Joaqim Chissano (Frelimo). 

The exiled leader of the Western Saharawi Republic and the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) were also represented.

The theme of this meeting was dubbed “Defending the Liberation Gains, Advancing Integrated Socio-Economic Development, Strengthening Solidarity for a Better Africa,”

Normally this meeting would not have attracted actual presidents.  It would have been largely viewed from the perspective of party functionaries such as secretary generals or administrators and heads of party international departments.    

But there is now an evident sense of concern from these former liberation movements that are still ruling parties. 

And they now have a five year programme of action in which they have instructed their respective party administrators and treasures to, among other things, prioritize the following:

1.      “Defending and consolidating the gains of our liberation”

2.      “Confronting imperialism, neo-colonialism and geo-political subversion

3.      “Charting a radical new path of socio economic transformation driven by grassroots mobilization, regional integration and people centered development”

Normally this would be almost ‘run of the mill’ token resolutions of these former liberation movements that are still ruling parties.  Except that international global relations and economics have shifted significantly in the age of Donald Trump, the Ukraine-Russia war and the genocide that is happening in Palestine, particularly in Gaza.   

All of which are occurring within the conundrum that is their own domestic/national electoral cycles where they have to contend with emerging opposition political parties and leaders that are a direct threat to their hegemony.  

Mainly because of a lack of continual liberation struggle history consciousness across generations and also the inherently stubborn hegemonic post-colonial intentions of the global north or as we traditionally refer to it, western European and north American countries.

In this mix is also the cultural dynamic that comes with Africa’s demographics of a much more youthful population than anywhere else in the world.  So ‘age’ becomes a key political tool for the former liberation movements to contend with, even in their assumptions of their infallibility and internal power succession plans. 

In Botswana this was made evident in their last elections where the former liberation party Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) lost the presidency to the new Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC).  In Mozambique the former liberation movement Frelimo had a close and contested call against the Optimist Party for the Development of Mozambique (PODEMOS).

Tanzania’s Chama Cha MaPinduzi (CCM) has an election this year (scheduled for October 2025) and the former liberation movement and ruling party has been accused of trying to unfairly repress the mainstream political opposition Party for Democracy and Progress (CHADEMA).

Against the backdrop of their recent summit, it is evident that former liberation movements are smarting from the losses of their peer parties from the anti-colonial struggle.  And are therefore trying to shore up their liberation history struggle solidarity to retain power as current ruling parties.

That they cite interference in electoral politics by external forces and colonial interests in the mineral wealth of the Southern African region is indicative of not only what they know to be their precarious political existence but also their own long-duree internal and national performance legitimacy weaknesses. 

Inclusive of how they are now accused by a relatively populist, religious, globally malleable and celebrity culture motivated young Southern African population.  A youth demographic that does not prioritize liberation and anti-colonial struggle history. And one that lives in the material moment.

So these former liberation movements that are also still ruling parties are faced with an existential dilemma.  One that is historical and global. 

With the first question being, can they electorally retain power within the ambit of electorally accepted universal democratic norms?  Or can they risk losing power at the behest of the same said universal democratic best practices and norms?

What their statement indicates from their recent South African meeting is that they are still willing to risk it in terms of democratic best practice when it comes to retaining political power.  But ensuring that they assist each other as long as they are still ruling parties.  Both in relation to funding for elections but more significantly about an emerging urgent requirement for solidarity where elections are contested globally and internally in the countries that they still rule. 

It is a very complex situation for them as former liberation movements that are still power. And it is understandable that they are reflecting on this.  Except for the reality that they still have to be democratically re-elected every five or six years by what is now a very fluid and young electorate. 

Whereas when they came to power, anti-colonial and liberation Pan African ideology really mattered. Now it has been thrown to the periphery because of their own weaknesses around performance legitimacy and the global neoliberal tide as led by the west. 

Now and in conclusion, this is a very complicated argument to make.  The former liberation movements that are still ruling parties in Southern Africa need to re-examine the placement of the region in global history and acknowledge their own complicity in the fact that there are younger voters who do not like them.

 They also need to understand that changes in global economics after the Cold War is not on their ideological and cultural side. Nor is the passage of time and desire for progressive political change.  And neither is social media and our long standing Diaspora with global north experiences and understanding of the ‘good life’ on their side. 

Because of this, they may need to reinvent themselves much more organically than they have done to date.

But ordinary Africans also need to ask themselves questions as to the meaning and interaction of the history of liberation and contemporary African politics.  Including how we are where we are in our collective ahistorical gullibility.  And the wars that reflect the coloniality of the global west that in most tragic circumstances we do not query because of our false and shallow admiration of the lifestyles of the global north.

The former liberation movements that are still ruling parties may need reminding of that famous Julius Nyerere dictum, ‘The mechanisms of democracy are not the meaning of democracy”.

*Takura Zhangazha writes here in his personal capacity (takura-zhangazha.blogspot.com)