Liberation and Democracy in Southern Africa

Dr Henning Melber, Research Director of the Nordic Africa Institute, Uppsala/Sweden

Several societies in Southern Africa (notably Angola, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Namibia and South Africa) share common structural features and socio-political parallels. They were during most of the 20th century shaped by a particular type of settler colonialism. National sovereignty was achieved through a long period of conflict by an organized anti-colonial 
movement resorting to an armed struggle for liberation. By the end of the 20th century, decolonisation was finally completed. Present processes of socio-political transition in the post-colonial period suggest despite all specific features of each and every distinct case some similarities too. 

More or less legitimate governments are to a certain extent applying methods of control that bring forward the issue and definition of democracy. In particular Zimbabwe, Namibia and – to a lesser extent – South Africa, display similar trends of a process from controlled change to changed control. This lecture tries to identify some aspects shared by 
liberation movements obtaining formal political power in an independent state. It pays special attention to the notion of democracy and seeks to investigate why there might be constraints in the transformation of these societies into plural democracies. Special reference is made to the case of Namibia and the experiences of the first decade of Independence under the previous liberation movement SWAPO of Namibia.