Competitive Authoritarianism in a Constitutional Democracy

The overwhelming dominance of the former liberation movement the South West Africa People’s Organisation (SWAPO) in terms of electoral support since independence resulted in a de facto one-party rule in Namibia’s democracy for the last 30 years. This has, in democracy theories, been labelled as competitive authoritarianism, and made it easy for SWAPO to fully endorse the democratic principles vested in the country’s Constitution, adopted as the last step to national sovereignty resumed on 21 March 1990. This chapter presents an overview on the SWAPO dominance in Namibia’s political system. It then looks at the degree the party and its leaders recognize and respect the constitutional democracy. It ends with a summary of the last National Assembly and Presidential elections, which suggest a turning point towards a loss of dominance and legitimacy of SWAPO, while still retaining the political control.

SWAPO’s 50/50 Policy in Namibia’s National Assembly (2015-2018): Full of Sound and Fury Signifying Nothing?

In 2013, Namibia’s ruling party, the South West Africa People’s Organisation (SWAPO), amended its constitution to implement the 50/50 gender policy. This policy required equal representation of men and women in all its leadership structures and in its representation in institutions such as the National Assembly. The party had been zigzagging on this policy it had adopted at its 2002 congress. Four years since the implementation of SWAPO’s 50/50, an analysis of the impact of this policy in the National Assembly paints a troubling picture. At the level of substance by looking at parliamentary motions tabled, we find that SWAPO’s 50/50 policy in the National Assembly – which resulted in increased number of women in the legislature - did not lead to meaningful agenda setting in favour of women political participation. This article reflects critically on the gender policy in the 6th parliament’s National Assembly, which is the principal law-making and policy-setting arm of parliament with a view to assess whether there have been successes in facilitating women empowerment and participation in a meaningful way.

An investigation whether the deputy president of the African National Congress can be the successor to the president during the National Elective Conference

This is a qualitative study which investigated whether the deputy president of the African National Congress (ANC) can be the heir and elected president in the December 2017 elective conference. The study found that the deputy president is not the heir to the position of the president but that anybody can be elected to the position in terms of the existing constitution. The study also found that while the ANC has a constitution that prescribes how members are elected to positions, it is open to manipulation by those who wish to position their preferred comrades. The ANC does not have a clear policy or procedure to decide who succeeds to the presidency. This lack of policy has led to infighting among the comrades along factional lines as they seek to capture the soul of the ANC. The study found that most former liberation ruling parties such as ZANU–PF and the South West African People’s Organisation are faced with the same challenge. The Chinese Communist Party has faced and overcome this challenge by formulating a clear policy and procedure on who becomes the president or leader of the party. The study recommends that the ANC should formulate clear policies and regulations to define and determine who becomes its president.

YOUTH ON THE MARGINS AS AGENTS OF CHANGE? THE CALL FOR THE OPENING OF MINES IN DULLSTROOM-EMNOTWENI BASED ON THE FREEDOM CHARTER (1955)

This article is both a celebration of the 60th anniversary of the Freedom Charter (1955) and its problematisation as a sustainable document of liberation. The background to the article is the call by the Unemployed People’s Organisation Committee (UPOC) in Dullstroom-Emnotweni to open (coal)mines in the vicinity to provide jobs for the unemployed. The call is supported by a reference in the (unpublished) documentation of UPOC to the Freedom Charter which states that the minerals of the country belong to all its people. The main focus of the article is an interview with Vusi Derrick Mnisi, the secretary of UPOC, who publicly drives the initiative to open (coal)mines around Dullstroom-Emnotweni and deals with the public outcry against the opening of (coal)mines on the grounds of the preservation of the environment, wildlife, tourism and retirement. This interview is juxtaposed by an interview with Dumisane Methula who, in support of Pan-Africanism, rejects the Freedom Charter as being too accommodating of whites in Africa. The interpretation of the interviews is done within the ‘four turns’ that characterise Narrative Inquiry and distinguish it from other, especially positivistic, forms of research.

Landslide Victory for Swapo in 1994: Many New Seats But Few New Votes

In the presidential and parliamentary elections held on 7–8 December 1994, the South West Africa People's Organisation (Swapo) was able to build on its achievements in the 1992 regional elections and win a two-thirds majority in the National Assembly. Against the larger-than-life father-figure of President Sam Nujoma, the opposition never really had a chance and lost 12 seats. A comparison of the results of the 1989 and 1994 elections reveals only a small decline in the ballots cast for Swapo as against a great loss of support for the opposition parties, mainly because the sharp drop in the number who voted was at their expense.

The Freedom Charter and Ethnicity— towards a Communitarian South African Society

At national as well as international level the South African Freedom Charter has become a symbol of the long-standing struggle against apartheid. In this essay the emphasis will be on the charter's provisions relating to ethnicity. The question of ethnicity is a crucial one, for on its solution depends the outcome of the economic and other social problems which trouble South African society.The 1955 Freedom Charter, which was the outcome of a joint venture of the African National Congress (A.N.C.), the South African Indian Congress, the South African Coloured People's Organisation and the predominantly European South African Congress of Democrats, suggests a unitary, participatory welfare state, which will acccord equal rights to all “national groups and races”.For the A.N.C., the senior partner in the “Congress Alliance”, the reference in the charter to “national groups and races” soon became a major headache. Could it be said that the charter lent support to the creation of “four nations”? A number of people within the A.N.C. feared that much. Prominent among them were the “Africanists” who in April 1959 broke away from the A.N.C, and formed the Pan-Africanist Congress (P.A.C.) “Charterists” and “Africanists” are still at loggerheads, but the A.N.C.'s “Revolutionary Programme” of 1969 and its “Constitutional Guidelines for a Democratic

A Future ‘University of Namibia’?: the Rôle of the United Nations Institute for Namibia

In the making of a post-independence Namibian society, there are few areas of agreement between the contending parties in the contemporary struggle for power. Nevertheless, both the South-West Africa People's Organisation and the South African-backed Turnhalle groups have expressed the need to establish tertiary-level education in Namibia. The absence of a university and an associated intellectual community means that, in Richard Moorsom's words, ‘Namibian society lacks the essential means either of attracting social concern or transmitting basic information’. The ramifications of this are both sharply apparent and regrettable: