This book discusses how the historical dimensions in Kenya, Zimbabwe and South Africa are similar: dominated by oppressive settler colonialism and authoritarian independent governments, their ruling ...elites characterised by greed and corruption.Zimbabwe is outstandingly oppressive, plagued from the start by planned, regularised, ferocious, and unparalleled violence, as described in one chapter. Perpetrated by ZANU-PF and President Robert Mugabe, it targeted the organised urban poor. Hope arose when the trade unions created the MDC in Harare in 1999. A chapter on South Africa is also included and outlines how a small ANC elite chose external armed struggle around 1960. Their campaign marooned thousands of young people in Angolan camps, for no military gains, and the neglect of domestic political development. A new and independent formation, the United Democratic Front, from 1983, tried to build a popular, non-racial participatory democracy. However, an intolerant ANC was determined on its supremacy, and Nelson Mandela suppressed the Front in 1991. No similar democratic aspiration has subsequently appeared. Another country examined in this text is Tunisia, which, since 2010, has been totally different: utilising an organised civil society, a democratic Islamist party, and wide readiness to compromise, an open politics is being created against big odds.
Democratization is conceived as an unending struggle by the poor majority against the small elite of wealth, status, and power. This book is a critical, comparative, and global approach to the study ...of democratization and the participants who bring the processes and actual struggles alive.
Cuba’s long military commitment to Angola resulted in two great victories that saved the country from catastrophic defeat and in the end initiated profound regional change. But long warfare also ...helped to entrench a heavy, elitist authoritarianism which served as a platform for deep presidentialist corruption. An ‘oiligarchy’ enjoys great wealth while simultaneously ignoring the basic needs of the people.
The present writer cannot claim to be a neutral or unbiased observer Of Botswana's democracy and development, having been a victim of uncurbed presidential power in 2005, when, one Friday evening on ...the 18 February 2005, President Festus Mogae declared me to be an undesirable immigrant and ordered my almost immediate departure from the country: I was given 56 hours to arrange my affairs. As professor Of political studies at the University of Botswana (UB), I had then been resident in the country for 15 years. This was a few days before I was due to present an advertised public lecture on the campus criticizing the new policy of automatic succession to the presidency, and thus its proponents, the ruling party, the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP), in uninterrupted power since 1966, the incumbent President Mogae, and General Ian Khama, Vice President, Mogae's hand-picked successor and first beneficiary of the policy. The President acted on powers vested in him under the Botswana Immigration Act. I was not given reasons for this decision, nor was I accorded an opportunity to contest it. The relevant sections Of the Immigration Act (7, 11 and 36) simply refers to what the President considers to be in the best interests of Botswana, and makes the Presidents declaration unchallengeable in the courts.
Since the succession of Lieutenant-General Ian Khama to the presidency in Apr 2008, an escalation in the militarization and personalization of power in Botswana has taken place. Repressive agencies ...have been operationalized, military personnel have entered government in increased number, an informal coterie of advisers has come into being around Khama, and a spate of accusations of extra-judicial killings by state agents have been made. Governance and democracy are thus seriously undermined in what is conventionally represented as an African success. Here, Good details recent events which are threatening the rule of law, peace, and human rights in Botswana. PUBLICATION ABSTRACT
The elevation of Lt-General Ian Khama to the presidency in April 2008 brought an escalating emphasis on security. A Directorate of Intelligence and Security was operationalised under the aegis of the ...President, and a spate of extra-judicial killings followed. Khama simultaneously asserted his control over the ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP), despite the fact that a pro-democratic faction - Barata Phathi - emerged victorious at the BDP congress in Kanye in July 2009. In an atmosphere of fear and uncertainty, Khama aimed at 70 per cent of the vote in national elections in October 2009 but achieved just 53.4 per cent. Evidence emerged in early 2010 indicating that Sir Ketumile Masire had been in the pocket of the De Beers corporation throughout his presidency, 1980-98, and that his indebtedness and De Beers' concerns over this had influenced the transition to Ian Khama. This suggested that diamond dependency and corruption were at the core of the autocracy and insecurity, and that together they characterised the debilitating pre-modernity in which the economy and society was trapped.
Our paper is part of a series focusing on Indigenous peoples' health in different world regions. Indigenous peoples worldwide are subject to marginalisation and discrimination, systematically ...experiencing poorer health than do majority groups. In Africa, poor health in the general population is widely recognised, but the consistently lower health position and social status of Indigenous peoples are rarely noted. Disputed conceptual understandings of indigeneity, a history of discriminatory colonial and post-colonial policies, and non-recognition of Indigenous groups by some governments complicate the situation. We discuss two case studies, of the central African Pygmy peoples and the San of southern Africa, to illustrate recurring issues in Indigenous health in the continent. We make recommendations for the recognition of Indigenous peoples in Africa and improvements needed in the collection of health data and the provision of services. Finally, we argue that wider changes are needed to address the social determinants of Indigenous peoples' health. PUBLICATION ABSTRACT
