Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news.
Speaker 2: It's been dubbed Africa's Year of Elections, But has twenty
Speaker 2: twenty four been a bad year for democracy?
Speaker 1: Its comminates from the elections that they had highly contested.
Speaker 1: The results are very controversial, and the opposition leader of
Speaker 1: financial Mont Glande announced four waves of protests that quickly
Speaker 1: escalated turned violent, plans people their lives, about one hundred
Speaker 1: and twenty one injured, with.
Speaker 2: Many elections marred by voter suppression, vote rigging, and even corruption.
Speaker 2: One commentator has called this year quote hard to watch.
Speaker 2: With peaceful transfers of power like that's in Botswana and
Speaker 2: Maurcius now few and far between.
Speaker 3: We will begin all administrative work to facilitate the transition,
Speaker 3: and I assure you that I will not take any
Speaker 3: actions to hinder or slow down this process.
Speaker 2: On this episode of Next Africa Podcast, we'll ask what's
Speaker 2: happened to the safety rails meant to protect democracy in
Speaker 2: Africa and if anything can be done to turn the tide.
Speaker 2: I'm Jennifer Zabastaja and this is the Next Africa Podcast,
Speaker 2: bringing you one story each week from the continent driving
Speaker 2: the future of global growth. With the context only Bloomberg
Speaker 2: can provide. So joining us this week is Justice Malala,
Speaker 2: a political commentator and author and also a Bloomberg columnist. Justice,
Speaker 2: thank you so much for being here. Really appreciate it.
Speaker 2: How are you doing.
Speaker 4: I'm good, I'm good. It's good to be with you,
Speaker 4: to be with your listeners.
Speaker 2: It's great to speak again. I remember you and I
Speaker 2: spoke actually just before the South African elections earlier this year,
Speaker 2: which is why this piece that you have out for
Speaker 2: Bloomberg Opinion is fascinating to us. It's quite stark, is
Speaker 2: it's called Africa's Year of Elections has been flawed. Tell
Speaker 2: us why you came to that conclusion. What's behind the title.
Speaker 4: Well, you know, there was so much hope, Joanne, at
Speaker 4: the beginning of the year when you looked ahead and
Speaker 4: said nineteen elections if you count the parliamentary elections in
Speaker 4: places like Senegal, whether we're going to have two bounds
Speaker 4: of election, you thought, oh, you know, this is a
Speaker 4: deepening of the democracy. We're going to see more people participating,
Speaker 4: more people having a say in how their countries are governed.
Speaker 4: And so as the year rolled out, beginning with Commerce
Speaker 4: in January, Senegal in February and so forth, you started saying,
Speaker 4: what's going on here? And you know that hope began
Speaker 4: to diminish a bit, and you started saying, oh, this
Speaker 4: is not looking great, and so forth. So by May
Speaker 4: when you and I spoke in Johannesburg, South Africa, just
Speaker 4: just days before that election on May twenty nine, and
Speaker 4: it was up in the air. It was a real competition.
Speaker 4: We didn't know who was going to win, We didn't
Speaker 4: know about what margin.
Speaker 5: What this election has made plain is that the people
Speaker 5: of South Africa expect their leaders to work together to
Speaker 5: meet their needs. They expect the parties for which they have.
Speaker 6: Voted to find common ground, to overcome their differences, to
Speaker 6: act and work together for the good of everyone.
Speaker 4: That turned out okay, but essentially the majority of these
Speaker 4: elections turned out to be disappointing. They didn't uphold many
Speaker 4: of the key tenets of what a democratic election should
Speaker 4: look like. Turnout was poor, results were largely contested, and
Speaker 4: in many instances, like Mozambique, at the moment it turned
Speaker 4: into violence. So the hope that was there did not
Speaker 4: come through as we expected at this point in the year.
Speaker 2: And just as you mentioned Mozambique. There we've been following
Speaker 2: what's been happening on the ground. But outside of that,
Speaker 2: are there other elections that particularly stood out to you
Speaker 2: from this year that sort of symbolize the flawed nature
Speaker 2: of I guess democracy on the continent.
Speaker 4: Well, I mean, look, it's a mixed bag. And it's
Speaker 4: not a mixed bag. It's a mixed bag in the sense.
Speaker 4: You know, I could start with where you and I began,
Speaker 4: and that's South Africa. You know, the A and C,
Speaker 4: after thirty years in power below fifty percent, loses its
Speaker 4: majority and says I lost and I'd like to sit
Speaker 4: down with the opposition and form a coalition. And that's
Speaker 4: that's fantastic, that's good, that's great. You have Botswana, you
Speaker 4: have Senegal, you have Mauritius, and we can talk about those.
Speaker 7: And then on the.
Speaker 4: Other hand, you have a country like Togo where an
Speaker 4: election is held where they ruling the governing party wins,
Speaker 4: and that means that the incumbent continues his nineteen year
Speaker 4: stay in power, and you you try to remember, oh,
Speaker 4: when last did this happen? And you see that his
Speaker 4: father was in power for forty years before that, and
Speaker 4: so you see these these sham elections where they are
Speaker 4: dressed up they look good in the suit of democracy,
Speaker 4: but just underneath it's it's a rigged election. It's not
Speaker 4: it's not free and fair. It's it's meant to look
Speaker 4: to the outside world like a good election, when when
Speaker 4: it's patently not.
Speaker 2: In your piece, just as you get into some of
Speaker 2: the regional bodies on the African continent, you talk about
Speaker 2: the African Union, you talk about eco AS, there's also SADEK,
Speaker 2: which is the Southern African Development Community, do you believe
Speaker 2: they could have done more? Do you believe international observers
Speaker 2: could have done more? I mean, who do you sort
Speaker 2: of lay the blame on this on.
Speaker 7: There are two elements to it.
Speaker 4: I think the one is the political continental level. I
Speaker 4: think leaders on the continent should be very clear that
Speaker 4: institutions such as the Sadak Observation Mission or the eco
Speaker 4: AS Observation Mission, the AU Electoral Observation Mission should be upstanding,
Speaker 4: should not be subject to political manipulation, and should be
Speaker 4: free to speak and speak clearly on elections and essentially
Speaker 4: be the highest authority that speaks on a particular election.
Speaker 4: You referenced earlier, on in our conversation Mozambique.
Speaker 7: You know, Mozambique is classic.
Speaker 4: You had the Southern African Development Community Observation Mission and
Speaker 4: you had the EU Observation Mission. The SADAK mission arrived
Speaker 4: and looked at less than one percent of the election
Speaker 4: voting stations in the country and left saying, oh, it
Speaker 4: looks fine. We didn't see any problem. You look at
Speaker 4: the EU mission and it went to the far north
Speaker 4: of the country. It visited places and said look alongside
Speaker 4: organizations like Human Rights Watch and others and so forth,
Speaker 4: and said, look, here are instances of ballot stuffing and
Speaker 4: so forth and so forth. So in fact, if you
Speaker 4: look at what the aftermath of that election was, where
Speaker 4: people started rioting and saying this election was not free
Speaker 4: and fair. We saw this with our own eyes. It
Speaker 4: could have been foreseen and it wasn't foreseen by SADAK.
Speaker 4: The SADAG mission, in my view, has been very poor,
Speaker 4: poor for Africans. If you go back a year ago
Speaker 4: to Zimbabwe, exactly the same thing happened. At least in
Speaker 4: that case, the SADAK observer Mission said this was a
Speaker 4: flawed election. It was political leaders who then protected the
Speaker 4: government in power and didn't do anything about it. So
Speaker 4: I think these missions could do better. The AU Observation
Speaker 4: Election Mission has been very very poor. It said I
Speaker 4: had from the first election in January in Commerce, it said, oh,
Speaker 4: there was no incident whatsoever, when someone had died, when
Speaker 4: tens of people had been shot and injured by police action,
Speaker 4: when it was clear that things had not gone according
Speaker 4: to plan. Even then they said, oh, it was without incident,
Speaker 4: I think was the expression they used. And so you've
Speaker 4: seen this in many other jurisdictions where it's just oh,
Speaker 4: it's okay, and it's patently not.
Speaker 2: Okay, and stick with us. Justice. When we come back,
Speaker 2: we'll talk about some of the more positive examples, because
Speaker 2: there are some, as you mentioned this year, and also
Speaker 2: how things could perhaps turned around again. We'll be right back.
Speaker 2: Welcome back today on the podcast, we're looking into the
Speaker 2: year of the elections and in particular in Africa and
Speaker 2: really the health of democracy on the continent. Justice Malala
Speaker 2: wrote a column for Bloomberg Opinion and he's joining us now.
Speaker 2: So Justice, we talked about some of the examples earlier
Speaker 2: this year, but there are some positive examples that you
Speaker 2: get into in your piece. Most importantly, there's Botswana and
Speaker 2: there's Mauritius. What stands out to you about the processes
Speaker 2: that we saw in those two nations.
Speaker 4: I think, first of all, the demospracies. Those demosplacies have
Speaker 4: been going for a good while. The populace is engaged,
Speaker 4: people wanted to take part, and they kept watch on
Speaker 4: their politicians. They kept watch on their institutions that those
Speaker 4: institutions with were fair, were able to do the work
Speaker 4: that they needed to do. So they kept an eye,
Speaker 4: particularly on the electoral commissions. In Botswana, there was a
Speaker 4: lot of discussions beforehand in the media about, you know,
Speaker 4: will these guys be able to handle a constitution and
Speaker 4: an election of this magnitude and which is so highly
Speaker 4: contest that for sixty years in Botswana you had the
Speaker 4: Botsuana Democratic Party in power and without much contest, and
Speaker 4: for the first time this year that looked like.
Speaker 7: It was going to be an issue.
Speaker 4: So the institutions in the particular country worked. In South
Speaker 4: Africa you had the independent Electoral Commission. In Senegal you
Speaker 4: had the Constitutional Court that worked and could deliver judgments
Speaker 4: that everyone across the political spectrum could respect. So you
Speaker 4: see in those countries, Senegal Mauritia, South Africa, Botuana, institutions
Speaker 4: that really worked, that had come together. You saw a
Speaker 4: free and fair media. You saw political actors participating properly
Speaker 4: and without you know, threatening violence and so forth. Except
Speaker 4: for we had that blip in Senegal in Fembrary when
Speaker 4: Makissal tried to postpone the election and failed. And so
Speaker 4: you could see the movement of democracy. You could see
Speaker 4: the elements that I needed for a free and fair
Speaker 4: election even beforehand. What was remarkable about all of these
Speaker 4: elections is that immediately after losing, the incumbent said went
Speaker 4: on television, addressed the nation and said I have lost
Speaker 4: and I am handing over to the new guys. In Botswana,
Speaker 4: it was fantastic to see the president Mucucy handing over
Speaker 4: to du marbor Go, the young new leader.
Speaker 7: In a matter of a day.
Speaker 4: Same thing in Senegal at the beginning of the year
Speaker 4: with Makissal over to the winner. And so these for
Speaker 4: me are fantastic examples of what we can achieve on
Speaker 4: the continent.
Speaker 2: But justice does this mean? There's the positives right and
Speaker 2: the negatives. And I wonder when we think about the
Speaker 2: state of democracy on the continent after taking a look
Speaker 2: at all of the elections this year, is your are
Speaker 2: you confident in saying that support for democracy is potentially
Speaker 2: eroding or do you think that's you know, that's not
Speaker 2: actually true and there's more people who actually do want
Speaker 2: to see more elections like Botswana and Mauritius.
Speaker 4: Most Africans certainly want to see elections like Botswana and Mauritius.
Speaker 4: If you look at the reception to the Botswana election result,
Speaker 4: for example, you go to Na Robi, you go to Legos,
Speaker 4: I trust the continent, people are saying, wow, look at
Speaker 4: these guys. A young team has come in. As I
Speaker 4: speak to you this week, we have elections in Namibia.
Speaker 4: A lot of people are saying, oh, you know, the
Speaker 4: contestant for the main party seventy two, and maybe it's
Speaker 4: time to look around and.
Speaker 7: Say where are the young people? Where the footy year olds?
Speaker 4: The fifth You know, people look at Senegal and say, wow,
Speaker 4: the new present is forty four. The new president of
Speaker 4: Zona's fifty four, and people are saying it's time to
Speaker 4: make ways. So, you know, you look at afric Barometer,
Speaker 4: so much of the research that's done many many people
Speaker 4: on the continent believe in democracy one democracy to work.
Speaker 7: However, there has been some backsliding.
Speaker 4: I think the past four years have been terrible for
Speaker 4: the continent with the coups in the coup belt of
Speaker 4: West Africa, whether it's Mali, Bekinna Faso and others, those
Speaker 4: have really dented the image the idea of democracy on
Speaker 4: the continent. But I don't think I don't think we
Speaker 4: lose in the battle. I think that this is a
Speaker 4: challenging time. I think that what you saw in Botswana,
Speaker 4: hopefully we'll see in Maybia this week, will continue.
Speaker 7: I mean a country like Kenya.
Speaker 4: You know where young people stood up against tax increases
Speaker 4: in June July this year. You know, it's very vibe
Speaker 4: and young people will not allow that democracy to backslide.
Speaker 4: All these places of their crisis. But I think that
Speaker 4: the trajectree is northwards, it's upwards, and things do and
Speaker 4: will get better.
Speaker 2: All we can do is be hopeful. Justice really fantastic piece,
Speaker 2: really interesting to take a step back at the year
Speaker 2: that was. But appreciate your time so much. Thank you
Speaker 2: for joining us, and you can of course read Justice's
Speaker 2: piece on Bloomberg right now, as well as the full
Speaker 2: coverage of all of this year's elections across Bloomberg platforms.
Speaker 2: Here's a few other stories we're watching in the region
Speaker 2: this week. Zimbabwe failed to pay state workers the ZIG
Speaker 2: component of their salaries and bonuses in November, less than
Speaker 2: two weeks after its treasury requested spending cuts on certain
Speaker 2: budget items. The Southern African nation started paying employees salaries
Speaker 2: in local currency and the rest in dollars back in
Speaker 2: twenty sixteen to incentivize them and deal with sharp slumps
Speaker 2: in the local unit. Unions are threatening to take action
Speaker 2: if the money is not paid soon, and Kenyon lawmakers
Speaker 2: called for an investigation into how independent power producers set
Speaker 2: teriffs as part of a study into how the East
Speaker 2: African nations over reliance on private generation facilities affects the
Speaker 2: cost of electricity. Kenya has been racked by protests over
Speaker 2: the high costs of living this year, in which dozens
Speaker 2: of people have died. The demonstrations forced the government to
Speaker 2: row back tax measures and cover a revenue shortfall by
Speaker 2: pairing back spending and borrowing. And you can follow these
Speaker 2: stories across Bloomberg, including the Next African Newsletter. Will of
Speaker 2: course put a link to that in the show notes.
Speaker 2: This program was produced by Adrian Bradley. Don't forget to
Speaker 2: follow and review the show wherever you usually get your podcasts.
Speaker 7: I'm Jennifer's Appasoja.
Speaker 2: Thanks for listening.
Speaker 7: As always,