The Functioning and Funding Of

The functioning and Funding of Political Parties (in the SADC Region)

Prof Lloyd Schikonye

Acronyms

AFORDAlliance for Democracy

ANCAfrican National Congress

BCPBasutoland Congress Party

BDPBotswana Democratic Party

BNFBotswana National Front

CCMChama Cha Mapinduzi

CoDCongress of Democrats

CSOsCivil Society Organisations

DTADemocratic Turnhalle Alliance

EISAElectoral Institute of Southern Africa

FrelimoFront for Liberation of Mozambique

IDEAInternational Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance

IFPInkatha Freedom Party

LCDLesotho Congress of Democrats

MCPMalawi Congress Party

MDCMovement for Democratic Change

MMDMovement for Multi-Party Democracy

MPLA Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola

NGOsNon-Governmental Organisations

PACPan-African Congress

PRProportional Representation

RENAMOMozambique Resistance Movement

SADC RHDRSouthern Africa Development Community –

Regional Human Development Report

SMDSingle Member District

SWAPOSouth West Africa People’s Organisation

TANUTanganyika African National Council

UANCUnited African National Council

UDFUnited Democratic Front

UNIPUnited National Independence Party

UNITANational Union for the Total Independence of Angola

ZDCZambian Democratic Congress

ZANU-PFZimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front

ZAPUZimbabwe African People’s Union

ZUMZimbabwe Unity Movement

ZUDZimbabwe Union of Democrats

Executive Summary

This study was commissioned by the International Institute of Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA) as a contribution towards its consultation with partner institutions and political organisations in Southern Africa on the building of sustainable democratic institutions in the region. Specifically, the study examines the contribution of political parties to sustainable democracy in the region.

Parties in Comparative Perspective

The paper explores the role of political parties in Southern Africa and pays particular attention to their functions and funding. It begins by arguing the need to contextualise the examination of parties in a historical and comparative perspective. Political parties have historically played a pivotal role in the founding and consolidating democratic systems of governance. They aggregate diverse demands into coherent political programmes, and translate these programmes into effective collective action through electorally legitimated control of political office. Parties are typically major vehicles for the recruitment of political leadership, the structuring of electoral choice and peaceable political competition, and the framing of policy alternatives (Dix, 1992). In turn, parties communicate and legitimate the system’s political processes back to the local level. Opposition parties insist on the accountability of those in power and provide choice to citizens.

Institutionalised party-systems are relatively more stable; they are systems in which parties have strong roots and legitimacy in society. In such systems, both the political elites and citizens believe in parties as fundamental, necessary and desirable institutions of democratic politics. Unlike in weakly-institutionalised party-systems, parties are not subordinated to the interests of a few ambitious leaders but possess an independent status and value of their own. In general, however, party-systems are still fragile in most countries in Southern Africa. The weak institutionalisation of the parties partly relates to the historical background of their formation, and partly to the framework of party competition in the post-independence period.

The paper makes several observations about the party-systems that were instituted at independence or liberation. Firstly, they were heavily dominated by the principal nationalist or liberation movement which consisted of a broad membership – often cutting across class lines – whose common goal was majority rule. Second, the opposition parties which contested the principal nationalist liberation movement in the independence elections and lost found it extremely difficult to recover any political ground later. Thirdly, (until the early 1990s), the installation of one-party state systems in some of the countries (Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania and Zambia) had legislated out of existence opposition parties thereby further undermining the party-system. Fourth, the advantages of incumbency have been considerable to the ruling parties resulting in a trend towards de facto dominant-party systems (as in Namibia, Botswana, Tanzania, Zimbabwe and lately in South Africa). Against the background of weak institutionalisation of party-systems and the staking of political and electoral “rules of the game” including access to funding against opposition parties, the concept and practice of “loyal opposition” have not been taken seriously.

Role and Record of Parties

The paper then considered the various aspects of the role played by parties – both ruling and opposition parties – in the political process in the region. In Southern Africa, as elsewhere, parties have been important instruments in encouraging participation in the political process. However, the level of membership in parties varies greatly within and between countries. In general, party membership reached a climax at independence or liberation but has gradually been declining since then. It was observed that parties have, however, played an increasing role in the dispensing of patronage in form of material incentives to selected groups and members. Examples of patronage include job and contracts in government departments and parastatal corporations, the construction of roads, dams, schools and schools in favoured urban and rural districts amongst others. Of course, the levels of patronage vary between parties and countries depending on the standards of accountability and transparency in the system of governance followed. The patronage system is invariably attacked as “corruption” by opposition parties in almost all the countries. None of the ruling parties from the ANC (in South Africa), BDP (in Botswana), Frelimo (in Mozambique) to the CCM (in Tanzania), MMD (in Zambia), Zanu-PF (in Zimbabwe) and Swapo (in Namibia) has been spared this criticism.

With a few exceptions, the trend has been towards weak opposition parties across the Southern Africa region. While some of the parties have existed since even before independence, others are of a more recent vintage (formed in the early 1990s on the wave of democratisation which swept across the continent). Such parties as the Democratic Turnhalle Alliance (DTA) (in Namibia), UANC (in Zimbabwe), PAC (in South Africa) and BNF (in Botswana) have survived but have not grown to pose a serious challenge to the dominant parties in these countries. The paper identified major structural constraints encountered by opposition parties; these included resource constraints as well as electoral systems staked against them, sparse organizational skills and narrow political base. While some of these constraints also affect the ruling parties to some degree, the difference lies in that the latter can strategically draw upon state resources at election time to enhance their electoral advantage. A major determinant factor on the electoral performance of a party was the character of the electoral system. While the “first past the post” system appeared to present disadvantages to opposition parties, the proportional representation (PR) system reflected a fairer relationship between the number of votes and quantity of seats secured by each party during elections.

Party Funding

The paper observed that the issue of party funding has not been given the adequate attention which it deserves in the Southern Africa region. How much funding a party can mobilize at election time is of decisive importance. For the size of funding determines the number of campaign staff it can employ, the number of vehicles it can use to reach voters in urban and rural areas, the amount of advertising it can deploy on radio, television and in the press, and the range of equipment (from telephones to computers to stationery etc.) which it needs to communicate with the electorate.

In Southern Africa, different countries have taken different positions on party funding. While some countries have provisions for public funding of parties, a few do not. The countries which provide state funding of parties are Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa and Zimbabwe. Those which do not provide public or state funding are Botswana, Lesotho and Zambia. However, the type and scale of funding also varies; whereas in some countries, funding is limited to election campaign activities, in others it extends to other activities between and beyond elections. Much contested, however, are the different formulae for such public funding. Opposition parties have challenged the different formulae in Malawi, South Africa and Zimbabwe. Most public funding is pegged to the number of seats held or number of votes cast per party and this favours the dominant parties. A kind of catch-22 situation existed for many parties: without seats or a certain threshold of votes, a party was excluded access to funding, but in order for it to mobilize membership widely, it required resources! In general, incumbent parties had enormous advantages of access to both public and private funding sources as the examples given of ANC, Frelimo and Zanu PF resources in recent elections showed.

Wider Issues in Political Party Development

The broad factors issues which negatively impinge upon the development of parties include a relatively steady decline in membership, growing apathy, consolidation of the dominant-party system (with a few exceptions), and limited internal democracy in parties. For instance, one survey had established that whereas active membership amongst blacks had declined from 24 per cent in 1994 to 12 per cent in 1998 in South Africa, the decline had been steeper amongst whites from 17 per cent in 1994 to about 4 per cent. Decline in party membership had also been reported in Zambia and Zimbabwe.

The notable trend in disengagement from active party membership appeared to be accompanied by increased apathy amongst voters in the region. Examples of such deepening apathy were drawn from Botswana, Zambia and Zimbabwe. However, a notable exception was Mozambique where voter registration and election turn-out was impressive in both the 1994 and 1999 elections.

The paper also observed that there appeared, with a few exceptions, to be a trend towards the spread of a dominant-party system which more or less resembles a latter-day version of a de facto one-party state system. Examples of parties which have wittingly or unwittingly established such a dominant-party system are the ANC (in South Africa), BDP (in Botswana), Swapo (in Namibia), CCM (in Tanzania), MMD (in Zambia) and Zanu-PF (in Zimbabwe). Exceptions to this dominant-party system are the formerly one-party systems of Malawi and Mozambique.

In some countries, dominant parties actively and systematically blocked attempts by opposition parties to attain viability or gain equitable access to voters through publicly-owned media.However, the structural and regulatory conditions under which the opposition parties operated were not the sole factor contributing to their mediocre performance. It was observed that internal democracy in opposition parties was often in deficit with a tendency towards fragmentation. Self-destructive splits in opposition parties had occurred in such countries as Botswana, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Parties in the Wider Social Context

The paper then considered a number of salient issues relating to the experiences of parties regarding the participation of women and minority groups in the political process, the linkages between parties and civil society organizations (CSOs), relations with the media and finally the question of leadership in parties. While all countries in the region have pledged themselves to enhance the political empowerment of women, most of them had yet to implement this commitment and policy at the national level. Although women turn out in considerable numbers as voters during elections as the experiences of Malawi and Zimbabwe highlighted, few women occupy leadership positions which are a monopoly of male politicians. However, there were exceptions to the general trend of marginalisation of women. Quota systems in Mozambique (by Frelimo), in South Africa (by the ANC) and in Tanzania had provided for more active participation by women in parliament and in party structures. A pledge to set a quota system for women in Zanu-PF structures had been made at its December 1999 party congress.

Linkages between parties and CSOs were also explored. Relations between ruling parties and CSOs were conditioned by whether there was a transparent democratic political culture or not. Where such a culture is absent, the CSOs often pit their weight behind opposition parties which campaign to restore democracy. To that extent, civil society groups sometimes develop partisan sympathies (as they did during independence and anti-apartheid struggles) to the annoyance of the ruling party and incumbent government. Yet tension between a critical civil society and a ruling party is healthy; it contributes to checking certain excesses of a dominant- party system.

Although the circulation of newspapers and magazines, and ownership radio and television sets varies widely between countries in the region, their key importance in disseminating political messages is obvious. Control of this media is therefore a contested issue between political parties. While some countries have a more liberal policy of access to public radio and television by parties, most tend to have restrictive regulations which are biased in the favour of the ruling party. Not surprisingly, it is during election campaigns that controversies about access to the media become more heated.

Finally, the question of leadership in both ruling and opposition parties is a central issue. With a few exceptions, there tends to be strong streak of one `dominant personality’ of almost cult status, as leader, in most of the parties. The founding father (or more rarely mother) of the party has a unique status. In the region, the general trend has been for these leaders to treat their parties as their “firms” or “possessions”, and the trends has been as widespread in opposition as in ruling parties. The few exceptions have been the older and more stable parties with internal procedures which facilitate a smooth change-over of leadership (as in Botswana and South Africa).

1

The functioning and Funding of Political Parties (in the SADC Region)

1.0INTRODUCTION

The last quarter for the 20th century witnessed significant political transformations in Southern Africa. Independence and liberation struggles were protracted in those countries that constituted the last group to emerge from the yoke of colonialism and apartheid. Mozambique and Angola (in 1975), Zimbabwe and Namibia (in 1980 and 1990 respectively) and South Africa (in 1994) joined those other countries in the region which had earlier undergone peaceful decolonisation between 1960 and 1968. The opening months of this new century therefore provides a good vantagepoint to appraise the outcome of those political transformations with particular reference to the role of parties in governance systems in these countries. To what extent have democratic systems of governance taken root in the region? What specific roles have political parties played in those transformations, and what constraints do they encounter? How can those roles be further enhanced in order to strengthen and consolidate democratic political systems and better governance in the Southern Africa region? These questions will be addressed with specific reference to developments in the region in the past 10 years.

However, the paper begins by providing a brief sketch of the significance of political parties (henceforth parties) from a historical perspective. It then proceeds to provide an overview of the contemporary role(s) of parties in the SADC region. The later sections of the paper examine the patterns and outcomes of the funding of parties, and pertinent issues relating to the development of parties in the wider social context. The paper concludes with a section on recommendations which draw from our comparative analysis of the development, role and funding of parties in the region.

2.POLITICAL PARTIES IN HISTORICAL AND COMPARATIVE

PERSPECTIVE

Historically, parties have played a pivotal role in the founding and consolidating of democratic systems of governance. Parties aggregate diverse demands into coherent political programmes and translate these programmes into effective collective action through electorally legitimated control of political office (Glaser, 1997). Parties facilitate the peaceful transfer of government power from one party to another in a multi-party system. In the early democracies (in Western Europe and North America), parties were created to articulate and protect specific social interests. This development was linked to the creation of political trust within the political class [Hall, 1992]. The opposition was allowed largely because those in power felt that it would not threaten their interests. In the case of Britain, for instance, what mattered above all was the creation of a loyal opposition, i.e. an opposition which did not entertain plans to change the system and to exterminate its rivals . The institutionalisation of a loyal opposition was vital for the consolidation of democracy. Interestingly, the concept of a loyal opposition in time led to state salaries for those who opposed what the party in power was trying to achieve!