Media

Articles: Africa's Leadership Crisis Goes On: The Case of Zimbabwe

The crisis in Zimbabwe goes on without abatement. As we go to the press, the presidential results of the now one month election in Zimbabwe remain unknown. This is fundamentally a manifestation of the persistence and intractable problem of a leadership succession crisis in Africa, a crisis that has been besetting Africa since the advent of the main wave of independence at the beginning of the 1960s. Soon after the achievement of independence, the process began to unfold whereby political parties in Africa became mere fiefdoms of their party bosses. And the broad masses of followers, whose political enthusiasm and energy had been aroused during the struggle for independence, found themselves held hostage to the patronage of the party bosses. Also, in the absence of internal party democracy, parties began to largely fulfill the role of being instruments of the political ambitions of their leaders, whose preoccupation was now to stay indefinitely in power. The constitutional provisions that restricted the office of presidents or prime ministers to a specific number of terms (mostly two) had to be subverted so that leaders could prolong their staying in power.

Published: May 01, 2008 - 08:57 PM
Read more about Africa's Leadership Crisis Goes On: The Case of Zimbabwe (862 more word(s))

Articles: THE CRISIS IN ZIMBABWE DEEPENS: WHERE DOES NAMIBIA STAND?

It is about a month now since the people of Zimbabwe went to the polls to elect their leaders. But to date, the election results have not been announced. The government in that country is desperately holding on those results, as it tries to prolong its anti-democratic and repressive rule over the suffering people of Zimbabwe.

Published: Apr 25, 2008 - 10:21 AM
Read more about THE CRISIS IN ZIMBABWE DEEPENS: WHERE DOES NAMIBIA STAND? (690 more word(s))

Press release

The just-ended Eenhana election demonstrates, once again, that SWAPO is not committed to democratic principles.

It is patently clear that SWAPO will stop at nothing to retain its hold on power, including the flagrant flouting of the country's laws, intimidation and the abuse of state resources.

For example, the ballot papers for the Eenhana election were printed at NamPrint, a known SWAPO printing company. Before the tender for the printing of ballot papers was granted to NamPrint, RDP strongly objected to what was a callous disregard of the principle of conflict of interest. The ECN knew that SWAPO was a competitor in that election. ECN gave a flippant response to our objection, simply saying that their tender procedures were in line with the government Tender Board. The RDP also lodged an objection with the ECN over the fact that virtually all the people recruited to conduct supplementary voters' registration at both Omuthiya and Eenhana were deliberately all SWAPO members. RDP got an equally flippant answer that it is normal procedure for the ECN to obtain support from local councilors (meaning essentially SWAPO people) in the conducting of elections.

Published: Apr 09, 2008 - 08:17 AM
Read more about Press release (360 more word(s))

Articles: RDP LAUNCH - I'm back!

17 NOVEMBER 2007

We're back!
And we mean business!!!
We are moved by this multitude of supporters and well-wishers from all corners of our country.
The RDP has been born and we are here to launch its presence in our society.
The RDP has been born in response to our people's deep longing for a vision, political direction and the rekindling of their hopes and aspirations for a better and prosperous future.
We are back with a zeal and determination to make a difference and re-ignite the spirit of confidence and hope that prevailed at independence.

Published: Apr 09, 2008 - 08:12 AM
Read more about RDP LAUNCH - I'm back! (1020 more word(s))