ABSTRACT
Each decolonisation process can claim a degree of uniqueness, based on the historical features of the particular society and its social forces. One should therefore abstain from premature generalisation. There are certain common features, however, shared among the following liberation movements: the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU), the South West African People’s Organisation (SWAPO) of Namibia 2 and the African National Congress of South Africa (ANC). In the process of decolonisation, all of them attained decisive political power and placed the ‘party machinery’ at the centre of the emerging system of governance. The emphasis on free elections and an agreed constitutional framework for an orderly transition and transfer of political power to the erstwhile liberation movements of Zimbabwe (1980), Namibia (1990) and South Africa (1994) suggests similarities in terms of shaping the postcolonial environment (cf. Southall 2013). In all these cases, their legitimacy is based on the claim to represent the majority of the people. At the same time, however, the democratic notion is also contested territory. Postcolonial policies in these countries have at times revealed a lack of commitment to democratic principles and/or practices. The movements’ fight against unjust systems of oppression rooted in totalitarian rule by racist white minority regimes did not prevent them from falling prey themselves to undemocratic practices deployed against dissenting forces.
