Southern African Liberation Movements Summit tries to revive its members' declining fortunes

Daily Maverick

03-08-2025

The annual summit of the six southern African liberation movements reveals why they haven't evolved.
The 2025 Liberation Movements Summit provided insights into why the six southern African movements governing or co-governing their countries have struggled to evolve into normal, democratic political parties.
From 25 to 28 July, leaders gathered in Johannesburg for solidarity, introspection and mutual learning under the theme 'Defending the Liberation Gains, Advancing Integrated Socio-Economic Development, Strengthening Solidarity for a Better Africa'.
The six movements are South Africa's ANC, the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (Zanu-PF), Tanzania's Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM), the Mozambique Liberation Front (Frelimo), the People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), and Namibia's South West Africa People's Organisation (Swapo).
The summit's announcement by the host party, the ANC, said: 'This critical gathering reaffirms the ideological foundations of the six southern African liberation movements… and their historical role in securing independence, dignity and development across the region. It also seeks to reassert the relevance of these movements in a rapidly shifting global order.'
The movements defeated colonial rule and apartheid and 'implemented landmark policies on land reform, education, housing, infrastructure and social protection', it said. 'However, these gains now face erosion due to renewed imperial pressures, economic crises and attempts at neocolonial interference. The [summit] provides a united platform to confront these threats and consolidate progressive regional responses.'
Renewal is a good thing. But is this club the right vehicle for renewal and transformation?
So the downturns of the six parties in government were entirely attributed to external forces, with no mention of internal causes.
However, during the conference itself, some leaders did acknowledge internal ills. ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula said the movements' strategic imperatives now included defending the gains of liberation, which were 'under threat from internal erosion and external manipulation and interference', and confronting the reassertion of imperialism and geopolitical subversion.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa elaborated, saying the liberation movements had to 'contend with declining electoral support, shifting demographics, frustrated young people in our various countries, economic inequality and foreign interference'.
He acknowledged a 'disconnect between our founding narratives and the lived realities of a new generation of young people' and admitted that 'many of the threats we face are internal', including corruption, patronage and the competition for public positions and resources.
As a remedy, Ramaphosa said: 'We must institutionalise mechanisms for mutual accountability amongst our movements. We must find and hold each other to higher standards.'
Namibian President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah echoed that sentiment, saying 'we must hold each other accountable as sister parties' to fight corruption. As far as one could tell, none of the other parties echoed such introspection.
Renewal is a good thing. But is this club the right vehicle for renewal and transformation? Lack of democracy, for example, cannot be blamed on outsiders. Only two of the six countries governed by these parties, South Africa and Namibia, can be considered truly democratic.
Tanzania's CCM-led regime has imprisoned leading opposition leader, Tundu Lissu, on spurious grounds. Under Frelimo, Mozambique violently suppressed opposition at last year's election and last week charged the main opposition presidential candidate, Venâncio Mondlane, with 'incitement to terrorism' for leading protests against those presidential polls.
In general, most of these liberation movements' refusal to allow full democracy is the main reason they have not evolved into real political parties.
In Zimbabwe, Zanu-PF has systematically suppressed and dismantled any opposition since independence in 1980. Angola's ruling MPLA has also systematically stifled any opposition.
Largely because of such manoeuvres, those four liberation movements have remained in power since independence or liberation. Under strong regional pressure, Zanu-PF briefly admitted the opposition Movement for Democratic Change into a coalition government from 2009 to 2013. But it conceded no real power and, in 2013, won another dubious election outright. It has ruled solo since then.
Even in South Africa – one of the movement's two genuine democracies – the ANC fell to under 40% of the vote in national elections in 2024 and had to form a government of national unity with the liberal DA as its main partner.
In general, most of these liberation movements' refusal to allow full democracy is the main reason they have not evolved into real political parties.
For some of the six, the liberation ideology this summit was designed to revive appears to include an attempt to maintain state control over as much of the economy as possible. That has been one of the main causes of economic failure, as public infrastructure such as railways and ports crumbles.
For the six movements themselves, there may indeed have been benefits from the summit, not least in picking up tips on how to stay in power despite the odds, and assurances of mutual political support.
But for the populations of the six countries, it is hard to see much benefit. It seems unlikely that Ramaphosa's proposed peer review mechanism will see the light of day. And if it does, even less chance it will hold any of the movements accountable – especially for suppressing political opposition. It would appear that the democratic deficit wasn't even mentioned at the summit.
Rather ironically, Ramaphosa observed: 'History demands that we don't allow our legacies to be buried under the rubble of revolutionary nostalgia.' Indeed, that is a real danger.
And it was revealing that this was billed as a summit of liberation movements – not 'former' liberation movements, as they have described themselves up to now. That change may suggest that these movements, facing growing opposition to their rules, need to assert their continued relevance.
The liberation struggle deserves an honourable place in Africa's history. In the present, we need to move on. The struggle – for democracy, prosperity and equality – should indeed continue, but not through this vehicle. Its members mostly can't offer each other good examples of how to achieve that.
Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa told the summit: 'We have a sacred duty and responsibility to retain power for the purpose of advancing the people's agenda. We should never allow ourselves to lose power.'
That captured what appears to be the real purpose of this club – collaborating to stay in power. DM