Ramaphosa worried about end of transformation agenda
These are just some of the threats identified by Southern African liberation parties.
Angola's MPLA, Namibia's Swapo, Mozambique's Frelimo, Zimbabwe's Zanu-PF, and Tanzania's CCM joined the ANC this weekend, to discuss their fall from grace and seek to reassert their relevance in a rapidly shifting global order.
The parties have committed to ongoing self-introspection and a programme of action, within the next three months, which will pay attention to defending the gains of liberation, confronting neo-colonialism and charting a new path to socioeconomic transformation.
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IOL News
2 days ago
- IOL News
Liberators in Dire Need of Political, Moral Cleansing
(From left) Swapo president Nutembo Nandi-Ndaitwah, ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa and former Frelimo president Joaquim Chissano at a working dinner held at Mahlamba Ndlopfu, Pretoria on July 26, 2025. The ANC hosted a Liberation Movements Summit in Ekurhuleni, Gauteng on July 25-27, 2025. Image: GCIS Zamikhaya Maseti The ruling African National Congress convened a landmark Liberation Movements Summit from 25 to 27 July 2025, gathering six Southern African liberation parties including MPLA (Angola), SWAPO (Namibia), FRELIMO (Mozambique), ZANU PF (Zimbabwe), and CCM (Tanzania) to deliberate on the theme: 'Defending the Liberation Gains, Advancing Integrated SocioEconomic Development, Strengthening Solidarity for a Better Africa.' Conspicuously absent, however, was Zambia's United National Independence Party (UNIP), the liberation movement led by the late President Kenneth Kaunda. This party offered refuge to the exiled leadership of the African National Congress and embraced thousands of young South Africans who crossed borders to join the national liberation struggle against apartheid. The ANC, as a liberation movement, had its headquarters in Lusaka under the protection of UNIP, and the Zambian people sustained its operational lifeline. The organisers of the summit have not explained this omission, and it stands as a glaring historical oversight in any attempt to reconstruct the liberation narrative of Southern Africa. Any honest retelling of Southern Africa's liberation history is incomplete without recognising Zambia's indispensable role, under the leadership of the United National Independence Party (UNIP) and President Kenneth Kaunda. While not always armed with material abundance, Zambia carried the weight of regional liberation with unmatched moral clarity and unwavering solidarity. Lusaka was not just a geographical refuge for exiles; it was the beating heart of a pan-African revolutionary conscience, hosting the ANC's headquarters, training camps, political schools, and underground logistics. The Zambian people paid a heavy price, including economic sabotage, border raids by the apartheid regime, and relentless pressure from the West. Yet Kaunda's government never wavered. It chose principle over profit, and African unity over diplomatic convenience. That such a pivotal liberation movement was absent from this summit should not be taken lightly; it reflects a growing trend of selective memory that must be confronted if we are to truly reclaim and revitalise the liberation legacy. The summit made several significant resolutions. It reaffirmed support for the liberation of Western Sahara, condemned all forms of foreign domination and neocolonial interference, and called for deeper ideological and practical cooperation between liberation movements. The parties committed to revitalising South–South solidarity, advancing youth mobilisation and political education, and accelerating regional economic integration through shared development frameworks. In addition, the summit called for party-to-party diplomacy beyond state platforms, recognising the strategic value of liberation movements coordinating across borders to influence global governance, trade, and peace agendas. These resolutions, if translated into action, could mark a turning point, shifting these movements from commemorators of the past to architects of the African future. This was not a nostalgic gathering of revolutionaries trading memories over aged slogans. It was a solemn reaffirmation of purpose, a strategic recalibration of the post-colonial project amidst a volatile global order. What emerged was clear: the legacy of liberation is not a finished chapter; it is an unfinished struggle, and those who led us into freedom must now lead us into transformation. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Next Stay Close ✕ Ad Loading The liberation movements in the Southern African region have not been able to dogwatch one another, to speak frankly, honestly, and without diplomatic pretence. At no point did SWAPO, FRELIMO, CCM, or MPLA rise with principled courage to say, for instance, to President Robert Mugabe, how you are governing Zimbabwe is unjust and unsustainable. The ANC, however, attempted what it called quiet diplomacy in Zimbabwe, urging the Zimbabwean leadership and people to resolve their problems internally and to avoid relying on externally imposed solutions. Unfortunately, that quiet diplomacy did not yield the desired results. The suppression of opposition parties and the stifling of democratic space persisted. This absence of honest, fraternal correction among liberation movements has weakened the moral centre of the liberation tradition itself. One hopes that this revived Party-to-Party diplomacy will correct that historical failure. It must not be reduced to celebratory declarations and performative solidarity. It must have political dog watching as a central tenet, a principled, fraternal mechanism through which liberation movements hold one another to the revolutionary values they once embodied: honesty, people-centred governance, democratic integrity, and moral courage. Not loyalty to incumbency, but loyalty to the people. The liberation movements must be brave enough to confront the objective reality of the evaporation of the liberation heritage. The fact of the matter is that across the African continent, the very parties that ushered in political freedom, that dismantled colonial rule, and held the dreams of the masses, are no longer the governing parties. In Ghana, the Convention People's Party (CPP) of Kwame Nkrumah, the first to proclaim African independence, has faded into political obscurity. In Zambia, UNIP, once the bastion of Southern African solidarity under Kenneth Kaunda, has been swept aside. In Kenya, KANU (Kenya African National Union), the liberation party of Jomo Kenyatta, has long ceded power. Here at home, the ANC of Nelson Mandela, once the symbol of global moral authority, has been partially dislodged from power. It now governs in coalition with its ideological and historical adversaries, a profound moment that should signal not a tactical adjustment, but a generational reckoning. The liberation movement, as we know it, stands at a precipice. The question these Parties must collectively ask is not cosmetic or electoral, it is existential: Why has this occurred? Why have the liberation movements, once cherished as the custodians of the people's hopes, been relegated to electoral decline, coalition compromise, and in some cases, outright irrelevance? And more importantly, what should be their collective response to this objective reality of downward swings, fractured mandates, and the political displacement of liberation itself? This is no longer a theoretical concern. It is an urgent summons for introspection, ideological recalibration, and coordinated strategic renewal across the continent.
eNCA
3 days ago
- eNCA
Angola unrest death toll rises to 30
LUANDA - Angolan President Joao Lourenco praised security forces Friday for quelling unrest that claimed 30 lives over two days but rights groups accused them of killing "defenceless people". Dozens of shops and warehouses in Luanda were looted and vehicles attacked on Monday and Tuesday when a strike against a fuel price hike descended into some of the worst violence in the oil-rich country in years. The unrest spread to several provinces and police said that by late Thursday they had confirmed 30 deaths, including of a police officer, with more than 270 people injured, among them 10 members of the defence and security forces. The police did not say what caused the deaths but civil society groups and opposition parties blamed the security forces, who are regularly accused of using excessive force against demonstrators. In his first public comment on the situation, Lourenco said "law enforcement acted within the framework of their obligations and therefore the order was promptly restored". "We send our thanks to the law enforcement, the justice authorities, the health professionals...," he said. More than 1,500 people were arrested, 118 businesses vandalised and 24 public buses attacked, according to police. "We strongly condemn such criminal acts, we regret the loss of human lives...," the president said, announcing the government would help looted businesses to replenish their stocks. - 'Defenceless' - Lourenco, from the MPLA party in power since independence from Portugal in 1975, made no mention of the July 1 hike in heavily subsidised fuel prices that has led to a series of demonstrations in a country with a high level of poverty despite its vast oil wealth. The state is "doing its best" to address Angola's social problems, he said, citing investments in health, education, housing and job creation. Opposition and civic groups also condemned the vandalism but accused security forces of using excessive force. The looting reflects "the hunger and extreme poverty affecting the majority of Angolans", said the Human Rights Monitoring Working Group of various NGOs late Thursday. The "legitimate expressions of the population's indignation should not be used as justification to kill defenceless people," it said. The platform urged Lourenco to order the security forces to "refrain from killing defenceless people" and create an independent commission to investigate the killings as well as compensation for the families of the victims.
eNCA
5 days ago
- eNCA
22 killed in Angola fuel hike unrest
Two days of unrest and looting in Angola during a protest against a fuel price hike claimed the lives of 22 people, the government said Wednesday, as a tense calm returned to the capital. Violence erupted on Monday, the first day of a strike called by taxi drivers to protest the July 1 increase in fuel costs in the oil-rich nation where millions live in poverty. It was some of the worst unrest in several years in the Portuguese-speaking southern African country, which has been governed by the MPLA party since 1975. Sporadic gunfire was heard across Luanda and several other cities on Monday and Tuesday as people looted shops and clashed with police. "We regret 22 deaths, including one police officer," Interior Minister Manuel Homem told reporters on the sidelines of a Council of Ministers meeting chaired by President Joao Lourenco. Nearly 200 people were injured in the violence, he said, and more than 1,200 people had been arrested. The unrest was marked by massive looting in which people raided supermarkets and warehouses, making off with food and other supplies. Sixty-six shops were damaged, Homem said. The streets of Luanda were tense and largely empty Wednesday, although there were some queues outside petrol stations and shops, AFP reporters said. There was a heavy presence of security forces. Many shops remained closed, but public transport had slowly resumed in some areas after a two-day standstill. With the protests having spread outside the capital, a statement after the ministers' meeting said vandalism and rioting had "triggered a climate of widespread insecurity". It said "elements with criminal intentions" had turned the demonstration into a "threat to security". Police in the southern city of Lubango confirmed separately that a police officer had shot and killed a 16-year-old on Tuesday. The teenager was part of a group attempting to invade the headquarters of the ruling MPLA party, a statement said. - Series of protests - The strike was the latest in a series of protests this month after the price of fuel was hiked from 300 to 400 kwanzas ($0.33 to $0.43) a litre on July 1. The government's move to lower its heavy fuel subsidies reportedly followed International Monetary Fund calls for more public money for health and education. But it has angered many in the country of 36 million people, already under pressure from inflation of around 20 percent while nearly 30 percent are unemployed. High inflation and limited growth "are likely to keep poverty rates high, around 36 percent by 2026, underscoring the need for a stronger social safety net and more development spending", according to the World Bank. At a demonstration of around 2,000 people in Luanda on Saturday, protesters condemned the fuel price hike but also brandished signs denouncing MPLA "corruption" or discontent with the rule of Lourenco, who was re-elected for a second five-year term in 2022. There had been similar protests the two previous weekends. In a joint statement Wednesday, the opposition UNITA and Bloco Democratico parties said Angola was in a "severe economic and social crisis" that was a result of government policies "disconnected from the country's reality". Amnesty International and other rights groups have accused the police of using excessive force against protesters in Angola, which suffered through a 1975-2002 civil war and almost four decades of repression under former president Jose Eduardo dos Santos. In January 2021 police killed at least 10 people after opening fire on an anti-poverty protest in the diamond mining town of Cafunfo, around 750 kilometres (470 miles) east of Luanda, according to Amnesty. By Mario Paiva
