When the Southern African Development Coordination Conference (SADCC) was founded in 1980, it was a coalition of postcolonial States bound by the noble dream of economic cooperation. By 1994, the bloc had expanded to include Namibia and South Africa and shed the second C in its acronym to reflect a new focus on economic integration. Yet, despite the rebranding to the Southern African Development Community (SADC), every member that is not a monarchy – except Zambia, where founding father Kenneth Kaunda had been toppled three years earlier – was still governed by a former liberation movement.

Fast-forward to November 2024: the SADC members once led by liberation movements that are either no longer in power or have been forced to govern through a coalition now include Malawi, South Africa and Botswana. With elections about a fortnight away in Namibia, a post-liberation-movement era may soon follow there as well.

Botswana made this transition two weeks ago, when the Umbrella for Democratic Change trounced the mighty Botswana Democratic Party (BDP), which had been at the helm for a continuous 58 years since independence in 1966, in an election where 80% of registered voters cast their ballots. The extent of the BDP’s loss – winning only four out of the country’s 61 constituencies – raises questions about whether it is not fated to go the way of the United National Independence Party (Unip) in Zambia which, despite having spearheaded the struggle for freedom and governing from 1964 to 1991, is no longer a serious contender for power.

Many aver that, if it were not for fraud and massive repression, Zimbabwe’s Zanu-PF would be in pretty much the same situation as Unip.

What is undeniable, though, is that even those liberation movements that continue to govern without coalition partners – in Angola, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zimbabwe and Namibia (assuming it triumphs in elections on November 27) – have experienced significant declines in support, with citizens no longer voting for them reflexively.

Some have gone as far as to declare that, even in these countries, the end is near for these movements as governing parties. One of those holding this view is Roger Southall, emeritus professor of sociology at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg. In his book, Liberation Movements in Power: Party and State in Southern Africa, he reminds us that these movements once embodied the hopes of new democracies when they gained State power. However, as more history of the struggle for democracy in the region is uncovered, it has become clear that these were flawed organisations: they projected unity but were often bitterly divided, proclaimed human rights but were sometimes guilty of terror and atrocities, and, in many of their practices, were deeply authoritarian, while presenting themselves as democratic.

Despite these flaws, they were recognised as vehicles of freedom. This was because, at their best, they embraced liberal and democratic values, and ultimately proved willing to embrace those against whom they had fought, and were genuinely supportive of racial inclusiveness and equality. Moreover, many of the movements combined socialist ideals with democratic aspirations, offering the promise that the racial inequality of the colonial era – or the apartheid era in the case of South Africa – would be addressed by redistribution alongside the revitalisation of struggling economies.

As is now evident, many of the movements did not lived up to expectations, failing to improve the socioeconomic lot of the majority of citizens, while others have become an increasing threat to democracy. A case in point is Zanu-PF in Zimbabwe, which has been accused of electoral fraud times without number. If the ongoing post-election unrest in Mozambique is any indication, Frelimo, which has been in power since 1975 and received a fresh five-year mandate last month, also owes its continued rule to electoral fraud.

In short, many citizens are fed up with liberation movements. How else can one explain the remarkable 80% participation in Botswana – the highest voter turnout in the region in recent times – with the majority deciding to vote the BDP out of power? They can’t be around for much longer, except by hook or crook.