Abstract
On the one hand, southern Africa is one of the least violent regions in Africa from the
standpoint of inter-state and intra-state war. On the other, southern Africa faces major
human security and governance challenges that are eroding the region’s hard-won
governance and stability gains. The region faces major human security threats; inequality
and poverty are on the rise, and these factors make for prospects for serious social
dislocation and conflict. Former OAU Secretary-General, Salim Ahmed Salim said about
southern Africa ‘…the region has experienced large-scale insecurity…This insecurity
persists because the region has not yet managed effectively, human security challenges
such as threats to civilians’ livelihoods, pandemics such as HIV/AIDS, poverty, natural
disasters, conflict in the DRC and Angola, trafficking of drugs and arms, and cross-border
crime’1. Human security threats such as drug and arms, the flows of refugees and
migrants, have indeed been regionalized in southern Africa.
Southern Africa’s political, development and security realities remain at once intertwined,
contradictory and in a state of flux; its politics is unstable and development is under
severe stress. Democratization in the region is inconsistent and fragile. While more of the
region’s states than ever before can be classified as formal democracies – in the sense
that they adhere to the minimum requirement of democracy such as holding elections –
the substance of democracy is far more unsteady. Typically, southern Africa states fair
well on the minimum threshold of formal or procedural democracy – elections on time,
distinction between three spheres of government, the separation of powers (between the
legislature, judiciary and government), and opposition parties. But the region is fairing
poorly when it comes to the strengthening of substantive democracy – the ability of states
to be responsive to the needs of the citizenry, eradicate poverty, ensure the effective
participation of the citizenry in decision-making and governance, tackling social injustice
challenges such land dispossession and economic injustice’.
The gender relations of power typically receive scant attention in southern Africa; yet it is
a key governance question in the sub-continent. The sub-region has a long way to go in
introducing genuine empowerment of women; this is typically a male-dominated
environment. The vexed question of youth and youth participation in politics in the region
needs to receive similar attention. Youth are increasingly being alienated and marginalized
from mainstream African politics. The issues just do not speak to them. For example, the
issues of activism and cross-border youth political organization would help to shed light on
the challenges of democratization and political governance in southern Africa.