PRESS RELEASE - Africa's Democracy Deficit: why liberation movements did not stay the democratic course

An examination of why African liberation movements have failed to sustain democratic governance will be the theme for the annual Basker Vashee Memorial Lecture, which will be delivered by William Gumede, a Senior Associate & Oppenheimer Fellow at St. Anthony’s College, Oxford University and a renowned commentator on Southern Africa.

Gumede argues that, for many African countries, constituting democracy appears to be an elusive process. Several liberation movements that valiantly opposed colonial powers in the name of freedom and democracy have been markedly undemocratic when in power. At the heart of this lies a failure to establish a democratic political culture, with several governments and leaders viewing democracy in its most limited sense of hosting elections.

William Gumede has won several journalism awards, including the South African Courageous Journalism Award (1997), and has played a key role in the emergence of a democratic South Africa. He was involved in both South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the all-party National Peace Committee which monitored and mediated party political conflict.
His best-selling book Thabo Mbeki and the Battle for the Soul of the ANC, published in 2005, explored the contradictions and tensions behind the scenes in South Africa’s government and prompted major debate both within Government and South African society. His Democratic Deficit: Africa’s lost years will be published later this year.

The lecture is held to commemorate the life of Basker Vashee (1944-2005), a Zimbabwean activist and scholar who was director of the Amsterdam-based Transnational Institute (TNI) from 1977 to 1987, and a TNI Fellow until the end of his life. A tribute to Vashee's life from his many friends and comrades across the globe can be found here.

The lecture is organised by TNI, an international network of activist-scholars founded in 1974. It exists to address the global problems of today and tomorrow, ranging from corporate-driven globalisation and militarism to environmental and social injustice, and aims to provide intellectual support to those movements seeking a more democratic, equitable and environmentally sustainable world.

William Gumede will be available for interview.

Please contact Andrea Sturkenboom with requests:
email andrea@tni.org
tel. +31 (0)20 662 6608.
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William Gumede is Senior Associate & Oppenheimer Fellow, St. Anthony’s College, Oxford University and a renowned commentator on Southern Africa. His journalism awards include the South African Courageous Journalism Award (1997), the FBJ's Excellence in Business Journalism Award (2001) and the Sanlam South African Excellence in Financial Journalism Award (2000). He writes a blog on global politics for the Washington Post [[http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/postglobal/william_gumede/].

An activist in earlier years in South Africa’s student and trade union movements, he became former Deputy Editor of Sowetan newspaper and also acted as chairperson of the Media Institute of Southern Africa, in Johannesburg. In 1998, he was seconded to South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission. During the constitutional negotiations for democratic South Africa, he worked for the all-party National Peace Committee, monitoring and mediating party political conflict.

His best-selling book Thabo Mbeki and the Battle for the Soul of the ANC, published in 2005, which explored the contradictions and tensions behind the scenes in South Africa’s government, caused a great stir in South Africa. According to Naomi Klein, author of No Logo, ”it inspired apoplectic fits of rage (and clandestine delight…) at the highest reaches of the ANC government.

Finally the real story of how Thabo Mbeki had betrayed the founding principles of the Party was being told -- and the person shining the flashlight into the backrooms was one of the country's most respected investigative journalists and a third generation ANC loyalist. This is a definitive account …. told with revelatory research, a cool head and expert storytelling.”

The book will be republished by Zed Books later this year. Zed Books will also be publishing his forthcoming book, Democratic Deficit: Africa's Lost Years, later this year.
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Celebration of the Life of Basker Vashee

20 February 1944 - 18 July 2005

The Transnational Institute (TNI) organizes the annual Basker Vashee Memorial Lecture in honour of our much-loved late friend, comrade and colleague, Basker Vashee.

His was a life worth remembering and celebrating. The inaugural lecture was held in June 2006 and given by Dr Alex Magaisa, an erudite intellectual and commentator on Zimbabwe.