Decades of African independence coincide with a rapid decline in governance standards. There are some important and undisputed facts about the contemporary African state: that it continues to fail the African citizen and that it is not African. The government system descends from conquest, military, dictatorial colonial administrative entities that were designed to control natives and extract raw materials for the industrial development of the European metropolitan. The colonial state had, by design, little involvement with the African communities because the improvement of living conditions of the African was least of its priorities.
We do consider the colonial background of the modern state: its origin is exogenous, European not African and it has not evolved out of the relationships of African population groups and societies. But we would be doing ourselves disservice to deny the fact the modern state is suffering from an internal crisis of leadership that has failed to transform the government system in response to the needs of the African citizen and society.
If anything, the modern African state leadership has wilfully adopted the colonial government system to protect selfish elite interests at the expense of the ordinary black African. We are ruled by cold hearted dictators, but in typical African fashion we embrace them because they are black and because they come from our tribes. The modern African state has politicised tribe.
Democracy has become a buzz word in the postcolonial African political parlance, but an empty word in African political society at large. In practice, very few, including opposition leaders and the electorate subscribe to democracy; Africans may vocalise their resentment of local dictators, yet actions seem to connect seamlessly with dictators and strongmen from elsewhere, the admiration of Putin being a prime example.
We ask the question: is African society incompatible with democracy? African society is a citadel of dictatorship; this is evident from household right up to the State level. African society obsesses with order but not justice. Respect of elders and male heads of households are essential values.
In a patriarchy, the husband dictates his will to the wife whose social capital is based on being subservient to her husband. The boundaries of acceptable exercise of authority are determined by the man, and often seem boundless.
And then there is the parent/ child relationship. Children are meant to listen to the parent without question; there is hardly mutual exchange of opinion; for a child to challenge a parent or elder person’s instruction is regarded as indiscipline.
The head of family is never contradicted and has little tolerance for dissent. If deemed necessary, he will use force whatever form that may take to impose his will. We grow to be accustomed to that culture which feeds into broader institutions in society, the education system, and the government system.
As alluded to, the acquired traditional respect for elders is a good practice, but there needs to be cautionary measures to avoid or reduce exploitation of younger members by elders. Without oversight, in this culture lies the seed for dictatorship. It is an unhealthy social interaction where expectation is that elders are ‘right’, even when contradicted by evidence. In the presence of elders, younger members only speak to seek counsel of the elders, the expectation is for them to listen to elders’ wisdom.
Respect acquired just for being older and/ or a leader has become contemporary African states’ political Achilles’ heel. African leaders have morphed the tradition with the vastly despotic colonial governance template to produce super dictatorships.
Elder statesmen expect unquestioned respect; they speak at and down to an entire nation as though speaking to their children who must only listen.
Like the colonial government, African States have little involvement with the public. Policies primarily protect the elite’s interests; they are designed by the leadership with nearly no public involvement. The illusion of wisdom means the elder is convinced of being better informed than everyone else. Thus, our leaders cannot deal with any perceived challenge to their authority and any challenge is dealt with as an African parent will do with their undisciplined children.
This model works perfectly in a society nurtured to expect leaders and elders to be right. While it is right to respect elder members, there is a responsibility to protect the elder from themselves and protect younger members of society from harm of irresponsible decisions and actions of elders. In the modern African state, the elder statesman is using age-acquired invincibility to repress opposition, crush dissenters and drain state resources with impunity.
An analysis of the contemporary African state and traditional society suggests governance has not wavered from its colonial predecessor; the only change is on who is on the controls. The mutual relationship between the contemporary African state and African society and traditions is apparent; traditional practices feed into state dictatorship which in turn feeds into them. The contemporary African state is a repressive regime enabled by an African traditional society ready-made for dictatorship and hinder democracy. Dictatorship has been detrimental to the continent’s human and economic development. Things cannot continue in the current trajectory; a hierarchical and patriarchal society is bad, and being elderly cannot be the main factor for gaining respect of others; we need to create a political system and social spaces that promote and encourage healthy debate and political participation across society.
MTHWAKAZI INDEPENDENT 