Are The Youth Of Liberation Movements Still On Track?

THIS week marked the Day of the African Child. It was a time for reflection, more so for those who regard themselves as leaders of tomorrow. It is thus proper to pause and reflect on what role the youth, especially those from the liberation movements of yesteryear, have played in southern Africa and what the future holds for us under their leadership.

The Day of the African Child is better known for the bloodshed in South Africa and the picture of 13-year-old Hector Pietersen, dying in the arms of Mbuyisa Makhubu and her sister, Antoinette Sithole, running alongside one another reflected the true picture of the brutal apartheid political system which stopped at nothing to keep the status quo.
Soon the liberation movements became ruling parties as the oppressive regimes made way for people’s choices.
Unfortunately, the minute they took over, the ruling parties and the state apparatus became increasingly integrated, and governments made use of this combined force to silence opposition and dissent.
As a result, what we are faced with in some African countries are authoritarian systems where there is no dividing line between the ruling party, on the one hand, and the elements of the state – the executive, legislature, and public institutions – on the other.
I think about Angola under the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), Zimbabwe under Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) and Mozambique under de Libertação de Moçambique (known as Frelimo). In each of the above countries the political leaders have assumed that they embody the people. They run the show. They do not see themselves as representatives of the electorate.
As George Will said, there the “voters don’t decide issues, they decide who will decide issues” and politicians do as they wish.
All because the roles played by the key people in the former liberation movements are assumed to give them a very strong political, economic and moral mandate. Thus they also struggle to turn the liberation ideology into deliverable development plans and just use political platforms to recite old struggle rhetoric.
And because independence in some of those countries is still fresh in the minds of those who suffered under the old regimes, the former liberation movements get away, for long periods, with poor service delivery, while leaders argue that they have the right to rule forever.
It is also in such movements where the youth are often used by leaders.
While platforms are created to showcase the youth as radicals, they are mostly used to advance the interest of the political elite of the ruling parties. The youth will, from time to time, be allowed to disperse popular anger among fellow youth as they claim to be the authentic voice of other young people.
In such countries, when the youth are angry about poor performance of the ruling party, they do not try to remove the governments but will only call for improvement of services. In some instances, they will also demand a share of the spoils and make you wonder what the future holds for a country under such youth!
Allow me to add that not all the youth are the same.
There are those who zealously fight for a better living for the electorate but they remain a minority.
The majority are used as the voice of young people in a specific political party when conflicts arise due to leadership disputes.
We have seen many such examples in Namibia and recently in South Africa and Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe's Zanu-PF youth wing, though, is probably not even worthy of mention as 'youth' as some of their leaders have been and are close to retirement age.
What such youth wings do, unfortunately, is to stifle the voices of other young people. Research elsewhere has shown that in countries where former liberation movements rule, the number of young people taking part in civil movements outside these leagues is small.
The principles guiding the founding fathers and mothers of the liberation movements are thrown out of the window as the new elites among the youth keep themselves busy with fighting the elders, plundering the resources of countries and serving as pawns in political games of others.
As we remember June 16, we need to bring back maturity and integrity among the young wings of liberation movements in the region.