MISA To Launch Book: Outside the Ballot Box - Preconditions for Elections in Southern Africa

By MISA

The Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) on behalf of the PEPSA Consortium: MISA, the Netherlands Institute of Southern Africa (NiZA), the Humanist Institute for Cooperation Development (HiVOS) and the Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa (OSISA), announces the launch of the second edition of the publication, Outside the Ballot Box:
Preconditions for Elections in Southern Africa 2005/6. The book will be launched on today, in Johannesburg, South Africa, an event that forms part of the program for the sub-regional PEPSA conference on 'Consolidation of Democracy in Southern Africa' that will be held on the today and tomorrow at the Indaba Hotel in Johannesburg. Fourteen authors from nine African and two European countries discuss the state of democratisation in Southern Africa in this second edition of Outside the Ballot Box.
They focus on controversial subjects like strategies for change in Zimbabwe, the growth of poverty and shack dweller protest in South Africa and the disposition of liberation movements as governments. Others engage with the role, strengths and weaknesses of civil society as agents of democratic progress, and the broader or lesser extent of political and civil space in various countries.
Elections held over the last year and pending in the near future are critically dissected, including the current situation in Swaziland where the passage of a deliberately vague constitution does not pronounce on the legality of political parties. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, a writer warns that it remains to be seen whether the historical 2006 elections and the uneasy peace between the 'warlords in government' is likely to last or translate into development of the country.
Another emphasises that in Africa the rules for elections need to be the same, they need to be understood and observers need to sing from the same hymn sheet. The lack of pan-African consensus and consolidation of election principles, norms and standards is an increasingly serious barrier to good practice and reputation in and of the continent.
An area of good news described in this edition is the positively developing state of play on women in governance, an issue that is making progress in this corner of the world, although huge disparities still need to be addressed. This book is being distributed non-commercially to
civil society organizations, governments and political parties in the belief that it will contribute to reflection and strategies on how to strengthen democratization in and across the countries that constitute the Southern African Development Community (SADC).
Many of the authors will be present at the launch of the book and the sub-regional PEPSA conference. They are:
- Ms Jeanette Minnie, international Freedom of Expression and Media Consultant also known as Zambezi FoX. She wrote the introductory overview and critical discussion of the articles in this edition;
- Dr Henning Melber, the Executive Director of the Dag Hammarskj?ld Foundation in Sweden and the former Research Director of the Nordic Africa Institute in Upssala, Sweden, and a scholar of liberation movements in Southern Africa;
- Ms Colleen Lowe Morna, the Executive Director of Gender Links, a Southern African media and gender NGO and an expert on the struggle for women in governance in the SADC region;
- Mr Tawanda Mutasah, the Executive Director of the Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa (OSISA) and a scholar/commentator on the problems of pan-African electoral design and practice;
- Dr Nuno Vidal, an Angolan researcher often involved in long and intensive field research periods throughout the country and in regular collaboration with international research teams;
- Ms Meike de Goede from The Netherlands who recently completed a Masters Degree thesis on political transformation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo;
- Mr Baudouin Hamuli Kabarhuza, the Director of the National Centre for People's Development in the DRC and the National Coordinator of the International Conference on Peace, Security, Democracy and Development of the Great Lakes Region;
- Mr Donat M'Baya Tshimanga, the President of "Journaliste en Danger"in the DRC, an award winning freedom of expression organisation;- Mr Boniface Dulani, the Acting Dean of the Faculty of Social Science and Head of the Department of Political and Administrative Studies at the University of Malawi. As a scholar and researcher he focuses particularly on issues of democratisation;
- Mr Gill Lauriciano, a Social Anthropologist from the Higher Institute for International Relations in Maputo, Mozambique;
- Mr Ericino de Salema, a senior Mozambican journalist and foreign correspondent and an independent consultant in the fields of communication and social issues;
- Dr Dale T McKinley, an independent writer, researcher, lecturer and freelance journalist, with a particular focus on post-liberation politics, capitalist political economy and community struggles around basic services and issues of participatory democracy. He is also an activist within South African social movements;
- Ms Lomcebo Dlamini, a lawyer and human rights activist in Swaziland and the National Coordinator of the Swaziland office of the Women and Law in Southern Africa Research and Educational Trust (WLSA);
- Ms Lucy Muyoyeta, a women's rights activist and the Chairperson of the Non-Governmental Organisations Coordinating Council (NGOCC) in Zambia; and
- Mr Tapiwa Zimudzi, a lecturer in the Department of History at the University of Zimbabwe in Harare.
The book is edited by Jeanette Minnie: an international Freedom of Expression and Media Consultant, also known by the name of her consultancy service - Zambezi FoX.
For more information on the publication, please contact Jeanette Minnie at Tel: (+2711) 782-8003; mobile +27 82 850 8351 (South Africa); email: jcmin@iafrica.com