Why African leaders have not been able to effectively hold each other accountable –
the case of President Mugabe

Why haven’t other African leaders been able to hold Mugabe accountable and pressure him to respect the rule of law and democratic processes?  One would have thought that the declarations on accountability by the African Union (AU) and regional blocs such as the Southern African Development Community (SADC) would have produced effective measures to bring an end to Mugabe’s autocracy.  Instead, Mugabe was on the stage with other African presidents in Accra earlier this month speaking about Pan-Africanism and, as usual, blaming the West for all the problems in Zimbabwe.  He has even been able to convince some people that anyone critical of him and his regime is a puppet of the West.

There are several reasons why African leaders don’t yet have the culture of disciplining each other, even in such critical matters as human rights violations and other violations of democratic processes.  The reasons include the legacy of the Organization African Unity (OAU), a lack of moral authority, and, for older leaders like Mugabe, the African culture of respecting elders.

The AU has only been in operation since 2002.  Its predecessor, the OAU, had been in operation for 40 years.  One distinctive feature of the OAU was its tolerance of and indifference to African dictators.  For example, when Idi Amin Dada of Uganda came to power in1971 and killed thousands of innocent people, the OAU was, for all practical purposes, silent.  In fact, Idi Amin Dada was honored with the chairmanship of the OAU in 1975!  It will take time for the AU to stand up to dictators.  To its credit, earlier this year the AU denied President OmarAl-Bashir of Sudan the chairmanship of the AU because of the horrific atrocities taking place in Darfur.

Another reason for the lack of sufficient peer pressure to hold leaders accountable is the fact that only a few African leaders have the moral authority to challenge others.  Many have severely tarnished records, having failed to respect constitutional term limits or human rights.  Many are also accused of corruption.

Ironically, the third reason has to do with an important social norm for Africans – respect for elders.  Respect for elders is easily the most significant element in the fabric of community life in Africa.  However, this useful social norm comes with its own price when elders do not demonstrate the wisdom expected of them and the juniors find themselves in a quandary as to how to challenge them.

Consider SADC, a 14-country regional bloc of which Zimbabwe is a member.  Mugabe is 83 years old.  (Mugabe made his 83^rd birthday a national event with a lavish party, squandering 1.2 million U.S. dollars -- equivalent to about 1.5 billion Tanzanian shillings.)  The remaining 13 leaders have an average age of 61, the oldest in that group (President Bingu wa Mutharika of Malawi) being 10 years younger than Mugabe.  The youngest is President Joseph Kabila of the Democratic Republic of Congo, who is 47 years younger than Mugabe.  Seniority is not only about age; it is also about the number of years in office.  Mugabe has been in power for 27 years.  Yes, President Jose Eduardo Dos Santos of Angola has been in power a year longer than Mugabe.  However, Dos Santos is certainly in no moral position to challenge Mugabe.  Angola had its last presidential elections in 1992, and, technically, Dos Santos did not even win.  The remaining 12 leaders of SADC have an average of 4.75 years in office.

In March, President Jakaya Kikwete of Tanzania hosted the leaders of SADC to discuss the crisis in Zimbabwe.  It is not clear what Mugabe was told, but there are no signs of positive changes in Mugabe’s leadership.  It does not appear that SADC leaders will be able to push Mugabe to relinquish his power.

Unfortunately, it may take a complete collapse of the economy and utter chaos in the streets for Mugabe to let go of his autocracy.  One can only hope it does not have to come to that.

Dr. Richard E. Mshomba is Professor of Economics at La Salle University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.A. (mshomba@lasalle.edu)