Whither African democracy?

They had their kgotla palavers and these were essentially democratic. Dikgosi consulted their subjects and ruled according to consensual decisions and there was harmony. There was egalitarianism.

The exclusion of women from the kgotlas was ‘fine’ because women were ‘adult’ children of the community. Botswana, Mauritius and Senegal deviated from this norm of typical African way of doing democracy. The countries were vilified for breaking the African tradition and were called names: puppets, stooges, bootlickers of colonial masters. The concept of the dictatorship of the proletariat in currency in the socialist countries fueled the anti-multiparty democratic concept, except in these three countries. In the course of time and experience exercising independence, the democratic process in Africa has taken tentative steps to register adjustments and improvements.