Mr Speaker, hon members, today's debate on the topic of "Promoting and practising good governance as a means of advancing peace and security: Drawing lessons from recent events in the Middle East and North Africa" comes at a time when we, the citizens of this continent, should actually be hanging our heads in shame, because the events of the past months have been about nothing but poor governance.
From the events in Tunisia, Algeria, Ivory Coast, Zimbabwe and, most recently, Malawi, Swaziland and Libya, the operative word or underlying factor has been good governance having been compromised by those who have been entrusted with the responsibility of promoting and practising good governance.
Mr Speaker, according to the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, good governance is described as "the process of decision-making and a process by which the decisions are implemented or not implemented". On the other hand, bad governance is regarded as one of the root causes of evil within our societies. For example, today major donors and international financial institutions are basing their aid and loans on the condition that reforms that ensure good governance are undertaken by recipients of such aid.
Perhaps the question that we should be asking ourselves is what constitutes good governance. Mr Speaker, there are so many definitions of what makes good governance, but for the purposes of this short speech, I would like to say good governance involves the following: It is when elected officials perform effectively through clearly defined roles or when those who are entrusted with governing promote acceptable and ethical norms and values. Secondly, good governance is when leaders take informed and transparent decisions affecting the masses of the people. That is good governance. Thirdly, good governance is when public officials engage stakeholders, and I want to emphasise stakeholders, and make accountability real and not a joke. Mr Speaker, a joke is told of President Mugabe when he was advised that he should involve stakeholders in the process of discussing political reforms in Zimbabwe. He said that the problem with involving stakeholders is that they take the stake and leave us with the bombs. [Laughter.]
Mr Speaker, the debate around good governance in Africa has never really been a major topic of discussion, in my view, until probably recently when the upheavals in the Middle East and North Africa erupted. I also believe that in the early years of Africa's independence good governance was never a serious issue for majority debate, because the avenues and platforms for such discussions either never existed or were brutally suppressed by those in positions of authority. This probably explains why many African dictators and tyrants such as Idi Amin, Macias Nguema, Kamuzu Banda, Jean- Bdel Bokassa, Mobuto Sese Seko, Skou Tour, Sani Abacha and many others managed to hold onto power for so long. This is because they were not accountable to anyone but themselves, their cronies and their families.
The dawn of democracy on our continent, as witnessed by the second revolution of the 1990s, awakened many of us Africans to a new reality that the founding fathers of our independence were not necessarily correct by undermining good governance. The 1990s therefore proved that the one-party state system and dictatorship in general had reached their sell-by dates. In some countries, such as Zambia, the one-party system was used as an excuse for uniting people of various tribes, but it was evil in many ways.
Today young, charismatic and educated Africans want to see a new Africa emerge from the postcolonial era of the Big Man. Democracy was experiencing its rebirth in Africa once again. The recent events in North Africa and in the Middle East, in my view, Mr Speaker, signify the third revolution, or as they say in the Shona language of Zimbabwe, "the Third Chimurenga". It has shown that Africans can no longer tolerate or allow dictators to run roughshod over or amok in our countries. President Barack Obama once said that Africa needs strong institutions of democracy and good governance and not strong men. There is no place for strong men in Africa.
The now defunct Organisation of African Unity and its successor, the African Union, AU, have been a major disappointment to the people of this continent. For example, in the Libyan debacle, not to mention Zimbabwe or the Ivory Coast, the AU has proved again that it is a shambles. Instead of blaming itself for mishandling the situation in Libya, the AU set out blaming the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, Nato, for intervening militarily in that country. As far as I am concerned, that is very hypocritical. While Gaddafi was killing his people, the AU was busy constructing what I will call a gravel road map for a so-called political resolution of the conflict.
Former President Thabo Mbeki, in my view, seems to have suddenly gathered enough courage to condemn the so-called North African despots, and he was reported in last Sunday's newspaper as saying:
Both of them, Ben Ali of Tunisia and Mubarak, held on to these positions through what were described as democratic elections. The reality however is that these elections were not democratic by any stretch of the imagination, and therefore both presidents and the groups they had led clung to power by resorting to other means, which deliberately sought to frustrate the will of the people.
Mr Speaker, if I were to meet former President Mbeki today, I would ask him the following questions: Where was he when these dictators were committing these atrocities? What did he do to ensure that they did not cling to power unnecessarily, as he reportedly said? Wasn't he attending the AU summits and other heads of state meetings where these dictators were present? Why didn't he voice his displeasure at the time? Has he now found enough courage from the safety of the political wilderness to speak so eloquently against these dictators? [Interjections.] As a former President of this country, I think Mr Mbeki toasted some of these leaders whom he now condemns, but at the time, he never raised a finger against what he now calls illegitimate and corrupt governments. [Applause.]
What lessons can we learn from these recent events? Firstly, opposition cohesion is very important and, at the same time, having a capable leader or leaders who can unify various elements is important in winning people's support. The second lesson is that the disposition of the military is crucial. In Africa, and particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, we know that the military has been a wild card in the game of political transition. Whether army officers remained loyal to the incumbent or defected to the opposition had a decisive impact on the course of political events. Zimbabwe is a very good example. The military can either prop up an illegitimate regime or help to remove it.
Authoritarian regimes are most susceptible to reform when domestic pressure and international pressure converge, as in the case of Libya and Egypt. Also, protest movements usually originate within civil society. As we have seen in North Africa and in the Middle East, civil society is a very important and powerful tool for political reforms. We should therefore never underestimate the role of civil society in the life of our nations on this continent.
Finally, Mr Speaker, the biggest lesson I think we can draw from these events is that the people of Africa and the Middle East are fed up with dictators and tyrants. The time for change is now. Leaders can no longer take the people's will for granted. It is time for dictators to shape up or ship out. I thank you. [Applause.]