A Fine Balance

Gape Kaboyakgosi, Karin Alexander

Description

This inaugural Democracy Index for Botswana is intended to set a benchmark for democracy to be measured against. The tool, developed and honed by Idasa over many years, assesses the depth of democracy in a country through five focus areas: participation, elections, accountability, political rights, and human dignity. The research relies on expert analysis to answer a set of questions that interrogate how closely, in practice, democracy meets the broad ideal of self-representative government. More specifically, to what extent can citizens control elected officials and government appointees who make decisions about public affairs? And how equal are citizens to one another in this accountability process? The purpose of the scores is to assist citizens in making their own judgements, based on the information made available, to stimulate national debate and to provide democracy promoters with a tool for identifying issues and needs that can be addressed by education, advocacy, training, institution building and policy revision. Idasa�s Democracy Index � initially developed for South Africa � is being expanded into Southern Africa in an effort to broaden the capacity of individuals and organisations monitoring and supporting democratic governance efforts in the region.

Informations

• Publié par: The Institute for Democracy in South Africa
• Date de parution: 24 avril 2012
• Nombre de lectures: 4
• EAN13: 9781920409852
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 5 Mo

Extrait

A F INE B ALANCE : A SSESSINGTHE Q UALITYOF G OVERNANCE IN B OTSWANA

E DITEDBY K ARIN A LEXANDERAND G APE K ABOYAKGOSI

2012

Idasa wishes to thank the Embassy of Denmark for its funding of this project.

Published by Idasa, 357 Visagie Street, Pretoria 0001

© Idasa 2012

ISBN 978-1-920409-77-7

First published 2012

Editing by Paul Wise

Design, layout and production by Bronwen Müller

Cover by Mandy Darling

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without prior permission from the publishers.

C ONTENTS

Acronyms and Abbreviations

Foreword

Introduction  Botswana’s great democratic story  The characteristics of a minimalist democracy  Grounds for future contestation

The Inde: 100 uestions contetualising Botswana’s democracy

Section One: Participation and Democracy  Nationhood  Participation and Involvement  Government legitimacy  Citienship obligations and duties  Tolerance  Conclusion

Section Two: Elections and Democracy  Elections  Eual votes  Open competition  Election rules  Voter information  Electoral participation  Electoral outcomes  Funding elections  Conclusion

Section Three: Accountability and Democracy  Eecutive accountability and legislative oversight  Public participation and accountability  Law-making and the budget process  Access to information  Accessibility and independence  Conclusion

P AGE

v

1

2 2 3 8

14

24 26 29 30 32 32 33

34 35 38 39 41 43 46 48 50 52

53 54 56 59 60 60 63

Section Four: Political freedoms and democracy  Civil and political rights  Freedom of association and participation  Political parties  Media rights  Conclusion

Section Five: Human dignity and democracy  Socio-economic rights protection  Reasonable access to clean and adeuate water  Adeuate food  Adeuate shelter and housing  Adeuate and unimpeded access to land  Health care  Education  Poverty  Jobs and rights in the workplace  Delivery of social and economic rights  Corporate governance  Conclusion and recommendations

Biographical Information

References

I DASA ’ S D EMOCRACY I NDEX

65 67 72 75 77 80

83 85 87 88 89 90 91 93 94 96 96 97 98

100

102

A CRONYMSAND A BBREVIATIONS

A CRONYMSAND A BBREVIATIONS

ART BALA BDC BDF BESnet BIDPA BOCONGO BOFEPUSO BOFEPUSU BONELA CEDA CEDAW CESCR CRC DISS DPSM DWA EU FPTP HLCC ICC ICESCR IEC ILO JSC LEA LeGaBiBo LSB MFDP MISA MMEWR NGO OECD PLWHA SACU SADC SHHA UDHR UN WUC

v

antiretroviral therapy Botswana Association of Local Authorities Botswana Development Corporation Botswana Defence Force Botswana Electoral Support Network Botswana Institute for Development Policy Analysis Botswana Council of Non-Governmental Organisations Botswana Federation of Public Employees Organisations Botswana Federation of Public Sector Unions Botswana Network on Ethics, Law and HIV/Aids Citien Entrepreneurial Development Agency Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (United Nations) Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (United Nations) Convention on the Rights of the Child Directorate of Intelligence and Security Services Directorate of Public Service Management Department of Water Affairs European Union first past the post High Level Consultative Council International Criminal Court International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Independent Electoral Commission International Labour Organisation Judicial Service Commission Local Enterprise Authority Lesbian, Gays and Biseuals of Botswana Law Society of Botswana Ministry of Finance and Development Planning Media Institute of Southern Africa Ministry of Minerals, Energy and Water Affairs Non-Governmental Organisation Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development people living with HIV and AIDS Southern African Customs Union Southern African Development Community Self-Help Housing Agency Universal Declaration on Human Rights United Nations Water Utilities Corporation