Unfinished Business: Democracy in Namibia

Monica Koep, M. Sims

Description

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. This inaugural Democracy Index for Namibia is intended to set a benchmark for democracy to be measured against. The tool assesses the country�s depth of democracy 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.

Informations

• Publié par: The Institute for Democracy in South Africa
• Date de parution: 24 avril 2012
• Nombre de lectures: 1
• EAN13: 9781920409883
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 4 Mo

Extrait

U NFINISHED B USINESS : D EMOCRACYIN N AMIBIA

E DITEDBY B RYAN M. S IMSAND M ONICA K OEP

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 978-1-920409-79-1

First published 2012

Editing by Hilda Hermann

Design, layout and production by Bronwen Müller

Cover by Mandy Darling, magentamedia

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

Foreword

Acronyms and Abbreviations

Introduction  Why measure democracy in Namibia?  Background to Namibia

The State of Namibian Democracy

Section 1: Participation and Democracy  Nationhood  Participation and involvement  Government legitimacy  Citizenship obligations and duties  Tolerance  Conclusion

Section 2: Elections and Democracy  Elections  Equal votes  Open competition  Election rules  Voter information  Electoral participation  Progress and democracy  Electoral outcomes  Funding elections  Conclusion

Section 3: Accountability and Democracy  Executive accountability, legislative oversight and judicial independence  Public participation and accountability  Law-making and the budget process  Access to information  Accessibility and independence  Conclusion

P AGE

1

2

4 6 6

13

21 23 35 39 40 41 43

47 49 53 54 56 59 62 65 67 69 71

74 76 82 84 87 89 97

Section 4: Political Freedom and Democracy  Civil and political rights  Arbitrary deprivation of personal liberty  Torture  Freedom of association and participation  Political parties  Media rights  Conclusion

Section 5: Human Dignity and Democracy  Socio-economic and civil rights’ protection  Access to water  Access to food  Access to housing  Adequate and unimpeded access to land  Health care  Education  Poverty  Jobs, and rights in the workplace  Delivery of social and economic rights  Corporate governance  Conclusion

Biographical Information

Further Reading

101 102 103 105 110 115 119 122

130 132 134 135 137 138 141 143 146 149 153 157 159

165

167

F OREWORD

F OREWORD

1

Idasa developed the Democracy Index to assess the depth of democracy in South Africa. The initial list of 150 questions, designed by Robert Mattes and Richard Calland, was honed to 100 in 2005 and used for Idasa’s most recent South Africa Democracy Index in 2010. The research relies on expert analysis to answer 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 Index assesses a country through five focus areas: participation, elections, accountability, political rights and human dignity.

Idasa is expanding the Index into Southern Africa in an effort to broaden the capacity of individuals and organisations monitoring and supporting democratic governance efforts in the region. As the tool is tested in different countries, it will be enhanced and nationalised. The hope is that citizens of any country can use the Index to assess and debate the state of its democracy. 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. This is the inaugural Index for Namibia and is intended to set a benchmark for democracy to be measured against.

All of the authors selected to contribute, as well as one of the co-editors, are based in Namibia and/or are Namibian. Together, their expertise is grounded in years devoted to activism, civil society, academia and government. Authors were asked to provide a numerical score for each question and a narrative justifying their score. The group convened twice to ensure both a common understanding of the Index and peer review of the assessment process. The second meeting took the form of a validation workshop at which other members of civil society, academia and government were invited to comment on the analysis. While authors were requested to consult other indices and to reflect the opinions of an expert reference group, ultimately this is an individual expert assessment. As such, each set of Democracy Index results stands on its own and is not suitable for statistical comparison across years or cross-country comparative ranking.

It is through its use by Namibians that the Idasa Democracy Index can enhance research capacity, assist representative groups to lobby for greater democratic depth and quality, and spark participatory engagement between governments and citizens. Idasa is grateful to its in-country partners for their willingness to try out the tool, their commitment to the process and the ongoing work on democracy that they do.

K ARIN A LEXANDER , Team Leader: Measuring and Monitoring Democracy, Idasa

2

U NFINISHED B USINESS : D EMOCRACYIN N AMIBIA

A CRONYMSAND A BBREVIATIONS

ACC Anti-Corruption Commission ACDEG African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance ALP African Legislatures Project ANC African National Congress APRM African Peer Review Mechanism ART antiretroviral therapy BIG Basic Income Grant CAN CBNRM Association of Namibia CAT Convention against Torture CBNRM community-based natural resource management CBO community-based organisation CEDAW Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women CERC Central Election Results Centre CERD Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination CFDS Comprehensive Food Distribution Scheme CoD Congress of Democrats CSO civil society organisation DCP Development Capital Portfolio DELK Evangelical Lutheran Church (Deutsche) DPN Democratic Party of Namibia DTA Democratic Turnhalle Alliance ECN Electoral Commission of Namibia EEC Employment Equity Commission EISA Electoral Institute for Sustainable Democracy in Africa ETSIP Education and Training Sector Improvement Programme FFF Forum for the Future GDP gross domestic product GIPF Government Institution Pension Fund ICCPR International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights ICESCR International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights IMF International Monetary Fund IPPR Institute for Public Policy Research ISS Institute for Security Studies ITUC International Trade Union Confederation KAS Foundation Konrad Adenauer Stiftung Foundation LAC Legal Assistance Centre LGBT lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender LRDC Law Reform and Development Commission MAG Monitor Action Group MDG Millennium Development Goals MISA Media Institute of Southern Africa MP Member of Parliament

I DASA ’ S D EMOCRACY I NDEX

A CRONYMSAND A BBREVIATIONS

MUN NANGOF NBC NDP NED NGC NGO NHE NHIES NID NSHR NTA NUDO NUNW OHCHR OPG PDNA PEMMO PEPFAR PLAN PPP RDP SACU SADC SADC–CNGO SAWIP SITO SMS SPYL SWANU SWAPO TIPEEG TUCNA UDF UDHR UDP UN UNDP UNHCR UNITA UNSCR USAID WFP

3

Mineworkers Union of Namibia Namibia Non-Governmental Organisations Forum Namibian Broadcasting Corporation National Development Plan National Endowment for Democracy Namibia Grape Company non-governmental organisation National Housing Enterprise Namibia Household Income and Expenditure Survey Namibia Institute for Democracy National Society for Human Rights National Training Authority National Unity Democratic Organisation National Union of Namibian Workers Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights Office of the Prosecutor General post-disaster needs assessment Principles for Election Management, Monitoring and Observation US President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief People’s Liberation Army of Namibia Public Private Partnerships Rally for Democracy and Progress Southern African Customs Union Southern African Development Community Southern African Development Community– Council of Non-Governmental Organisations South Africa-Washington Internship Program States in Transition Observatory short message service SWAPO Party Youth League South West Africa National Union South West Africa People’s Organisation Targeted Intervention Programme for Employment and Economic Growth Trade Union Congress of Namibia United Democratic Front Universal Declaration of Human Rights United Democratic Party United Nations United Nations Development Programme United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees União Nacional para a Independência Total de Angola United Nations Security Council Resolution United States Agency for International Development World Food Programme