44 Oxfam (2006), Rietbergen-McCracken (Undated) and UNESCO (2006) provide internationally available materials for civic education, the experience of civic education practice in African countries is varied and inconsistent.
45 general participation, political knowledge, political efficacy, political tolerance, support for elections, trust in institutions and satisfaction with democracy.
In South Africa, Finkel and Ernst (2005) conducted a study with students at high schools where a ‘Democracy for all’ project was implemented. They found that the quality of instruction and pedagogical methods employed by civic educators enhances effective civic education in learners. Thus, civic educators need to be people with high competence, likability and with an interest in delivering the content. Additionally, active participatory and learner involvement methods produce significant gains in all democratic orientations among learners. Although there is a substantial literature on citizenship education for schools, for example (Adeyemi, 2002), there are fewer studies on citizenship education for adults, particularly in Africa (Avoseh, 2001). Therefore, this study attempts to fill this gap by investigating what adult citizens understand about democracy and citizenship in Lesotho, exploring existing civic education, with a view to making recommendations for
improvement.
Mattes and Bratton (2007), in their study ‘Learning about Democracy in Africa: Awareness, Performance, and Experience’, stated that in various African countries people are more likely to demand democracy if they can view it as providing more rights and freedoms than the old traditional regimes and if they see their leaders being responsive to public demands.
However, it is argued that the population used in their study was not sufficient to make generalized observations of the involved countries. Furthermore, there remains a gap between understanding how to synergize new democracy with the indigenous ways of life.
In other words, the democracy culture, in many cases, was imposed on people’s everyday life, disregarding their values, beliefs and practices. The study conducted by Mattes and Bratton (2007) was silent on how democracy and the Africans’ local values and their way of life share similarities of fundamentals that can be harmonized.
Kadima et al. (2006) conducted a study amongst prominent political parties and their outreach programmes (voter and civic education) used in the countries of Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia and Zambia. The authors found that in all four countries, voter education was used synonymously with civic education. According to Kadima et al. (2006) civic
46 education has to incorporate a form of democracy education that can encourage citizens to participate in politics with a thorough understanding of how democracy should function.
Additionally, it was found that in all the countries, with the exception of Botswana (where voter education is provided by the Independent Electoral Commission as their
responsibility), even in political rallies that are conducted by different parties, the political parties offer voter education to their fellow members during their political campaigns and rallies, where they teach about the importance of elections and encourage voters to participate in elections. Kadima et al. (2006) also found that almost all opposition parties and some ruling parties reported that funding was a challenge because they could not hold proper civic education campaigns. The other challenge reported was the lack of access to media by all the opposition parties in the four countries, especially those that are controlled by governments of the day and ruling political parties. The authors suggested that
government resources are abused in favour of the ruling political party, which is commonly the government in these countries, and is an area investigated in this study. However, Kadima et al. (2006) observed that in all the countries the political parties have weak
connections with their civil society groups and other stakeholders such as traditional leaders and privately owned companies. They recommended that political parties should consider involving such stakeholders for the enhancement of sustainable democratic governance.
In South Africa, for instance, active civil society plays a key role in helping communities take action towards making a difference regarding civic education. These included NGOs, CBOs, churches, trade unions and other South African social movements (Pandor, 2008). It is clear, therefore, that civil society organisations play a key role in the form of civic education that is provided in South Africa. These organisations enhance a great deal of understanding among South African people about citizenship and democracy in the transition from apartheid to a democratic system.
There are other examples of civic education in Africa. In Zambia, civic education is offered by NGOs with the aim of improving citizen participation in governance (Kabemba, 2004).
These NGOs are reported by Kabemba (2004) to be supported mainly by donors, as they are in other African countries. Civic education focusing on how to involve communities to vote during elections is provided. Voter education, using workshops, fieldwork and media
47 programmes is mostly disseminated a short period before elections (ibid). However, as happens in Lesotho, Kabemba noted that floor crossing takes place where members of parliament abandon their political parties and cross to the ruling party (see Chapter One);
Patronage systems are reported to be present and are used as a campaigning tool
(Kabemba, 2004). Zambia is reported to have weak opposition parties that fail to serve as a check and balance against government.
In Ghana, civic education happens informally in the social movement struggles where the majority learn the ways of challenging local and global power through incidental learning (Foley, 1999; Langdon, 2011). Learning is a participatory process in Ghana and it uses collective replications of activist educators that are embedded in different movements where participants share their knowledge and their connection with the rest of the members (Langdon, 2011). However, Gyimah-Boadi (2013) pronounces that the National Commission for Civic Education commission (NCCE) in Ghana faces challenges of shortages of resources to undertake their massive obligation. This author opines that the commission lacks a clear strategic focus on issues of policy direction, curriculum development and coordination matters. He suggests that the commission needs to review their strategy and aim for an inclusive civic education programme that can incorporate the religious bodies, education institutions, state and non-state actors in the development of policy, content and delivery (Ibid). In the meantime the gender Afrobarometer survey indicates that women in Ghana are lagging behind men in voting for their leaders (Amoateng, Heaton, & Kalule- Sabiti, 2014).
In Namibia, the Namibian Institute for Democracy (NID) takes the lead in providing civic education and training programmes, which are based on the multiparty democracy
principles enshrined in the Namibian constitution. Civic education is done in two ways: First, national mass media information programmes consult and involve traditional and
community leaders to produce materials using different indigenous languages. These materials are distributed through partnerships with civil society groups, government agencies and other interest groups. The programme is also broadcasts nationally on the radio and television. Secondly, personal contact programmes are provided that use the indigenous languages that are spoken in Namibia. The content covered includes good governance, human rights, labour issues, gender, and government and voter education. In
48 the final example of Kenya, there was a rethinking of citizenship education where the
concept of citizenship was newly formulated, shifting from its Western influence to incorporate the political cultural setting of Kenya (Wainaina, Arnot, & Chege, 2011). The concept even changed their provision of formal education in secondary schools.
These examples from different countries indicate that there are initiatives that endeavour to address the gaps in understanding where voter education is oftentimes provided as civic education; and elections not linked to governance, following the transition to modern democracies. Some countries indicate that there are active civil societies endeavouring to educate their populace in context sensitive frameworks such as in Kenya, where citizenship education has shifted to fit their cultural context.
However, in SADC countries the media is mostly owned by government and the privately owned media lack funding or are poorly funded and thus less able to act as a check and balance on political elites and on abuses of power, or they favour a governing party (Hughes, 2006).
Returning to the context of Lesotho, much has happened since the erosion of traditional leadership via colonialism, military rule, and democratic governance, which has resulted in multiple challenges as reflected in Chapter One. Concepts of democracy, citizenship, human rights and the election of leaders are discourses that do not appear to be understood by many people in Lesotho, and prior to this study it was not known to what extent or in what way, because no detailed study appears to have been conducted.