152
• Democracy as modernisation and new technology
• Erosion of traditional cultural values
• Children’s behaviour
• Exercising rights
• Gender equality
• Democracy as inadequately taught and misinterpreted
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
Critical thinking about democracy √
From the above summary table, respondents in both the rural and urban contexts
demonstrate an understanding of traditional democracy as it is practiced and is not being practiced. Only respondents in Maseru show an understanding of the transitional phase to modern democracy. All respondents show an understanding of modern democracy, with democracy as representation and democracy as freedom. Respondents in Maseru show their appreciation of these aspects and about democracy as growth and development. With regard to tensions that are associated with democracy, all respondents provide evidence of these. Maseru respondents, however, particularly the IEC educators, demonstrate
additional critical thinking about how democracy should be practiced, which is not the case from Qacha’s Nek respondents. The following discussion compares the findings and
discusses these in terms of relevant literature and the conceptual framework that is outlined in Chapter Three.
153 attributed to the former UK prime minster, Sir Winston Churchill that “democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others” (Langworth 2009).
On the other hand, this position was not universally held. For instance, chiefs who succeeded after Moshoeshoe died tended to impose ideas (copying the experiences of colonialism) rather than consult and they were held responsible for manipulating the new democratic regime as politicians. Below is the table for conceptual framework for
democracy, originally developed in Chapter Three, that is used as a conceptual lens for this discussion.
Table 5: Conceptual Framework for Democracy
DEMOCRACY Emphases/aspects of democracy
Value (Blatter, 2008;
Cawthra et al., 2007;
Hazoume, 1999; Khaketla, 1971; Machobane, 2001;
Makoa, 2014; Pacho, 2013)
Social process (Blatter, 2008; Cawthra et al., 2007;
Jarvis, 2008; Kabemba, 2003; Kelly, 1995; Khembo, 2004; Lindberg, 2006)
Political practice (Blatter, 2008; Bohman, 1996;
Cawthra et al., 2007; Held, 2006; Kelly, 1995; Matlosa, 2008; Pacho, 2013) Examples of
democracy theories
Communitarian democracy Liberal democracy and electoral
Republicanism and deliberative Participation Collective and voluntary in
family, church etc
Rights and freedoms of citizens; stresses individuality
Political and direct
decisions and in civil society organisations
Citizen responsibility Limited responsibilities by citizens, good and interconnected as a society/community
Limited responsiveness by citizens, emphasises citizens legal rights and obligations under framework of law
Full responsibility by citizens
Republicans put state first Citizen roles Obey and respect laws,
leaders; act collectively
Elect representatives to look after their interests
Actively participate in policymaking decisions Institutions Family, church, khotla,
public gathering
Executive government, legislature/parliament, judiciary
Political/public assembly
The respondents’ understandings are mostly informed by historical events that took place in the past and by what later transpired as a result thereof. It is apparent that the post-colonial phase has resulted in a number of changes in the way society operates, including the change
154 of governance and the consequent loss of cultural values. The respondents talked about their understanding of traditional democracy. Gill (1993), Pule and Thabane (2002), Waghid (2014), Ngozwana (2014) and Khaketla (1971) point out that during chiefdom rule in
Lesotho, decisions were communicated downward from the government to the people, and upward from the people to the government. Democracy was practiced in public gatherings by both leaders and followers when discussing issues that affected their lives. This practice fits well with the communitarian theory of democracy, where citizens collectively and voluntarily participate in decisions affecting their lives, as shown in the conceptual
framework above. This suggests that civic education is needed to bridge the gap between traditional and modern practices by shaping such practices through broader, more inclusive and hybrid understandings.
However, the respondents also revealed that chiefs who succeeded the Basotho founder, Chief Moshoeshoe I, refrained from involving the citizens in the process of decision making.
As a consequence, their understanding of traditional democracy was that democracy was no longer being practiced. This is because they saw chiefs imposing their own ideas over
people, thus contradicting a communitarian democratic practice, which is outlined in
Chapter Three according to Blatter (2008) and Pacho (2013). The transitional phase from the traditional to the modern understanding of democracy was mentioned by respondents in the urban Maseru District. In this phase, they believe, a few political elites negotiated for power and self-governance from the colonists and thereafter Lesotho was granted independence. The respondents in Maseru seemed to be more critical about Lesotho’s historical events, perhaps because of their higher level of education and their exposure to different sources of information such as libraries and mass media, compared to respondents in Qacha’s Nek, who did not mention the transitional phase.
Basotho have traditionally lived under a communitarian way of life where people are connected with one another. The introduction of democracy was not a homegrown
initiative emerging from a popular struggle, but could be attributed to the imposition of the results of negotiations between political elites and colonialists before Lesotho achieved her independence. The prevailing tide of democracy is, thus, seen as an invasion of that
communitarian way of living, and which has brought such confusion and misinformation to citizens, in their interpretation of their rights and obligations under the framework of laws.
155 This is aligned to how the introduction of democracy was articulated by some politicians and other citizens.
The respondents expressed their understanding of modern democracy as representation and freedom. This is how respondents elaborated on their political rights of electing leaders to represent them and look after their interests, as tabulated in the democracy conceptual framework under the notion of citizen roles and democracy as a social process.
Furthermore, democracy as freedom was illustrated by respondents as how citizens
exercised their freedom of speech and freedom of participation without restriction in a non- threatening environment by joining political parties and associations of their choice. This is also reflected in the table under democracy as a social process.
The findings identified a theme of democracy as representation, which the respondents demonstrated as their understanding of Lesotho’s electoral type of democracy, which is considered to be a minimal form of democracy. In this type of democracy, there is limited responsibility by citizens, whose roles are focused on respect for laws, loyalty to leaders and good behaviour. Therefore, the interview responses supported the liberal form of
democracy, as described in the literature (Cawthra et al., 2007; Kabemba, 2003; Khembo, 2004). Table 5 once more reflects this form of democracy as a social process rather than, for instance, as a political practice.
Maseru District respondents, additionally, showed their appreciation of democracy as growth and development, while this was not mentioned in Qacha’s Nek District.
Respondents in the urban context saw democracy to have brought liberation and
development to citizens in terms of the freedom and equality which they enjoy. Clearly, the difference in the responses between Maseru and Qacha’s Nek District implies that there is a need for tailor made civic education programmes for adults who reside in rural and urban contexts, which would start at the level of where citizens are and what they know in their understanding. This also shows that democracy has to incorporate the cultural context of people, particularly those who live in the rural areas like Qacha’s Nek, where they still rely on a traditional way of life.
It was found that democracy, in practice, was understood to have brought several tensions to the country. The respondents used the illustration of the abuse of governance, where
156 leaders seemed to be personalizing offices and thereby providing services only to those with patronage networks with them, instead of addressing the interests of all people. This is supported by Matlosa (2008) and Makoa (2014), who describe Lesotho politics in terms of the personal interests of politicians who focus on developing themselves into political parties, thus perpetuating corruption. These findings also support the view expressed by Abdi (2008) and Shizha and Abdi (2013), that citizens do not have much say in either the government structure or the economic interactions that mostly determine their lives, which amounts to the abuse of governance. This is attributed to the way adult citizens were socialized into an authoritarian post-colonial system that oppressed them. The above finding indicates that democracy is manipulated to the advantage of the political leaders.
The practice outlined in the above findings, where there is a contradiction between theory and practice in which people do not freely elect their members, but abide by the pre- elected list of members identified as a ‘skeleton list’ contradicts the theories of liberal and electoral democracy because citizens do not freely elect their representatives (Blatter, 2008;
Lindberg, 2006). Even those elected representatives do not look after the interests of citizens (Jarvis, 2008). Citizens, too, do not engage those representatives by participating in policy and decision making, both of which are elements of electoral democracy that is practiced in Lesotho. These responses illustrate that the potential values of a modern form of liberal democracy are neither well practiced nor well understood.
The findings reflect several tensions that were brought about by democracy, including its association with modernisation and new information technology. This was also associated with further tensions where democracy was blamed for the erosion of traditional cultural values. This blame was shown by the respondents to illustrate how democracy has given individuals freedom to exercise their choice under the findings that stipulated children’s behaviour, the exercising of rights and gender equality. Lesotho is still in transition from a patriarchal society to the present democratic one where men and women are equal under the law and therefore can equally exercise their rights and freedoms. Gender and children’s rights were introduced two years after the first democratic elections in 1993, which took place after the 1995 Beijing Women’s Conference. The conference promoted the
advancement of women’s empowerment. It has been found that in Lesotho, gender equality is a challenge as far as culture is there because it was not contextualised for citizens to grasp
157 and understand it well. This information coincided with the advent of democracy in Lesotho and has contributed to catapulting elements of democratic rights into the traditional arena with little time for changes to evolve organically. The status of women changed rapidly from being minors and the property of men (according to customary law) to becoming decision makers who could access power and economic independence. The findings confirmed what the literature suggests in terms of equal treatment of both men and women, in particular when exercising their political rights (Cawthra et al., 2007; Kelly, 1995; Lindberg, 2006).
Children, too, behave differently from children of the past, as a result of democracy that brought new information and technology, and have become more critical. The findings revealed that democracy is blamed for according children rights and freedoms to exercise their choices. This implies that the need for civic education that can enable discussions where adults can learn about the importance of critical mindedness in children in a modern democratic society.
The findings also revealed that respondents understand that democracy has been inadequately taught and misinterpreted. This has been shown in the data where citizens stated that they are misinformed by politicians, who then take advantage of their passive behaviour of being good citizens who are loyal to their leaders (Maathai, 2009). This is exacerbated by the type of civic education that is provided in Lesotho (see Chapter Two and Seven). Lastly, the respondents in urban Maseru showed critical thinking about democracy, which was not raised among Qacha’s Nek respondents. In Maseru they went further with recommendations on how parliament could function and how civic education could be provided. The fact of their being critical on issues affecting them may be attributed either to their level of knowledge, or because of situated learning, where activities take place in infrastructures based in Maseru like parliament, where they actually see what happens and therefore learn differently about democracy, compared with other respondents in the rural context. Another factor may be as a result of their expert knowledge as civic educators who work for the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) and who are lawfully mandated to provide civic education in Lesotho. It has been noted that respondents in the urban context illustrated a more positive view about democracy in terms of it bringing development, redress and inclusiveness, where values such as freedom and equality for both males and females are now practiced. The exercising of rights, especially in relation to children and
158 gender, liberated both women and children from the historical and customary tradition of oppression and patriarchy, where the former were regarded as minors who were
dependent on males for various issues: social, economic, cultural and politically. In contrast, respondents in the rural areas more consistently spoke about democracy in a negative way, where it was seen to have destroyed traditional and cultural values. Values of equality, freedom and rights challenged traditional inequalities. The notion that all individuals have equal rights appeared threatening and disrespectful of social cohesion.