Commentary: The New Partnership for Africa's Development and the Zimbabwe Elections: Implications and Prospects for the Future

Abstract

Controversy surrounding the presidential elections in Zimbabwe, and the manner in which this matter has been handled by African heads of state, has cast serious doubts on the Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD). THE NEW PARTNERSHIP FOR AFRICA'S DEVELOPMENT (NEPAD) was launched in October 2001 as a blueprint for Africa's regeneration. Its limited approach to interrogating the global political economy has already been commented upon elsewhere.' This commentary, however, rather concentrates on holding NEPAD's commitment to democracy and peace signed by African elites themselves to account. It contrasts the actual concrete action that various African elites have pursued (or not pursued) in the aftermath of the Zimbabwe presidential election with the rhetoric they have been advancing in recent months. The NEPAD document itself asserts that 'African peoples have begun to demonstrate their refusal to accept poor economic and political leadership. These developments are, however, uneven and inadequate and need to be further expedited.'2 There is, so the document claims, 'a new resolve to deal with conflicts and censure deviation from the [democratic] norm'.3 This springs from the view that 'development is impossible in the absence of true democracy, respect for human rights, peace and good governance'.4 The NEPAD shows, the document claims, that 'Africa undertakes to respect the global standards of democracy, which core components include political pluralism, allowing for Ian Taylor teaches international relations at the University of Botswana and is also visiting research fellow at the University of Stellenbosch, South Africa. 1. Ian Taylor and Philip Nel, 'Getting the rhetoric right, getting the strategy wrong: New Africa, globalisation and the confines of elite reformism', Third World Quarterly 23, 1 (February 2002), pp. 163-180. For an assessment of the NEPAD initiation see above, pp. 387-402, Kempe Ronald Hope, Sr, 'From crisis to renewal: towards a successful implementation of the new partnership for Africa's development'. 2. The Economic Partnership for Africa's Development, October 2001, p. 2. 3. Ibid., p. 10. 4. Ibid., p. 17.