Lesson in democracy

Lusaka, Zambia, used to be the spiritual home of many of those who strove for liberation in Southern Africa during the 1960s right through to the late 1980s.

It was there that many of the region's exiled liberation movements, including the ANC, sought refuge as they plotted new strategies for ousting their colonial rulers.

Activists and the population in general - in countries such as Angola, Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Namibia - would look to Lusaka for leadership as they waged their struggles for freedom.

Kenneth "KK" Kaunda - who ran the landlocked copper-producing country for the first 27 years of its independence - might not have been a paragon of presidential virtue but he is second only to Nelson Mandela in terms of popularity among Southern Africa's citizens.

In almost all of the region's countries, one is bound to find a street, a building or an entire neighbourhood named after Lusaka or Zambia or even Kaunda.

I reckon it is time, once again, to look up to Zambia for inspiration and for important lessons on democracy.

Though Zambia has been an independent republic since 1964 it is almost as young as South Africa in democracy having become a multi-party state only in 1991.

This past week, the political party that played a major role in bringing about that multiparty democracy was peacefully voted out of office after 20 years in power.

The grace with which the incumbent, Rupiah Banda, accepted defeat should serve as a lesson for Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe and other regional leaders who would plunge their countries into turmoil rather than respect the will of the people.

Banda could have easily gone the route taken by Mwai Kibaki - the Kenyan president who refused to step down after losing at the polls in 2007 - but didn't.

Kibaki's refusal to hand over power to Raila Odinga's Orange Democratic Movement sparked off post-election violence and eventually forced the parties to form a coalition government with Kibaki as president and Odinga as prime minister.

Mugabe was to follow suit in 2008 after losing the presidential election to Morgan Tsvangirai. Zimbabwe, too, is now run by a government of national unity.

Instead of taking this route, the 74-year-old Banda accepted defeat.

"The people of Zambia have spoken and we must listen to them ... We never rigged, we never cheated, we never knowingly abused state funds. We simply did what we thought was best for Zambia," said Banda as he conceded defeat to opposition leader Michael "King Cobra" Sata.

Kaunda did the same in 1991, peacefully handing over power after being trounced by Frederick Chiluba's Movement for Multiparty Democracy at the polls.

Though almost all members of the Southern African Development Community hold regular multiparty elections, only time will tell how many of the current ruling parties would be willing to hand over power if they lost.

The Zambian elections also hold an important lesson for South Africa - especially for the ruling ANC.

The Movement for Multiparty Democracy was a popular political party when it came to power in 1991. Very few would have imagined that, just 20 years later, it would have become so unpopular that the electorate would boot it out.

But years of endemic corruption and the MDD government's failure to ensure that the benefits of economic growth - attributable to rising international copper prices and increased Chinese investment - were spread widely led to Banda's demise.

Voters were simply tired of his soft approach to the fight against corruption.

They were not happy that his government refused to appeal against Chiluba's acquittal on charges of embezzlement, and then fired anti-corruption boss Max Nkole, who tried to lodge an appeal.

There are obviously many differences between South Africa and Zambia and it would be folly to assume that what happens over there is certain to be done over here.

But, in both countries, corruption and rising poverty feature very highly as concerns of ordinary citizens.

In Zambia, this has cost the ruling party its hold on power.

What happened in Lusaka, and the rest of Zambia, last week should be a wake-up call for Pretoria.