From hope to crisis: Senegal’s victory and Togo’s setback:
A few hours after Senegal’s president-elect Bassirou Diomaye Faye won the hotly contested elections, which had seemed impossible due to outgoing President Macky Sall’s attempt to tamper with the constitution and defer elections to November, a sense of relief swept through Senegal and the region.
The elections brought a sigh of relief to a region struggling with a decline in democracy, marked by excessive executive power and a rise in popular coups. His victory comes at a crucial moment and is seen as an opportunity to strengthen democracy, not only in Senegal, but in the whole of West Africa.
It is hoped that Senegal will once again be one of Africa’s, and West Africa’s, poster children for democracy, as the region has witnessed democratic backsliding over the past few years. This regression has been characterised by pervasive corruption, authoritarian regimes, press restrictions, human rights abuses, discrimination against minorities and economic downturns, eroding public trust.
However, less than 48 hours after people across the continent celebrated Senegal’s win for democracy, Togo re-emerged as a West African nightmare. Reports indicate that the president and members of his ruling party unanimously approved changes to the constitution, eliminating direct universal suffrage for the presidency. Instead, the president will be elected by parliament for a six-year term, without any debate, effectively depriving Togolese citizens of their right to choose their leader.
This move directly violates the African Union’s Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance, which prohibits any amendments or revisions to constitutions which undermine democratic principles.
This constitutional manoeuvre in Togo follows a similar one in May 2019, which allowed the current president, Faure Gnassingbe, to seek re-election and potentially extend his stay in office until 2030. This action sparked massive protests in 2017 and 2018, tarnishing Togo’s democratic image. It further stains Togo’s history, as it was the first country in West Africa to experience a military coup, in 1963.
After these troubling developments, what do the people of Togo think about democracy? According to the latest Afrobarometer data (2021-2023), 68% of Togolese prefer democracy over any other alternative but 64% expressed dissatisfaction with how democracy functions in their country.
Moreover, 82% reject one-party rule, 53% reject military rule, 78% reject autocratic rule and 82% advocate for limits on presidential terms. In addition, 52% believe that Togo is not a democracy or is a democracy with significant problems.
Respecting the views of the Togolese people on democracy and aligning with their vision of an ideal democratic country would restore confidence in democratic governance. It is imperative to develop mechanisms to curb parliamentary actions that deny citizens the right to choose their leaders, especially in a country where 74% of citizens support elections as the only method for leadership selection.
Togo’s ongoing constitutional crisis requires decisive action from the Economic Community of West African States and the African Union, considering the potential implications for the security and stability of the already fragile region.
While the region and the continent are in the grip of euphoria over Senegal’s successful elections, all eyes should be on Togo. The events unfolding in that country should not be overlooked, as there is a risk of contagion if the democratic crisis is not swiftly condemned and addressed.
Nyasha Mpani is the project leader for the Data for Governance Alliance Project at the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation, in Cape Town.
M&G IDS Africa corrective write-up:
Right-of-Reply
IDS Africa was established in early 2018 as a prominent player in the power generation and construction sector of South Africa. The boiler maintenance and service market has traditionally been controlled by three major companies.
IDS Africa set out to become the first-ever black-owned, black-women-owned, and black-youth-owned mechanical construction and engineering firm, hoping to fill a market void where the large-scale boiler industry catered primarily to male-dominated, untransformed service providers. This approach aimed to disrupt the industry and usher in a new era in which local role players could contribute to the country’s most crucial energy sector by utilizing their technological and engineering skills.
Under the leadership of Nomvula Mabuza, IDS Africa achieved notable success in completing the Medupi Maintenance Contract, which spanned from 2019 to early 2022. Despite the company’s strong track record in welding, boasting a world-class welding repair rate of less than 1%, it was unable to avoid public and media scrutiny.
The M&G, relentlessly reported false, disparaging, and damaging allegations, which were replicated in other media publications and had a detrimental impact on the company’s overall credibility, leading to the collapse of IDS Africa’s bidding partnership with GE, who were responsible for 30% of the Eskom Boiler Fleet. IDS Africa and GE had partnered to provide maintenance and outage services for pressure parts and high-pressure pipework in Eskom Power Stations, with the goal of introducing technological advancements to enhance boiler maintenance services. However, the allegations ultimately cost IDS Africa participation in the national boiler maintenance contract.
Despite being cleared of any wrongdoing by investigation bodies and passing all bid phases, IDS Africa was ultimately unsuccessful in their bid when strategic partner GE withdrew due to the damaging and prolonged negative media coverage the bidding parties received, despite several clarifications made to reporters. As a result of M&G’s poor investigation and misleading stories, Nomvula and IDS Africa were wrongly stigmatised as untrustworthy service providers in South Africa.
The IDS Africa team was recognised and highly commended for its work on Medupi, which it proudly completed with a 100% local worker complement for three years. The company continues to press ahead by engaging new markets inside South Africa and the rest of the continent, as well as providing leading processes and technologies to contribute to the continent’s energy security.
ANC loses MK registration fight, hopes to win logo battle:
The ANC lost its court battle to keep the uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party off the ballot this week, but still hopes to stop it from using the name and logo of its former military wing going into the 29??May elections.
On Wednesday the ANC asked the Durban high court to assert its ownership rights over the logo used by the MK party since it was registered last year, saying that the Electoral Act allowed a party to do so.
The ANC did so the day after the electoral court rejected its bid to have the registration of the MK party with the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) declared unlawful, telling the ruling party it was its “own fault” that it had missed the deadline to do so.
Thousands of supporters of both parties turned out for the court hearing on Wednesday, at which MK party leader Jacob Zuma and ANC secretary general Fikile Mbalula were present. Both addressed their supporters at the conclusion of the day’s court hearing.
In his oral argument, ANC counsel Gavin Marriott argued that the MK party was guilty of both abuse of the ruling party’s rights over the uMkhonto trademark and of “passing off” by telling the voter that there is an “association with the ANC”.
The MK party was “riding on the ANC’s coattails” by using the logo, which it had chosen with the intention of “confusing” voters ahead of the 29 May elections.
This “confusion and deception” would arise, and had already arisen, “long before they get to the ballot box” through the use of the ANC’s trademark and in speeches made by MK party leaders.
The MK party logo had adopted a logo that was “confusingly similar” and “almost identical” to that of the ANC’s former military wing “for a reason”, which was to capitalise on the “goodwill” attached to the governing party.
“Of all the logos they could have used, they adopted one which is identical to that of the MK warrior. They are trying to draw the link. There is no other reason to have done that,” Marriott said.
He said the ANC had done the “heavy lifting” in the building of the MK brand, which was “clearly well known” and had generated goodwill since the days of the anti-apartheid struggle.
“What [the] MK [party] seeks to do is ride on the coattails of the ANC’s heritage and ride it all the way into parliament,” he said. “They don’t have their own history and legacy and they are riding on the coattails of the ANC’s history and legacy to achieve the same advantage as the ANC.”
The confusion on the part of voters would not only happen at the ballot box, but “it is part of the process that is happening right now”, Marriott said.
“That is part of the entire strategy of the MK, to make sure that they claim to be one of the rooms of the ANC … part of the same uMkhonto.”
He told the court that it had the power to hear the case as issues of trademark had not been dealt with by the electoral court.
Turning to remedy, the law allowed a party to change its name, logo or abbreviated name after registration with the IEC, he said.
In his oral argument, the MK party’s counsel, Dali Mpofu, said the high court did not have jurisdiction to hear the matter and the ANC should instead have appealed the 24??November ruling by the electoral commission in favour of the MK party or taken it on review.
He said the ANC was not the sole proprietor of the MK name and logo, because these were registered in the name of the MK Legacy Project.
Mpofu said the assignment of rights from the MK Legacy Project to the ANC on 23 September last year did not give the ANC standing to bring the trademark application because it was not the registered sole proprietor of the trademark.
Further, the alleged abuses of the trademark took place before the agreement between the ANC and the MK Legacy Project, and any private agreement between the two did not apply to a third party such as the MK party.
Mpofu said the “real trigger” for the ANC’s decision to go to court was the announcement by Zuma on 16??December last year that he was endorsing the MK party at the polls.
Mpofu said the ANC had the “ulterior” purpose of trying to “circumvent the political rights of the MK party and its fortunes in the elections” by approaching the court.
“This is patently clear,” Mpofu said. “Nobody has suggested otherwise.”
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