South Africa, model of democracy in Africa — Otubanjo

Prof. Femi Otubanjo, an international relations expert, on Tuesday said South Africa was a model of democracy in Africa.

Otubanjo, a Research Professor at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA), said this in an interview with the newsmen in Lagos.

He was speaking on his expectations for South Africa’s elections coming up on Wednesday, May 29.

Supreme News reports that the election of a fresh National Assembly and provincial legislatures will be South Africa’s seventh since the end of apartheid in 1994.

People who have been elected as President by the assembly over the years include, Nelson Mandela (1994-1999), Thabo Mbeki (1999-2008), Kgalema Motlanthe (2008-2009, following Mbeki’s resignation in 2008), Jacob Zuma (2009-2018) and Cyril Ramaphosa (2018-present).

According to Otubanjo, South Africa’s elections have always proven to be peaceful and credible with no major noise about rigging or manipulation.

On his part, the country inherited a developed democracy.

He said: “In spite of their obnoxious apartheid woes, they were operating a democracy.

“The institutions of democracy were already present before the black majority took over and as far as we know, those traditions and values of democracy have been largely maintained in South Africa.”

Meanwhile, he described the disqualification of former President Jacob Zuma from running for parliament as an evidence that the system was working and bigger than the individual, and not the other way round.

“South Africa’s Constitutional Court recently ruled that Zuma’s 15-month jail sentence for contempt of court in 2021 disqualified him from standing in the election.

“That is part of the good things about South Africa. It was the court’s decision that this man, on the basis of his past judicial records is not qualified,” Otubanjo noted.

Meanwhile, NAN reports that South Africans living in Lagos cast their votes on May 18 at the Consulate, in Ikoyi.