SURNAME: NAMES: REG NUMBER

SOUTA TADIWANASHE DELIVERANCE R201721Q

ZHANDIRE CHARMAINE R203659H
GARWI STEADLIFE TINASHE R203055E
KATUKA WESLEY R203734C
MUNYIKA EUNAH R201149M
MAGIRA SHARLOM TANAKA R205522V
CHAULA NENYASHA R205703A
MAVINDIDZE DESIDERATE R203269T
MAUNGANIDZE SANDRA R1918242X
MAGWIZI D ABDICATE R2010292Y

PROGRAMME: BACHELOR OF ARTS IN DEVELOPMENT STUDIES

CODE AND MODULE : DSH 144 GOVERNANCE AND DEVELOPMENT

MODE OF ENTRY: CONVECTIONAL

NAME OF LECTURER: MR CHIBANDA

LEVEL: 1 SEMESTER: 2
Discuss why Liberation war parties are facing problems in promoting sustaining
development.

Liberation war is fought to gain independence for a country or to free it from oppression.
Examples of Liberation war parties include ZANU-PF in Zimbabwe , SWAPO in Namibia ,
FRELIMO in Mozambique , ANC in South Africa to mention but a few. Liberation war
parties are facing problems in promoting sustainable development because of a number of
reasons. Some of the reasons include the politics of entitlement an anti-democratic approach
of governance, adoption of weak foreign policies or weak methods of governance, politics of
exclusion, lack of popular and international support, infringement of human rights, lack of
transparency and accountability, poor service provision, high corruption rates, weak
leadership, civil instability and poor cohesion to mention but a few. It should be noted that
the combination of these problems lead to a chain of consequential results that in turn retards
sustainable development. Therefore, it is the purpose of this essay to show the reasons
liberation war parties are facing problems in promoting sustaining development.

To start with, lack of transparency and accountability is the reason liberation war parties are
facing problems in promoting sustaining development. Africa is dominated by liberation war
parties for instance ZANU PF and ANC, these parties they feel like they are entitled to the
state power segment because they are the ones that see themselves as saviours so because of
that they feel that divine right to accumulate either wealth or power. Therefore, the issues of
transparency and accountability are very compromised which why we see that US $ 15
billion went missing without trace in Zimbabwe that is totally an indication of the lack of
transparency and no one was accountable for it. At its highest level US $ 15 is an amount that
was able to take Zimbabwe far, for instance that money could have been used to clear the
debt that Zimbabwe owe and was able to be used to promote sustainable development.
Therefore, lack of transparency and accountability is the reason liberation war parties are
facing problems in promoting sustaining development.

In addition, violation of human rights is the reason problem Liberation war parties are facing
problems in promoting sustaining development. The issue of human rights has also become
controversial particularly the issue of homosexuality being included as a human right. In
countries like Zimbabwe, Zambia and Nigeria traditions and cultures do not recognise
homosexuality. In addition, the bad governance in the form of conservative dictatorship.
They crave for power leads to human rights infringement, elimination of opponents be it
through toucher, assassination among other ways that violate human rights. Violation of
human can be seen in South Africa through the xenophobic attacks which are believed to be
state propelled. This instills fear in the citizen and resulting in withdrawal of support and
sabotage of policies. This lead to International walls of sanctions which are erected be it
economic, social or political which further worsens the situation in sustaining development.
Thus, the violation of human rights cause a chain of problems resulting in liberation war
parties failing to promote sustainable development.

More so, Liberation war parties are facing problems in sustaining development because of
corruption. Corruption is a pathological phenomenon, systematic operation in which the
ruling class puts personal interest above political community (Kregar, (1997). It is one of the
major obstacles to sustainable economic growth and development because corruption is the
order of the day such regimes are often described to be kleptocratic for example in Zimbabwe
the looting of state resource is rampant especially in public sector . According to the
Corruption Perception Index (CPI) Zimbabwe is ranked number 51 of all of the most corrupt
states world-wide .According to Nduku (2014) corruption affects the proper running of
governments ,distorts the correct functioning of economic and political institutions and
hampers transparency and exploits the human person for selfish interests .In DRC the current
government has failed to control the management of mineral resources and as a result
economic development will remain a pipe-dream . In South Africa the former ANC president
Jacob Zuma is facing charges for corruption. Corruption thereby is a reason liberation parties
face problems in promoting sustaining development as resources that are supposed to be used
for development are used for private gain. Corruption exists in other parts of the world but it
seems to have serious roots and operation in Liberation countries therefore denies its
optimum opportunity for economy growth and development.

Moreover, Liberation war parties face problems in sustaining development because of weak
leadership. Leadership in Liberation war parties is characterized by personalised and selfish
tendencies. As Afegbua and Adejuwon (2012) noted, leadership is one of the most observed
and least understood phenomena on earth and has been said to be major bane in Liberation
war parties. For example, in Zimbabwe late president Robert Mugabe ruled for 37 years when
his ambition to become life president was cut short by his death. FRELIMO in Mozambique
has also been in power for 42 years and SWAPO in Namibia for 28 years . This clearly shows
that leaders are only interested in ruling and not to develop. Liberation countries like DRC,
Zambia, Mozambique their leaders campaign amongst people with high hope of intentions
and planned programmes for the progress of the society but soon after their election into
positions of authority they resort completely to their own agenda while abandoning those
interest of the people and society. Some focus on acquisition of wealth and personal political
advancement rather than any issue of economic and social development. This kind of stance
in leadership positions undermines the promotion of sustaining development in Liberation
war countries.

Apart from the above, armed struggle and guerrilla warfare is a reason Liberation war parties
face problems in sustaining development. The struggle of political power, control of
economic assets or output of economic resource has always led to armed struggle and various
kinds warfare which seriously undermined economic growth and development. War
nationalism had negatively impacted Liberation war parties over the years. In the milieu of
armed struggles are found such outcomes as the destruction of lives, properties, economic
assets and the palpable loss of investment opportunities. Countries like Kenya, Zimbabwe
and Nigeria have experienced one form of armed struggle and guerrilla warfare which did no
good to the countries in the economic and social sphere hence development cannot take
place.

More so, Liberation war parties face problems in sustaining development because of political
instability. Political instability has become a serious problem especially for the Liberation
war parties, the biggest block to development is military conflicts as this causes investment to
dry up and resources to be wasted in unproductive means hence the level of development will
be reduced as well Pettinger (2019).This shows that political instability affect development as
there are internal conflicts like civil wars and ethnic violence which divert government
spending to the military away from development. The problem of political instability
generates more serious for society which is ethnic, having people of diverse cultural
attributes. Countries like Zimbabwe usually lose the ability to develop constructive
relationships within their societies and often suffer from a weak ability to undertake
governance functions Shonchoy and Tsubota (2014). When the political parties of a country
take very hostile positions towards each other then political instability grows in the country
and it hampers the desired economic development of the country. Thus, political instability is
the reason liberation war parties are facing problems in promoting sustaining development.
Nevertheless, cronyism and nepotism is a reason Liberation war parties are facing problems
in sustaining development. The idea of cronyism and nepotism well exist within the
Liberation societies and they have been hampering economic efforts of the various countries
within the continent. The participation and electoral victory in many Liberation societies are
often seen as opportunity not to serve the people but to serve the interest of the winners and
their cronies. Soon after elections in most Liberation countries some cronies, friends, party
members to mention but a few are appointed into positions of governance even though they
lack requisite knowledge and experience to function in such capacity. For example, in
Nigeria decision making is dominated by the Southern. When this is the case there is no
boldness and prowess to confront or challenge poor performance as a result of affinity held
with such political appointees. This scenario hampers articulated economic progress and
development.

In addition, lack of policy implementation by the government is a problem faced by

Liberation war parties in promoting sustaining development. There is no doubt that
Liberation countries has severe challenges in implementing policies and programmes aimed
at sustainable development such as its inability to ensure participation and poor policy change
management Ajulor (2015) .Policy implementation is the process of changing a formulated
policy into reality. One of the challenges facing policy implementation is when the
implementers know what is to be done but choose to selfishly do nothing or mis-use the
resources allocated for implementation. Currently countries such as Zimbabwe and Zambia
experienced lack of policy implementation. In the Nigerian experience, Makinde (2005)
argued that they ignore the inputs of the target population when developing policies and
legislation has created a continuous implementation gap, stemming from government lack of
understanding to the people’s needs, and enforced by inadequacy of such legislation in
communities where they are applied. Implementation of policy fail because attributed to the
neglect of the rural areas and comprehensive policy design and planning without proper
management or policies imposed by the government without considering whether it meets the
need of the people or not hence threatening the sustaining development of the Liberation war
parties countries.

Moreover, the violation of democratic principles can also contribute as reason liberation war
parties face problems in sustaining development. If a country is undemocratic it lowers away
the investors’ confidence. Investment in economic and commercial ventures, industries for
manufacturing, infrastructural development and projects that would create jobs for the many
African young people who continue to be caught in the recruited armed groups for example
in the Central African Republic the Seleka and the Anti-Balaka are dominated by the youth
who do not have a source of income. With no real investment in the above mentioned country
including good academic sectorial development, the Liberation societies are ideally ran down
in such a measure that impedes proper economic development as well unleashes economic
hardship on the people. They are the cases of various governmental failures to make
reasonable economic investment but instead spend hugely on projects which have on bearing
or linkage with economic revitalization and well-being of the society. Such projects
eventually just serve the personal interest of leaders thereby hindering development in
Liberation countries.

Furthermore, economic sabotage by those in power is a problem that is faced by Liberation

war parties in promoting sustaining development. It is surprising that despite Africa`s huge
resource it is apparently continues to be underdeveloped. A good example is DRC is one of
the richest country in the world in terms of minerals but the country and its people are still
poor because the wealth is not distributed equally in the society 98% of the wealth is enjoyed
by those in power and only 2% is enjoyed by the population. The acts of economic sabotage
reflect in various forms such as evasion of tax or non-payment of taxes, over invoicing to
mention but a few. There is also the case of terrorism which not only scares away the much
needed investors in Liberation countries but also leads to destruction of lives and properties.
All individual and groups actions that undermine government economic policies or revenue
generation constitute economic sabotage and such situations currently exists in many
Liberation countries thereby impending on Africans states advancement towards enhanced
economic development.

More so, low literacy level in the economic sector is a problem that is faced by Liberation
war parties in promoting sustaining development. There seems to be lack of proper
understanding of economic issues and approaches to undertake for real development of
various national economies and the continental economy in Liberation countries. Although
many Liberation countries parade outstanding human resources in various fields including in
the economic sectors, there seem to exist a lack of action path for economic growth and
development. This scenario is either the case or it would be that the available known path for
economic development is deliberately not followed. Liberation with huge resources have
remained unable to adequately advance their development for example in Zimbabwe and
DRC. Therefore, this becomes a problematic in promoting sustaining development.
Apart from the above, Liberation war parties face problems in promoting sustaining
development because of bureaucratic delays. There exists a lot of bureaucracy in governance
in some of the Liberation countries like Zimbabwe and this affects the ease of doing business
as well as the output or implementation of government policies which in tune negatively
affects the operation of the economy towards growth and development. The principle of
checks and balance remains an abstract idea which left to treat their nations as their own
property. This further weakened bureaucratic institutions for proper accountability. A
palpable example of bureaucratic delays is the kind of frustrations faced by foreign direct
investors seeking to establish businesses in Liberation war parties countries where they had to
wait for months to receive government or regulatory approvals for establishment thus
affecting sustainable development.

Moreover, foreign goods consumption mentality orientation is a problem that is faced by

Liberation war parties in promoting sustaining development. In some of the Liberation
countries like Zimbabwe and Mozambique there is this mentality or belief that foreign goods
are of better quality than locally made goods. The belief drives the average consumption of
the society and therefore promotes an overwhelming search and consumption of foreign
goods and product to thrive and survive. There is usually a great negative impact on these
economies for example some of these Liberation economies and societies become dumping
ground for foreign goods, products and services hence consumption mentality and orientation
been an impediment to economic growth. This therefore negatively affects the development
of local industries as they will be facing competition.

Nevertheless, economic sanctions are a reason Liberation war parties face problems in
promoting sustaining development. According to O`Driscoll (2017) economic sanctions lead
to an increase in the poverty gap and deprived section of the population feel the most impact.
The sanctions have a great negative impact with an average decrease of the target states
annual real per capita GDP (Gross Domestic Product) growth rate of more than 2% points
and the effects last for a period of 10 years which lead to aggregate decline in the country`s
GDP per capita of 25,5 % Neuenkirch and Neumerer (2015) .Cox and Anderson (2009) argue
that sanctions imposed on the ZANU PF government by the United States and European
Union have a negative impact on agriculture and industry. The immediate economic impact
of sanctions such as imposing an embargo on target`s products or withholding its financial
asserts might reduce the targets economic and financial ability to trade with the developed
countries.
In addition, low level of income and extreme inequality is a problem that is faced by
Liberation war parties in promoting sustaining development. The most insurmountable
problem in Liberation countries is the low level of income for example in Bangladesh while
many sectors are languishing for lack of capital investment, the richer sections are indulged
in conspicuous consumption and therefore the volume of voluntary saving is meagre. Further,
too much of the country`s limited savings go into unproductive investment such as gold and
jewellery. Still another qualitative dissipation of the limited savings in the country comes
from the frequent tendency of the wealthiest persons in the sphere of influence of the state-
power to pile up their savings abroad thereby sufficient voluntary savings cannot be available
for raising significantly the rate of capital formation hence hindering development.

In conclusion, one can safely argue that there are various reasons Liberation war parties are
facing problems in promoting sustainable development. Some of these reasons include the
politics of entitlement an anti-democratic approach of governance, adoption of weak foreign
policies or weak methods of governance, politics of exclusion, lack of popular and
international support, infringement of human rights, lack of transparency and accountability,
poor service provision, high corruption rates to mention but a few. It should be noted that the
combination of these problems lead to a chain of consequential results that retards sustainable
development.
REFERENCES

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in Africa”, International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 2(9)
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Ajulor, O. V. (2015) “A policy analysis model of participation and change management”,

Journal of Creativity and Innovations for Sustainable Development, Research and
Development Institute. 15(2) 31-38
Makinde, T. (2005) “Problems of Policy Implementation in Developing Nations: The
Nigerian Experience” Journal of Social Sciences, 11(1), PP63-69.

Nduku, E. (2014) Corruption in Africa : A threat to Justice and Sustainable Peace , Durban :
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Neuenkirch, M. and Neumerer, F. (2015) “The impact of UN and US economic sanctions on

GDP growth”, http://www.econpapers.repec.org (accessed 11/07/21).

O`Driscoll, D. (2017) Impact of Economic sanctions on poverty and economic growth.

Brighton: Institute of Development Studies.

Pettinger, T. (2019) “Factors affecting economic development”, http://www.care.edu.pdf

(accessed 11/07/21).

Shonchoy, A.S. and Tsubota, K. (2014) Economic Impact of Political Protests on Firms .
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