Attempts by African leaders to circumvent constitutional term limits so they could stay in power longer had become a major source of conflict on the continent, analysts said on Tuesday.
These attempts to cling to power – which have been dubbed “third-termism” – had become the “new coups” on the continent, a seminar on the margins of this week’s African Union (AU) summit in Sandton heard.
The summit was expected to address the crisis in Burundi, provoked by President Pierre Nkurunziza’s announcement in April that he would run for a third term in office, despite the two-term limit in the country’s constitution. Similar attempts by other leaders were threatening stability in a few other countries.
David Zenmenou, of the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) said at the seminar that Africa had made significant progress towards stability and democracy since independence.
The high frequency of military coups in the first decades of independence had diminished. “That’s progress.” Democracy had become “the new language in town.”
But most of the continent’s leaders still saw democracy as a threat to their interests and their manoeuvres to stay in power had become a major source of instability and conflict.
This included the collapse of governments into chaos when leaders clung to power until they died, leaving no succession plans.
“African leaders don’t hold elections to lose them,” he said, adding that they used whatever instruments they could to win, including manipulating electoral commissions and voters rolls.
Between 2000 and 2015, 15 African leaders had tried to remain in power by changing their countries’ constitutions to remove presidential term limits. Eleven had succeeded and four had failed. – ANA (shortened)