THERE ARE moments of joy in Africa and one of them was the ousting from power of the Malawian dictator Hastings Kamuzu Banda.
In the keenly contested multi-party elections for the Presidency and the legislature, the opposition United democratic Front led by Bakili Muluzi emerged as the single largest party and has formed the goverument.
Banda and his Malawi Congress Party (MCP) have dominated Malawi for thirty years. He was a rare friend of the Pretoria regime and an ally of imperialism in the region. The grateful South African government built Banda a new capital city in Lilongwe and the West were generous donors of aid.
But the realities of post Cold War Africa mean that Western governments have little use for their old pawns and stooges.
The pro democracy movement took off in May 1992 following a strike of 3,000 workets at a textile factory in support of an end to one party rule.
The West reacted by turning off the aid pipeline which had supported the MCP dictatorship. They have nothing to lose.
Unlike in past decades there aren't any radical movements with an anti-capitalist orientation promising economic change.
The Financial Times commented that all three main parties were committed to 'export led growth within a liberalised economy. It reassured its readers that even Chakufwa Chihana nominee of the Alliance for Democracy (Aford) and a veteran trade unionist had been dampening the hopes of striking workers pressing for better wages.
Ethnic split
In the event the elections repeated another feature of the multi-party experience which is the split in votes on ethnic/regional lines.
The north supported Chihana and Aford, returning 36 of their candidates; the centre supported Banda and the MCP electing 65 of their candidates and the south supported Muluzi and UDF, giving them 84 representatives in the legislature. In two constituencies fresh elections will be held because of voter irregularities.
The numerical predominance of the south assured Muluzi of a victory, though the strong showing of the MCP surprised many.
Banda had all the advantages of an incumbent president including access to state broadcasting and administrative machinery. The Malawi Congress Party ran a campaign cautioning against their removal and citing Rwanda as an example of the dangers of change.
The opposition ran their campaign precisely on the theme that 'It is Time for Change'. But how much change in personalities has there been?
A ford struck a chord during its campaign by labelling the UDF as a party of MCP exiles. The new President used to be a senior member of the Banda regime and was implicated in embezzlement and theft during his period in office. He later fell out with Banda and the MCP strongman John Tembo.
In reality the new guard of politicians is often the old old guard in democratic clothes. Muluzi's vice-President, Justin Malewezi, was a former secretary of Banda.
Muluzi was backed by the urban capitalist class and especially its Asian component who have been frustrated by the monopoly position that two transnational corporations, Lonhro and Lever Brothers enjoy in the mainly agricultural economy.
Conglomerate
One conglomerate, Press Holdings, is indirectly controlled by Banda and his lover Mama Kadzmira. It has holdings in agri-business, manufacturing and financial services. Its weight in the economy is reflected in the fact that it alone aocounts for 20% of the Gross Domestic Product of Malawi.
International lending institutions will be pressing the new government to break up Press Holdings and privatise it more widely. Of course, those capitalists who were sidelined by the former regime anticipate rich pickings.
One factor that all political parties will have to consider is the Army. It was seen as independent of the MCP unlike the police. However in December 1993 the Army and the paramilitary Malawi Youth Pioneers clashed when the latter was ordered to disarm.
The MYP were thugs in the service of the Banda regime and regularly terrorised people. Fifty people died in the brief period of fighting but subsequently the election period was not disrupted by large-scale violence. If the Army sees itself as custodian of the democratic process it could intervene if there was any back-slide.
It would be ludicrous to say that nothing has or will change from before these elections. Bakili Muluzi has ordered the closure of three prisons where political prisoners were held and tortured. He has ordered the release of all political prisoners and the commution of all death sentences to life imprisonment.
Malawians have removed one party and replaced it with another. Unfortunately both are parties of the landed and the rich. Still it is a marvellous thing to have the vote as any black South African will testify.
In future too, if anyone knocks at an ungodly hour it won't be the regime but Jehovah's Witnesses, whose sect was illegal until recently; and they may even be invited in.