A mission to Bolivia by members of South Africa’s African National Congress (ANC) to Bolivia on 1-6 February 2007, sponsored by the UNDP/International IDEA programme for strengthening democracy in the Andean country, ended with a pledge for more in-depth sharing of ideas and experiences between the two countries.
On their first visit to Bolivia, the visitors met with President Evo Morales and Vice President Alvaro García, leaders of Morales’ Movimiento al Socialismo (MAS) party, Constituent Assembly delegates, congresswomen, grassroots leaders, business leaders and political analysts.
Although there are differences between the two countries’ experiences, there are also similarities in their histories, which have been marked by the exclusion of a majority of citizens, political turmoil, violent and peaceful protest, constituent assembly processes and the writing of new constitutions.
In an intensive series of meetings, the visitors shared what the ANC has learned through South Africa’s experiences and invited their Bolivian counterparts to visit and learn more first hand.
The delegation members stressed that it is crucial to create a country that includes all citizens, and that there is a need for reconciliation based on forgiving, not forgetting, where there is an opportunity for all of the parties involved in human rights violations, both victims and perpetrators, to tell the truth, giving rise to a healing process and ensuring that the horrors of the past will not be repeated.
As one delegation member put it, “Freedom is indivisible; you cannot liberate just one sector of the population.”
They stressed that reconciliation and dialogue are tools that enable the country to look ahead and not remain trapped in the past, and that affirmative measures may be needed to correct past injustices.
The South African delegation was made up of Kgalema Petrus Motlanthe, ANC Secretary General; Blade Nzimande, SACP Secretary General; Zwelinzima Vavi, COSATU Secretary General; Regalda Thoko Mabena, member of the National Committee of the ANC Women’s League; Ebrahim Ebrahim, member of the ANC International Bureau of the ANC; and Phumezo Mqingwana, General Treasurer of the ANC Youth League.
Participants from both countries judged the mission a success and expressed interest in following up and taking action on various proposals that emerged. One idea is that the UNDP/International IDEA project help support a visit by the Bolivian vice president’s to South Africa as well as exchanges among grassroots movements, women and youth from the two countries.
With the constitutional reform so crucial to the development of democracy in Bolivia, the “Democratic Strengthening Project” jointly implemented by International IDEA and UNDP seeks to support political parties and other groups in articulating constitutional reform proposals.
