How has the prevalence of HIV/AIDS in southern Africa affected the region’s democratic processes? This book from the Institute for Democracy in South Africa (IDASA) analyses the results of three studies on the epidemic’s impact on governance in six southern African countries. The disease has significantly impaired political processes by debilitating electoral management boards (EMBs), marginalising the voices of HIV/AIDS sufferers and incurring costs on constituencies forced to replace deceased representatives. These challenges should prompt both a re-examination of the first past the post electoral system and an effort by political leaders and EMBs to tackle stigmatisation of HIV/AIDS sufferers.
HIV/AIDS has infected between 15 and 30 percent of the adult population of southern Africa and has slowed the area’s economic growth by 2.6 percent in recent years. Governance in this area is ‘sensitive to performance’ and therefore vulnerable to the kind of socio-economic upheavals resulting from the epidemic.
HIV/AIDS thus presents several distinct threats to good governance in southern Africa:
- The need to replace representatives killed by HIV/AIDS produces increased numbers of by-elections, especially in systems using the first past the post system. This generates hiatuses during which constituencies lack representation, imposes financial costs on the Treasury and marginalises smaller parties without the resources to compete in frequent elections.
- The vulnerability of staff to HIV/AIDS compromises the efficiency and institutional memory of EMBs. Their work is further complicated by out-of-date voter rolls which retain the names of voters killed by the disease and thus inspire mistrust about election results.
- Political parties face challenges to their organisational, financial and leadership capabilities. The loss of members to HIV/AIDS affects their electioneering capacity and reduces subscriptions. The death of a patron may compromise their electoral viability and financial survival.
- Parliamentary candidates suspected of being HIV-positive may be stigmatised by opponents, further spreading discrimination against sufferers generally. Citizens with HIV/AIDS may also be discouraged from appearing in public to vote.
These challenges can be usefully met by various structural and social responses:
- The first past the post system could be replaced in many areas by the closed list or mixed member proportional systems, which are less reliant on by-elections.
- Activists should tackle discrimination against HIV/AIDS sufferers by campaigning to lift the institutional barriers to loans and insurance imposed on citizens with the disease.
- Political leaders should be encouraged to disclose their HIV-positive status to reduce stigma. However, as this goal may be difficult to achieve, a special seat could instead be reserved for HIV-positive representatives.
- EMBs’ voter participation campaigns should incorporate messages which encourage citizens not to discriminate against sufferers of HIV/AIDS.
- Bipartisan parliamentary committees should be established on HIV/AIDS in order to de-politicise and de-stigmatise the issue.
