Populism in Southern Africa under liberation movements as governments

SUMMARY Anti-colonial movements secured political power as governments in countries of Southern Africa. Populist discourses, which reinforce the patriotic history and heroic narratives of a ‘big men’ syndrome, are part of their political culture retaining continued legitimacy, not least in South Africa, Namibia and Zimbabwe, where national sovereignty was the result of a negotiated transfer of political power. This briefing presents a critical assessment of such populism as an integral part of the repertoire of former liberation movements as governments.