Democracy should be about more than elections, with meaningful public participation and accountability needed to ensure people have a say in decisions affecting their lives.

This is the view of Nelson Mandela Foundation CEO Dr Mbongiseni Buthelezi, who said rethinking how democracy works is central to the Futures of Democracy initiative.

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The initiative’s first regional convening, Beyond the Ballot Box: (Re)Imagining Africa’s Democratic Futures: Southern Africa Imaginarium, took place at the Foundation in Houghton from October 19 to 21.

The three-day gathering brought together civil society representatives from across the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region to explore democratic governance, public trust, accountability and citizen participation.

The initiative is a collaboration involving the Nelson Mandela Foundation, My Vote Counts, SIVIO Institute, ACT Ubumbano, ActionAid and other partners.

Buthelezi said the initiative sought to open up a conversation about why democracy was not delivering a better life for the majority of people.

He said too much attention was often placed on elections, while less consideration was given to what happens between them and whether democratic systems meet people’s needs.

The initiative aims to broaden the understanding of democracy by examining how citizens can participate in public life and hold those in power accountable beyond election periods.

Buthelezi said local democracy had often been overlooked in favour of national politics, despite the impact local governance has on people’s everyday lives.

He said people needed to be meaningfully represented and involved in decisions affecting their communities, rather than being engaged only during election periods.

The foundation hopes to use its convening role to connect organisations and individuals working towards more responsive democratic systems, including at the municipal level.

Buthelezi said this also reflected a change in how the foundation wanted to approach its work.

Rather than developing initiatives independently and inviting others to participate, he said the organisation wanted to facilitate connections, create platforms for important conversations and encourage collaboration.

The longer-term goal is to build a continental network of people and organisations working to strengthen democratic participation and accountability.

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Buthelezi said the work was linked to Nelson Mandela’s legacy and the broader struggle for a society in which people could live with dignity and have opportunities to thrive.

The foundation’s mandate includes peace, democracy and human rights. Buthelezi said these principles needed to translate into systems that improve people’s lives.

He also pointed to Mandela’s decision to serve one term as president as a prompt to reflect on leadership and democratic practice across the continent.

The convening also explored different ways of capturing and reflecting on participants’ contributions. Visual harvesters (live visual note–taking) Yolo Zulu and Vasintha Pather translated insights and key ideas from the conversations into images, helping to make the themes emerging from the discussions visible.

For Buthelezi, the aim is to move beyond a single gathering and build lasting connections between people and organisations working to make democracy more participatory and accountable.

Through the Futures of Democracy initiative, the foundation and its partners hope to keep the conversation going and explore how democratic systems can become more responsive to the people they serve.

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