Deng Yanting: African Left-wing Ruling Parties' Strength Through Unity Under a Multidimensional Perspective
Against the backdrop of the current wave of de-Westernized transformational development sweeping Africa, increasingly active left-wing political forces have become a vital new strength driving the continent to break through the shackles of the neoliberal paradigm and explore a new round of independent developmental paths. As prominent representatives of these African left-wing political forces, six ruling parties—the Chama Cha Mapinduzi of Tanzania (CCM; hereafter "Revolutionary Party"), the African National Congress of South Africa (ANC), the People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), the Liberation Front of Mozambique (FRELIMO), the South West Africa People's Organization of Namibia (SWAPO), and the Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front (ZANU–PF)—have, through a mode of "uniting for self-reliance," constructed a transnational political matrix characterized by resisting the proliferation of neoliberalism in Africa, defending Africa’s right to independent development, and exploring the contemporary value of socialism in Africa. These are known as the "Six Sister Parties" of Southern Africa.
I. The Uniting for Self-Reliance of the Six Sister Parties is the Organic Unity of Southern African History and Reality
The formation and development of the Six Sister Parties is the inevitable result of Southern African left-wing ruling parties having navigated shifts in the international landscape to collectively explore paths for national liberation and national governance across different historical periods.
(1) The collective inheritance of revolutionary friendship laid the foundation for uniting for self-reliance
During the wave of African national liberation movements that originated in the mid-20th century, the process of achieving national liberation in Southern Africa was marked by significant lag, twists, and complexity due to specific historical constraints. From a chronological dimension, although the rise of national liberation movements in Southern Africa was fully synchronized with other sub-regions of Africa, the timing of their eventual success varied greatly. Compared to the vast majority of African countries that gained political independence in the 1960s, Southern African national liberation movements during the same period were in their most difficult and dangerous phase. It was not until the independence of Lusophone [1] African countries in the mid-to-late 1970s that a turn for the better occurred, culminating in the total liberation of the region with the establishment of the new South Africa in 1994. From the perspective of their tasks, unlike national liberation movements in other parts of Africa where colonialism was the sole object of struggle, Southern Africa faced a predicament since the 1960s where, in addition to the stubborn refusal of Portuguese colonizers to decolonize, there were issues such as South African apartheid rule, the unilateral independence of the white regime in Rhodesia (Zimbabwe), and the illegal annexation of South West Africa (Namibia) by South Africa. Coupled with covert U.S. interference in the civil wars of Angola and Mozambique, the national liberation movements in the region essentially unfolded along multiple logical threads: opposition to colonialism, racism, imperialism, and the collusion between the three. Throughout more than 30 years of arduous struggle, the leadership forces of the national liberation movements in various colonies and countries supported and coordinated with one another, forming an unbreakable revolutionary friendship and raising the historical curtain on the Six Sister Parties joining hands on the African political stage.
First, the construction of "lips and teeth" [2] inter-party relations driven by Pan-Africanism is a prominent feature of the revolutionary friendship among the Six Sister Parties. As the first of the six countries to gain independence, Tanzania’s Tanu party (TANU) [3] held power when Tanganyika became independent in 1961. After the union of Tanganyika and Zanzibar to form Tanzania in 1964, TANU continued as the ruling party for the mainland. In 1977, TANU merged with the Afro-Shirazi Party of Zanzibar to form the Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM), which has remained in power ever since. Using the "Ujamaa" [4] concept proposed by Julius Nyerere as a concrete manifestation of Pan-Africanism, the party expanded this theory from the scope of Tanzanian domestic construction to the level of African liberation. It advocated that all African countries belong to one "Ujamaa" family, in which any member bears an obligation for the freedom and well-being of others, asserting that Africa is only liberated when every part of it is liberated. Under the guidance of this philosophy, Tanzania became the bridgehead for supporting the Southern African national liberation movements. Nyerere served for a long time as the Chairman of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) Liberation Committee and Chairman of the Frontline States [5] summits. The CCM (formerly TANU) exerted every effort to provide financial and material support as well as international space for the struggles of the other five parties, shattering the joint attempts by South Africa and Portugal to strangle the national liberation forces. During this historical process, the "Ujamaa" theory exerted a profound influence on the thinking of leaders such as António Neto, Samora Machel, Robert Mugabe, Samuel Nujoma, and Nelson Mandela, driving their respective parties to form a community with a shared future [6] with the CCM, characterized by sharing weal and woe. As beneficiaries of this mechanism, the MPLA, FRELIMO, and ZANU [7] immediately led their countries to join this coordination after gaining independence, working with the CCM to continue supporting the struggles of SWAPO and the ANC until final victory.
Second, the uncompromising advancement of struggle under the leadership of socialist ideals is a distinct advantage of the revolutionary friendship among the Six Sister Parties. Except for the CCM (TANU), the other five parties were classified as "illegal organizations" by the authorities in their respective countries (colonies) for leading national liberation movements, which completely blocked any initial hopes for a peaceful path to independence. Influenced by the surge of African socialist movements and the spread of Marxism, the parties gradually reached a consensus: the life-and-death struggle between Southern African national liberation forces and reactionary forces was, in essence, an irreconcilable contradiction between Western capitalism and values such as collectivism found in traditional African culture. Consequently, from the MPLA firing the "first shot" against Portugal in 1961 and the ANC establishing the "Umkhonto we Sizwe" [8] secret armed wing, to SWAPO launching guerrilla warfare against South Africa in 1966, the people's armed forces led by these five parties embarked on a revolutionary path of violently overthrowing reactionary rule. Nyerere's CCM (TANU) originally favored a peaceful path to liberation through restoring African traditions to achieve socialism; however, after facing an attempted coup supported by South Africa in 1964, it began to support the other five parties in the armed subversion of reactionary rule, emphasizing that abandoning illusions and compromises was a necessary prerequisite for the complete liberation of Africa. Subsequently, Tanzania began establishing "freedom fighter" training camps in places such as Bagamoyo, providing personnel from the other five parties with training in socialist political theory and military skills, effectively supporting their respective armed struggles. By achieving a clean break from capitalism through their conviction in and pursuit of socialism, the Six Sister Parties provided a strong guarantee for the total liberation of Southern Africa.
The revolutionary friendship among the Six Sister Parties is essentially a political consensus forged through the organic integration and unified advancement of the six nations' national liberation movements. It not only solidified the foundation for the Six Sister Parties to maintain resonance in ideology, action, and values, but also outlined a brand-new logical thread for the development of Southern Africa.
(2) The collective resistance against the proliferation of neoliberalism fortified the defensive line of uniting for self-reliance
The impact of the end of the Cold War on the global situation profoundly reshaped the trajectory of African development. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, the drastic changes in Eastern Europe, and the disappearance of the bipolar balance of power between the East and West blocs, the space for Africa’s exploration of independent development began to face extreme squeezing from the so-called "Washington Consensus." To maximize their interests in Africa, the U.S. and the West leveraged their political and economic hegemony to force Africa into a developmental transition. Economically, this involved accepting so-called "Structural Adjustment Programs" formulated by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to promote privatization and liberalization; politically, it meant embracing the "Third Wave" of democratization, establishing Western-style democracy centered on competitive multi-party elections, and accepting Western "universal values"—all of which were listed as basic prerequisites for Africa to redevelop relations with the West. Influenced by this, the vast majority of African regions were forced to compromise in the 1990s. However, contrary to the expectations of the African people, the rampant spread of neoliberalism not only failed to help Africa recover from the impact of the late-1970s oil crisis but actually exacerbated the developmental predicament, causing Africa as a whole to fall into its most chaotic period since independence. Reflecting on and resisting the proliferation of neoliberalism became the focus of collective efforts by African left-wing ruling parties during this period.
On the one hand, the severe "rejection symptoms" [9] exhibited by African development toward neoliberalism provided vivid material for African left-wing ruling parties to reflect on Western developmental models. The futility of neoliberalism in African developmental practice is essentially an expression of the structural contradiction between Africa’s backward productive forces and the forcibly grafted superstructure of Western capitalism. At the political level, socio-cultural groups represented by ethnicity—which had not yet been effectively integrated—and their identities became polarized as they were politicized in multi-party elections. This gave rise to numerous disorderly and confrontational political forces, eroding the foundations of political stability in a process that intensified social fragmentation. At the economic level, the initial achievements of industrialization characterized by import substitution, which the African people had worked for over 30 years to build, were wiped out by Western multinational corporations. A large portion of development aid actually flowed into the pockets of the African comprador class [10] supported by the West, leading to a surge in unemployment, a sharp rebound in poverty rates, a widening wealth gap between urban and rural areas, regions, and classes, and the further fragmentation of domestic markets. In the socio-cultural sphere, Western postmodernist value systems spread rapidly among Westernized elites and youth groups; rebellious sentiments that challenged tradition, deconstructed authority, and questioned history quickly evolved into criticism of Africa’s independent developmental explorations and even a denial of the statist narrative. In the security field, a series of major humanitarian crises—represented by the Somali Civil War, the Rwandan Genocide, and the two Congo Wars—plunged Africa further into a vicious cycle of peace and development deficits. Therefore, the fact that Africa "derailed during transition" demonstrates that the proliferation of neoliberalism was essentially an ideological fig leaf for the West to wantonly harvest interests in Africa after the Cold War. Only by holding the right to explore independent development firmly in their hands can left-wing ruling parties truly defend the fruits of their nations' liberation.
On the other hand, the sudden change in the situation in Zambia and the fate of its veteran left-wing ruling party served as a wake-up call for other African left-wing ruling parties regarding the issue of leadership in a changing landscape. Under Kenneth Kaunda and the United National Independence Party (UNIP), Zambia joined all international cooperation mechanisms aimed at promoting Southern African national liberation. Its contribution to the complete liberation of Southern Africa was second only to that of Tanzania. Since the mid-1960s, as the only liberated nation in Southern Africa and the southernmost of all independent African states, Zambia utilized its geographical advantage of bordering several territories awaiting liberation to practice the "Humanist Socialism" [11] of Kaunda and the UNIP by providing extensive support to the five parties. Consequently, it became a major target for cross-border armed attacks by various reactionary forces. Thus, the liberation process of Southern Africa was originally a history of the formation and development of the revolutionary friendship of the "Seven Sister Parties," including the UNIP. However, because the UNIP lost the first general election after Zambia adopted a multi-party system in 1991, this tale from the revolutionary era failed to continue into the period of development and construction. There were multiple reasons for the electoral defeat of Kaunda and the UNIP, but fundamentally, the party leadership suffered from political naivety. They were underprepared for Western "soft intervention," such as the lending freezes and pressure from the World Bank and IMF, the funding of opposition parties by the U.S. Carter Center and the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), and the biased monitoring by the Commonwealth Observer Group. After failing to stage a comeback in the 1996 elections, Kaunda and the UNIP...
By the end of the century, the Zambian political arena, having been fully Westernized, eventually marginalized UNIP. The Movement for Multi-party Democracy (MMD) and the Patriotic Front (PF), which held power in succession, rapidly advanced the privatization of state-owned copper mining enterprises. This led to massive unemployment. Politically, they promoted a populism masked by Western-style democracy, which triggered intensified and disorderly political competition among the Bemba, Tonga, and Lozi ethnic groups. Not only did these Western-style reforms fail to rid copper-rich Zambia of its status as a Heavily Indebted Poor Country (HIPC), but years later, they made it the first African nation to fall into a sovereign debt crisis. The situation in Zambia demonstrates that for Left-wing governing parties, abandoning blind followership and illusions regarding the West is an inevitable requirement for safeguarding the fundamental interests of their people in the long run.
Southern Africa was also influenced to a certain extent by the spread of neoliberalism. Aside from Namibia and South Africa, which were liberated in the 1990s and directly adopted multi-party systems, the other four countries also made corresponding constitutional arrangements for transitioning to multi-party electoral systems during the same period. However, based on reflections on the impact of neoliberalism on Africa—and Zambia in particular—the Six Sister Parties firmly maintained leadership over their respective national reforms and development. By adhering to their characteristics as Left-wing governing parties, they effectively resisted the impact of Western political and economic offensives on Southern Africa. Politically, under the multi-party system, the Six Sister Parties maintained systematic guiding ideologies and sophisticated party organizations, emphasizing their representation of groups such as peasants and workers. They did not degenerate into election-oriented parties that are essentially mere social organizations; rather, they won successive elections and maintained stable, long-term governance. Economically, public ownership remained dominant; in particular, industries concerning the national economy and people's livelihoods remained firmly in the hands of the state-owned economy, while Western capital entered certain sectors in an orderly manner under state control. Furthermore, whenever any of the six countries entered a critical juncture—such as a general election or key reform—the other five countries (or parties) would dispatch personnel for exchange and support, continuously fortifying a united front against the spread of neoliberalism. It is precisely thanks to the leadership of the Six Sister Parties that Southern Africa became the only sub-region on the African continent to maintain long-term peace and development after the Cold War.
(3) Collective reflection on governance challenges has strengthened the vitality of "joining together for self-strengthening."
At the beginning of the 21st century, as the impact of the collapse of the bipolar Cold War structure on Africa gradually leveled off, the primary tasks facing the Six Sister Parties began to shift from the external to the internal—that is, from externally breaking through the direct offensive of neoliberalism to internally leading their nations toward high-quality development. Whether they could adapt to these changes directly determined whether each party possessed scientific leadership that "advances with the times." Specifically, the Six Sister Parties faced two main categories of challenges during this transitional shift.
First, in the process of shifting the Party's central task from striving for national liberation and governing status to domestic development and construction, some governing parties suffered from a lack of preparation. The greatest change brought about by this shift in identity and role was the requirement that, when handling national reform and development issues, the governing party should move away from the "storm-like" [12] modes of action used during the revolutionary stage. Instead, they needed to explore steady solutions based on national realities, avoiding governance dilemmas caused by "shock therapy" that exceeds the actual bearing capacity of society. As long-term victims of white extremist racism, Zimbabwe and South Africa both encountered similar challenges to some extent when implementing radical "Black Empowerment" reforms. In Zimbabwe, after becoming the governing party, ZANU-PF launched a land reform program aimed at ensuring "land to the tiller" for the Black population to thoroughly eliminate the economic base of white racist exploitation. However, compared to the moderate reforms in the early days of governance—which primarily used the buyout of white farmers' land—ZANU-PF launched "Fast-Track" land reform in 2000 to accelerate Black economic liberation, directly confiscating white farmers' land resources to redistribute to landless Black residents. While this radical reform quickly uprooted white exploitation, it exceeded the absorptive capacity of the Black residents. The takeover of land by many Black residents who lacked farming experience led to fluctuations in national agricultural production. Simultaneously, the flight of a large number of white farmers provided a pretext for the West to implement sanctions. The situation in South Africa was similar. After the ANC took power, in order to eliminate the manifestations and influence of apartheid in the shortest time possible, they allowed a large number of underprepared Black residents to take over various industries and sectors. Meanwhile, they relaxed controls on Black residents from other Southern African countries moving to South Africa. The positive intentions behind these policies are beyond doubt, but at the practical level, they led to a decline in efficiency in public service sectors, population expansion, and insufficient per capita infrastructure. These issues triggered deteriorating public security and mass protests in several major cities, becoming focal points for opposition attacks on the ANC during general elections.
Second, problems such as institutional rigidity and corruption among some Party members—bred by long-term holds on power—eroded the governing parties' mass base. While long-term governance by a single party ensures political stability, it also brings problems such as some members becoming a privileged class, and party organizations becoming bloated, closed, and inefficient. Especially against the backdrop of the post-Cold War neoliberal shock and partial adjustments to each party's guiding ideology, some members who experienced ideological confusion began to promote pragmatic egoism and became "borers" of public power, seriously damaging the Party's image among the masses. In Tanzania, after the CCM lifted the ban on party and government officials engaging in business in the early 1990s, many members in key positions became corrupt elements with deep pockets. The Party's image as the representative of workers and peasants was hit by the proliferation of political-business complexes, and its image and status in the hearts of the people began to slide. Influenced by this, the CCM's political advantage gradually eroded after entering the 21st century; by the 2015 general election, its vote share barely exceeded half, hitting a historic low since the transition to a multi-party system. The situation in Angola was also not optimistic. After the boom of the oil economy—especially following the end of the civil war—the comfortable environment led to the emergence of a large privileged class within the MPLA that "lived off the oil." [13] The existence of increasingly entrenched interest groups within the Party, along with the rising influence of the oil industry and associations that weakened the Party organization, put the MPLA at risk of becoming increasingly detached from the masses. In various general elections since the start of the 21st century, opposing the governing party and government corruption has become the core narrative used by opposition parties to attract votes, and the gap in support between the MPLA and the opposition has gradually narrowed.
To deal with the governance predicaments that emerged at the turn of the century, the Six Sister Parties continued to strengthen the exchange of experience in state governance and collectively explored countermeasures aimed at consolidating their long-term governing status. Whether regarding the advancement of land reform in Zimbabwe or the social situation within South Africa, the other four countries provided constructive participation through bilateral channels or multilateral mechanisms under the Southern African Development Community (SADC), assisting the two governing parties in resolving their governance crises. Additionally, the National School of Government in South Africa established cooperative relationships with relevant institutions in Tanzania, Mozambique, and Angola. They promoted cross-border visits and joint training for party and government personnel, allowing for mutual learning and collective exploration in areas such as enhancing leadership, punishing corruption, and consolidating ideological and organizational building. This continuously increasing political cooperation has injected rich substance into the "joining together for self-strengthening" of the Six Sister Parties.
II. The Joining Together for Self-Strengthening of the Six Sister Parties is the Important Foundation Supporting Africa's Current Exploration of Independent Development
The many achievements of the Six Sister Parties in leading national revolutions and national construction have provided the collective wisdom of Left-wing governing parties for Africa's current exploration of high-quality development aimed at regional integration and modernization.
(1) Common struggle has shaped a benchmark for African regional integration.
In the context of modern African politics, Pan-Africanism has proposed the specific task of accelerating the realization of stability and prosperity through the promotion of regional integration involving the independent participation of sovereign African states. "Integration-driven modernization" is not only a prominent feature of Africa's own development but also an important focal point for Africa's participation in global governance. It is listed as a primary goal in various visions for Africa's independent development, including the African Union's "Agenda 2063." The revolutionary friendship of the Six Sister Parties, which originated during the national liberation movements, has shaped a geopolitical character in Southern Africa marked by long-term stable transnational cooperation, injecting strong momentum into the high-quality development of African integration.
On the one hand, the union of the Six Sister Parties is the guarantee for Southern Africa to achieve truly independent integration. Since independence, although various integration mechanisms have emerged in Africa, they generally face two types of problems: First, the traces of colonial rule are obvious, carrying the limitations of incomplete liberation. For instance, the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA) and the Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa (CEMAC), primarily composed of Francophone African countries, are essentially continuations of the two colonial federations of French West Africa and French Equatorial Africa. The integration and cooperation of these countries, relying on France, continued to make them victims of French neo-colonialism. Second, there are huge differences between countries, making it difficult to form a homogenous union. For example, the dispute between Kenya and Tanzania over capitalist versus socialist development paths led to the collapse of the first-generation East African Community (EAC). [14] Meanwhile, competition between Anglophone countries like Nigeria and Ghana and Francophone countries like Senegal and Côte d'Ivoire has become a chronic issue that often leads the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) into decision-making deadlocks. In contrast, starting from common values and concepts, the Six Sister Parties not only eliminated the influence of external interference but also transcended their historical and linguistic differences. By targeting the reactionary alliance of racism and colonialism, they turned collective political awakening into the foundation for the joint development of their countries. Building on the CCM's (TANU's) long-term support for the liberation struggles of the other five parties, the liberated parties among the six jointly initiated the Southern African Development Coordination Conference (SADCC). This was aimed at continuing to curb the influence of South African racism in the region by institutionalizing political and economic cooperation among countries. To adapt to changing circumstances, the mechanism was reorganized in 1992 into the more functionally complete Southern African Development Community (SADC), which subsequently admitted the liberated Namibia and South Africa. Thus, a model of regional integration based on the union of parties was finally established.
On the other hand, the union of the Six Sister Parties provides strong power for the rapid advancement of Southern African integration. Thanks to similar governing philosophies and political systems, South Africa’s manufacturing base, the resource endowments of Angola and Namibia, Mozambique’s convenient location, Tanzania’s demographic dividend, and Zimbabwe’s agricultural advantages have been fully aggregated under the SADC mechanism. This allows for a "resonance" [15] between the exchanges of the governing parties, the steady economic and social development of each country, and the accelerated promotion of Southern African integration. Currently, driven by the "SADC Vision 2050" and the "Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan," Southern Africa has achieved an integration pattern based on peace and good governance, pulled by the "troika" of industrial development and market integration, infrastructure connectivity, and human capital development. It has become the region with the most significant achievements in African regional integration, accumulating momentum for the current construction of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). Furthermore, as its prominent feature and significant advantage, the synergy between inter-party exchanges and integrated development provides an "African experience" from Southern Africa that can serve as a reference for integration in other African sub-regions and for Africa's efforts to build a unified position and speak with one voice in international affairs.
(2) Common development has laid a bridgehead for China and Africa to jointly build a community with a shared future.
In the evolution of modern China-Africa relations, the Six Sister Parties play an irreplaceable and key role. the exchanges and cooperation between these countries and China comprehensively demonstrate and systematically interpret the logical thread for why China-Africa friendship has remained firm over time. Especially since the start of the New Era, as China relies on the joint construction of the "Belt and Road" to fully dock with and continuously empower the common development of the six parties and countries, Southern Africa is becoming a backbone force for China to promote the Global Development Initiative (GDI), the Global Security Initiative (GSI), and the Global Civilization Initiative (GCI) on the African continent, continuously deepening the foundation for China and Africa to jointly build a high-level community with a shared future.
First, China's long-term support for the common development of the six nations safeguards the steady and sustained progress of China-Africa cooperation. Since China and Africa formally established diplomatic relations, Southern Africa has been a frontline position for cultivating and practicing China-Africa friendship. During the national liberation movement period, China actively supported the six sister parties in their leadership of national modernization construction and their struggles against reactionary forces. As a major benchmark leading China-Africa cooperation, the collaboration between China and Tanzania on one hand completed industrial projects represented by the Friendship Textile Mill, which promoted Tanzania's domestic construction of Ujamaa [16] socialism and continuously bolstered the strategic rear base of the Southern African national liberation movements. On the other hand, it facilitated Tanzania's support for the liberation struggles of the other five parties; by constructing the TAZARA Railway—hailed as the "Freedom Railway"—it broke the reactionary forces' attempts to strangle the Southern African liberation movements economically and militarily. This laid the foundation for the formation and development of an "all-weather" China-Africa friendship across multiple dimensions, including ideology, pathways, and content. Furthermore, China supported the struggles of the people in the five nations through various channels, such as opposing US interference in the civil wars of Angola and Mozambique, supporting the independence of Zimbabwe and Namibia, and calling for the release of Nelson Mandela. Upon achieving liberation, these five nations rapidly prioritized cooperation with China in their foreign relations, continuously injecting new momentum into their traditional friendly ties.
Since the start of the New Era, under the guidance of head-of-state diplomacy, exchange and cooperation between China and these six nations have reached new heights, facilitating the high-level development of China-Africa relations. In March 2013, after being elected as the nation's top leader, President Xi Jinping chose Tanzania as the first stop of his inaugural visit to Africa. In an important speech delivered at the Julius Nyerere International Convention Centre, he proposed the African policy principles of "sincerity, real results, amity, and good faith" and the right approach to justice and interests, pointing the way for the development of China-Africa relations in the New Era. In December 2015, President Xi Jinping traveled to South Africa to attend the Johannesburg Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC). Together with then-South African President Jacob Zuma and then-AU Chairperson and Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, he promoted the upgrading of China-Africa relations to a comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership, elevating the strategic status of China-Africa cooperation in the New Era. In September 2018, at the FOCAC Beijing Summit, President Xi Jinping and visiting South African President Matamela Ramaphosa jointly unveiled the historical curtain on China and Africa's efforts to build an even closer community with a shared future for humanity, clarifying the strategic goals of China-Africa cooperation in the New Era. Regarding bilateral cooperative relations, as Angolan President Lourenço and President Xi Jinping witnessed the birth of the China-Angola comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership in March 2024, all six nations have now established comprehensive strategic (cooperative) partnerships with China. (In August 2023, China and South Africa formally established a comprehensive strategic partnership. By March 2024, China had established comprehensive strategic cooperative partnerships with all other five nations.) This makes Southern Africa the African subregion with the highest density of countries having established high-level bilateral cooperative relations with China. Under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative, these six nations have become important demonstration countries for the "Three Networks and Industrialization" [17] construction and China-Africa international cooperation on productive capacity. China’s achievements—such as dual circulation development, the "dual carbon" [18] economic revitalization, and the cultivation of new quality productive forces—have been systematically transformed into a powerful momentum supporting these countries to strengthen infrastructure interconnectivity, embrace Industry 4.0, and advance agricultural modernization, helping Southern Africa become a frontline zone for implementing the development vision of the AU's Agenda 2063.
Second, the Communist Party of China's (CPC) assistance in the common development of the six sister parties highlights the immense advantages of exploring independent development to empower China-Africa cooperation. Breaking free from the shackles of Western paradigms and independently exploring a development path suited to one's own national conditions is not only the key to the CPC's success in leading China's revolution, construction, and reform; it is also a vital focus in supporting the six sister parties in their collective self-reliance. During the national liberation movement period, the many achievements and experiences of the CPC in leading the New Democratic Revolution and socialist construction served as an important reference for the six parties in leading and mobilizing the African people. The CCM (TANU) fully drew on China's "Three Great Transformations" [19], "Five-Year Plans," and the General Line for Socialist Construction formulated at the Eighth National Congress of the CPC in its Arusha Declaration, deploying a socialist development strategy supported by the construction of Ujamaa villages. Parties like ZANU-PF fully studied the CPC’s theories on the united front and armed struggle; on one hand, they mobilized the masses to the greatest extent possible, and on the other, they established base areas behind enemy lines and launched guerrilla warfare, ultimately achieving victory through the strategy of "encircling the cities from the countryside."
Since the six sister parties became governing parties, and especially since the start of the New Era, exchange and cooperation between the CPC and the six sister parties have achieved new glories. In terms of the methods of exchange, the links between the two sides have become increasingly institutionalized and systematic. The CPC not only continuously sends high-level representatives to attend the national congresses of the six sister parties respectively, but also regularly invites leaders and backbone members of these parties to China for exchanges; inter-party relations have increasingly become a central topic leading the development of bilateral relations between China and the six nations. In terms of cooperation topics, the depth and quality of exchanges between the CPC and the six sister parties have steadily improved. Strengthening leadership and party organization construction, and reinforcing the governing parties' capacity for scientific, democratic, and law-based governance while enhancing people's well-being, have become firm consensuses between the CPC and the six sister parties. Advancing cooperation in areas such as the party's self-revolution and the independent exploration of modernization outlines the logical main thread for both sides to jointly answer the questions of the times.
To adapt to the needs of the new situation, China supported the six nations in jointly establishing the Mwalimu Julius Nyerere Leadership School in Pwani Region, Tanzania, creating a multilateral cooperation platform for the six sister parties and the CPC to deepen exchanges on experience in state governance. Since its official inauguration in 2022, inspired by President Xi Jinping's reply letter and the requirements of the leaders of the six nations, the leadership school has focused its curriculum on themes such as strengthening cooperation among the six sister parties and China-Africa mutual learning. On one hand, this has reinforced ideological exchange and the training of young and middle-aged cadres, providing strong ideological and organizational construction for the continuation and development of the six sister parties' collective self-reliance in the New Era. On the other hand, it has provided a Chinese reference—centered on the New Development Philosophy, whole-process people's democracy, and the "Three Global Initiatives" [20]—for the independent development and reform currently led by the six sister parties, promoting Southern Africa as a high ground where Chinese-path modernization assists African explorations of independent development. Marcelina Chijoriga, Principal of the Nyerere Leadership School, stated that through training and exchanges with the CPC, the six sister parties of Southern Africa have benefited greatly from the CPC's governing philosophy and China’s successful development experience, expressing hope for further strengthening exchanges with the CPC to promote economic and social development in African countries.
(3) Joint Reform Shaping a Backbone Force for Critiquing Neoliberalism
The international shifts following the Cold War once caused the African socialist movement to fall into a low ebb. However, in the current wave of transformational development in Africa—characterized by reflection on and critique of the "universality" of neoliberalism—the contemporary value of socialism for Africa in promoting and inheriting fine traditional cultures and independently exploring modernization is being re-recognized by an increasing number of African people of insight. As left-wing governing parties with close ties to the development of socialism in Africa, the six sister parties are actively attempting to use socialist-oriented administrative explorations as a key lever for leading the African people toward a "Second Liberation" [21] in their current processes of development and reform. (Left-wing political forces in Africa believe that the wave of independence in the mid-20th century achieved political independence for African states, constituting Africa's first liberation. Currently, under the guidance of the AU's Agenda 2063, the new round of independent development exploration is called Africa's Second Liberation, aiming to truly achieve African economic independence and cultural autonomy through a de-Westernizing transformation.) This has injected strong momentum into the revival of socialism in Africa. (In June 2023, the author participated in the 2023 Southern African Six Sister Parties' Young and Middle-aged Cadre Workshop at the Nyerere Leadership School in Tanzania; during exchanges with African participants, representatives from the six parties generally stated that socialist ideas are of vital value for the African people to achieve the Second Liberation.)
First, the stable, long-term governance of the six sister parties has constructed the institutional support for the revival of socialism in Africa. As previously mentioned, the practice of socialism in Southern Africa is essentially the underlying logic for these nations to achieve national liberation and independent development. After the Cold War ended, although the socialist color in the six parties' political narratives was correspondingly diluted, its close connection with the development practices of these countries was not severed. At the governing party level, the organizational structures, personnel composition, and goals of the six sister parties have not undergone fundamental changes compared to the pre-post-Cold War era; at the state level, planned development and a strong state-owned economy remain highly resilient. Therefore, in the collective defense against the rampant spread of neoliberalism, the six sister parties have not, in substance, been forced to make a clean break with socialism; instead, they have overall retained corresponding institutional arrangements for implementing socialism, preparing the necessary prerequisites for its revival.
Second, the close ties between the six sister parties and international left-wing political forces have deepened the grassroots support for the revival of socialism in Africa. Particularly in recent years, faced with a situation where challenges such as the Ukraine crisis and climate change have exacerbated Africa's development and peace deficits, the six sister parties, together with other African left-wing parties, have jointly voiced opposition to Western interference and defended international fairness and justice, driving the union of left-wing forces to become a pillar in shaping a unified African voice. The six sister parties have also proposed initiatives to defend peace, multilateralism, and their identities and values within the Socialist International in Africa, which have received widespread praise from various sectors of African society, enhancing African citizens' understanding and recognition of the significance of persisting with and developing socialism amidst the "changes unseen in a century." [22]
Finally, the national political and economic reforms pushed by the six sister parties have provided a pathway for exploring the revival of socialism in Africa. Since entering the second decade of the 21st century, the six nations have gradually turned to borrowing or restoring the socialist ideas or practices of their predecessor leaders as the dominant direction for resolving governing crises or governance dilemmas. From the CCM raising the banner of reviving Nyerere's Ujamaa thought to promote the Magufuli reforms, to ZANU-PF implementing the Mnangagwa "New Deal" to reflect on and adjust radical land reform and economic development strategies; from the ANC forming a governing alliance with the South African Communist Party and the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) to maintain the leading position of a left-wing political program in national reform, to the MPLA implementing Lourenço's reforms—vigorously tackling party building, severely punishing corruption, and leading Angola's withdrawal from OPEC to strengthen independent state control over the oil economy—the effectiveness of socialist ideas for African development and reform has been fully demonstrated in the reform practices of these six nations, providing a reference pathway for other African countries.
III. Potential Risks Facing the Steady and Sustained Progress of the Six Sister Parties’ Collective Self-reliance
Faced with the accelerating evolution of the changes unseen in a century, the stability and sustainability of the six sister parties' collective development will continue to be constrained by multiple factors, including changes in the African and international situations.
(1) Differences in National Conditions as Internal Challenges to Synchronized Development
Influenced by the respective historical and realistic national conditions of the six Southern African countries, although all six sister parties have maintained their status as governing parties for a long time, the degree of their stability varies. In other words, in the process of transforming the parties' central tasks and identities, the six parties face different survival environments and shoulder different governance burdens because they are at different stages of growth. These factors may plant potential seeds for future imbalances and lack of synchronization in the development of the six sister parties.
First, the parties currently face vastly different governing pressures. Tanzania, Angola, and Mozambique were originally economically backward colonies; after the CCM, MPLA, and FRELIMO took power respectively, they essentially planned national modernization from a "zero starting point," meaning the resistance and risks of planning development from a weak foundation were relatively small. In contrast, Zimbabwe and Namibia, which were under white racist [minority] rule, had single-focus economic structures and small populations; ZANU-PF...
ZANU–PF and the MPLA respectively advanced incremental reforms, allowing them to lead their nations toward stable transitional development. By contrast, prior to the realization of multi-racial general elections, South Africa had long been Africa’s largest economy, having established a developed capitalist economy and a complete social division of labor based on the apartheid system. This meant that the ANC, after taking power, needed to graft elements of racial equality onto this mature and solidified development model on a massive scale. Undoubtedly, whether through the impact on the vested interests of the white population or the difficulty of meeting the excessively high expectations of the Coloured and Black populations, the policies for the redistribution of the means of production and social wealth promoted by the ANC faced immense resistance. The room for error afforded by national development and the degree of tolerance granted by social public opinion were relatively limited. Particularly after entering the third decade of the 21st century, the internalization of external risks—such as weakening global economic growth, rising risks of geopolitical conflict, and the resurgence of international conservative forces—caused the dividends of the ANC's prior reforms and explorations to be rapidly consumed by problems like Western penetration and the spread of populism, leading to a surge in the party's governing pressure. Beginning with the 2019 general election, the ANC became the only one of the "Six Sister Parties" [23] to maintain its governing status through a campaign alliance. In the 2024 general election, although the party continued to win and maintain its status as the governing party, it became the only one among the Six Sister Parties to lose its parliamentary majority. In the future, the ANC will need to demonstrate greater reform resolve and effort than the other five parties to thoroughly extricate itself from the governing crisis that has emerged in recent years.
Second, some parties face the challenge of how to adapt governance policies to changes in the economic base. Angola was originally one of the economically underdeveloped Lusophone African countries. However, with the large-scale development of oil and gas resources in the Cabinda region in the mid-to-late 1990s, and especially after the end of the civil war at the beginning of the 21st century, the country leaped to become Africa’s second-largest oil producer after Nigeria. It is the only country among those governed by the Six Sister Parties to experience a rapid ascent in Africa in terms of total economic volume, growth rate, and per capita income. The corruption within the governing party and the solidification of interest groups that emerged alongside the takeoff of the petroleum economy exposed, to a certain extent, the problem that the MPLA’s social governance capacity lagged behind changes in the economic base, becoming a focal point for collective attacks by opposition parties. Although Angola has largely cracked down on problems such as governing party corruption and the loss of social wealth through the "Lourenço Reforms," the fundamental contradiction between high economic growth and the lack of social development inclusiveness remains to be further optimized. Particularly of late, affected by factors such as the Ukraine crisis, the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, and the Red Sea shipping crisis, global oil prices soared to a seven-year high in the first half of 2024. The again-surging "petro-dollar" income will become a new round of major testing for the sustainability of the Lourenço Reforms' effectiveness. Considering that Mozambique, also a Lusophone African country, is currently developing oil and gas resources on a large scale in its northern Cabo Delgado region, it remains worth close attention whether the double-edged sword brought by the rise of the petroleum economy will cause FRELIMO to fall into the same governance dilemmas faced by the MPLA.
(2) The Geopolitical Encirclement by the U.S. and the West Poses an External Threat to the Unity and Collaboration of the Six Sister Parties
Influenced by changes in the global situation, the U.S. and the West, in order to consolidate traditional hegemony and oppose world multipolarity, have increasingly focused on "co-opting" and "transforming" Africa as the primary lever to contain the global influence of developing countries such as China and Russia. They attempt to construct a West-centric "small yard, high fence" [24] in Africa through political dialogue led by a so-called "consensus on values" and economic cooperation characterized by so-called "openness and transparency," aiming to offset African integration and the South-South cooperation conducted between Africa and the outside world. As a matrix of left-wing political forces jointly promoting Africa’s independent development and unity, the Six Sister Parties have naturally become stumbling stones that the U.S. and the West feel they must remove to interfere in Africa.
From the political perspective, launching "cognitive warfare" [25] targeting left-wing governing characteristics has become the primary means for the U.S. and the West to incite the isolation of the Six Sister Parties in Africa. From persisting in increasing economic and security cooperation with China and Russia to refusing to blindly follow Western rhetoric during the Ukraine crisis, the unity, collaboration, and independent development of the six Southern African nations in recent years are becoming a frontline breakwater blocking the strategic shocks of the U.S. and the West against Africa. In other words, in the eyes of the U.S. and the West, as "fish that escaped the net" [26] during the wave of neoliberalism at the end of the 20th century, the existence of these six countries not only continues to squeeze the space for Western forces to intervene in Southern African geopolitics but also may play a demonstrative role within Africa and trigger a chain reaction. To this end, since taking office, the Biden administration has made improving the "democratization and transparency" of the six countries’ development a key focus for peddling so-called "values-based diplomacy" in Africa. In August 2022, U.S. Secretary of State Blinken visited South Africa, pressuring the country to align with the West on issues such as the Russia-Ukraine conflict, relations with China and Russia, and tackling climate change. During the same period, the White House released the "U.S. Strategy Toward Sub-Saharan Africa," introducing concepts such as "openness" and "open societies," emphasizing the goal of delivering democracy and security dividends to Africa to counter the so-called "backsliding of authoritarianism" in Africa and resist "harmful activities" carried out by China and Russia in Africa. Undoubtedly, in the aforementioned dichotomy filled with Cold War mentality, the six countries including South Africa have essentially been classified into the so-called "authoritarian camp" that runs counter to African democratic construction, and have been labeled as targets of cognitive warfare. In addition to using practices such as the 2022 Kenyan general election to trumpet the so-called "universality and resilience" of Western-style democracy and openness in Africa, the focus of the West's cognitive war is directed toward the interior of the six countries, covertly supporting opposition parties to incite the masses to dismantle the legitimacy of the left-wing governing parties. For example, as a member of the Liberal International controlled by the U.S. and the West, the Democratic Alliance (DA) has become the largest opposition party in South Africa, promoting a cognitive opposition between neoliberalism and the governing party's left-wing reforms among the people and attacking China-South Africa cooperation; it has become a local ideological tool for the U.S. and the West to smear and challenge the ANC. Similarly, in Angola, the largest opposition party supported by the U.S. and the West, UNITA, has garnered significant vote support among young residents by promoting the cognitive opposition between "dictatorship and democracy" or "darkness and transparency," posing a potential threat to the MPLA’s governing status. In summary, by launching cognitive warfare through discourse hegemony, the U.S. and the West are exerting every effort to suppress the political influence of the six countries while placing their hopes on pro-Western opposition forces taking power, attempting to achieve a thorough political "transformation" of the six countries by replicating the "peaceful evolution" [27] seen after the end of the Cold War.
From the economic perspective, in recent years, dismantling the material basis of the Six Sister Parties' unity and collaboration during the restructuring of global industry and value chains has become the entry point for U.S. and Western involvement in Southern African affairs. On the one hand, the U.S. and the West are attempting to incorporate countries with significant economic value into their own dominated economic development tracks. In addition to the U.S. joining the UK and EU countries at the Glasgow Climate Pact to pledge $8.5 billion to support South Africa's "Just Energy Transition Partnership" (JETP)—co-opting South Africa while promoting the acceleration of "Industry 4.0" and addressing climate change—the U.S. is also seeking to invest $2.3 billion to support the construction of Angola's "Lobito Corridor." This is intended to be a flagship project in Africa for the "Build Back Better World" (B3W) initiative and the "Global Gateway" strategy, meeting Angola's goals of achieving industrial upgrading and developmental transformation. In these projects, the U.S. and the West emphasize so-called "financial transparency," "green and eco-friendly materials," and "project effectiveness" to support cooperation with South Africa and Angola. In essence, they attempt to attract and co-opt the two countries into "changing lanes" for development by concocting a set of Western standards capable of completely intercepting the progress of China's "Belt and Road Initiative" in Southern Africa. This, in turn, serves the strategic goal of controlling South Africa's domestic market, Angola's oil resources, and the critical mineral resources of southern DR Congo and Zambia, which rely heavily on the ports of these two countries for export. In practice, the Western policy of giving "economic carrots" to left-wing governing parties always coordinates with reverse political pressure through support for opposition parties, becoming a typical feature of their current forced promotion of neoliberalism. On the other hand, the U.S. and the West exert every effort to drive countries with lower economic value and those unwilling to compromise into extreme isolation. Because radical land reform touched the interests of white farmers, Zimbabwe has suffered comprehensive economic sanctions from the U.S. and the West since the beginning of the 21st century, becoming the country facing the most severe economic challenges among the six. After Emmerson Mnangagwa succeeded Robert Mugabe as president and launched reforms, there was no trend toward the loosening of Western economic sanctions. In March 2024, the U.S. announced to the world comprehensive sanctions against several high-level party and government officials, including President Mnangagwa, on the grounds of "abuse of power" and "human rights violations." This not only launched a new round of "maximum pressure" and isolation against ZANU–PF’s governing status but also peddled anxiety to the other five countries regarding "governance dilemmas caused by a democratic deficit." In short, the U.S. and the West attempt to use "carrot and stick" policies in the economic field to push the differences in national interest demands and development levels among the six countries beyond the collective management capacity of the Six Sister Parties. The potential risks brought by this cannot be ignored.
For nearly 70 years, the Six Sister Parties have striven with determination and advanced hand-in-hand through the practice of liberation and development in Southern Africa. Guided by the goal of breaking the shackles and interference of the "Western-Centric" paradigm on Africa, they have promoted Africa’s independent exploration of development paths for regional integration and modernization, injecting strong momentum into the "Africanization of nationalism" and the "updating of Pan-Africanism." The friendship of the Six Sister Parties has weathered the changing international landscape. In the historical leap from "revolutionary comrades" to "development partners," they have continuously enriched the theoretical connotation of their union, actively explored practical paths for self-reliance, and demonstrated the outstanding contributions made by left-wing governing parties to African revitalization and progress, driving the revival of socialism in Africa.
To be sure, facing "changes unseen in a century" [28], the unity and cooperation of the Six Sister Parties still face constraints from multiple internal and external challenges. However, under the contemporary trend where neoliberalism is showing its decline and Africa’s "de-Westernized" transitional development is in the ascendant, the advantages of their ideology and system will surely drive each party to emerge from their predicament through a "self-revolution" centered on their own people, helping the union and self-reliance of African left-wing governing parties to brave the wind and waves. Currently, the collective rise of developing countries has become an irreversible trend of the times, and Africa is becoming an important pole with global influence. The enduring traditional friendship of the Six Sister Parties will surely continue to play a leading and demonstrative role in the historical process of carrying and promoting Chinese-path modernization to assist African unity and revival, allowing the "strongest voice of the times"—the joint building of a high-level community with a shared future for China and Africa—to continue consolidating the foundation of the Global South.