7 Political Drivers, Ideology and Development in Southern Africa Lloyd Sachikonye Introduction e ruling parties in Southern Africa reached their high watermark in popularity in the transitional elections to independent statehood. Not only were electoral participation levels unprecedented, their legitimacy as popular liberation or nationalist movements was generally high. ese movements ranged from TANU that ushered in independence in Tanzania in 1962 to Frelimo in Mozambique in 1975, from Zanu-PF in Zimbabwe in 1980 to the ANC in South Africa in 1994, amongst others. It was not an exaggeration by some analysts to characterize these epochal processes as spanning thirty years of liberation struggles and fraternal solidarity in the region (Southall, 2013: 29-43; Ranger, 2003). Some 60 years since the commencement of those struggles and solidarity, it is timely to re ect on the relationship between those political transitions and development challenges in the region. Despite gaining state power, the ruling parties have largely found development to be elusive. In most instances, economic development has been slow at best making economic independence di cult to achieve. Why have political transitions not been accompanied by development transitions in the form of sustainable growth, industrialization and social equity? How do we explain the persistence of the triple challenges of unemployment, poverty and inequality? is chapter is a preliminary modest attempt to explore these questions with reference to Southern Africa. 161 Lloyd Sachikonye