"This sequence consisted of a sequence of musical moments and short oral interventions by experts in reaction to a text, written by a South African author, Lwando Scott, exploring the links between freedom and democracy. His subject was the anti-Apartheid activists who fought for freedom and who, in turn, won democracy. But did democracy actually give them freedom? This question was extended to the whole world, thanks to the participation of experts from the African and European continents.

Eight guests, from different countries, backgrounds and ages, took to the stage one after the other for an intervention similar in format to "TED talks". Each took a concise, dynamic approach to the concept of democracy, adopting a particular angle largely influenced by his or her own social and historical context. Speakers from South Africa, Botswana and Zimbabwe highlighted the urgent need in some countries to implement democratic principles, and the vitality with which activists are seizing upon them. The European speakers focused on current challenges, as well as on the historical foundations of democratic societies.

Three musical groups accompanied the speakers, drawing and uniting the audience in their dynamic, not without reminding us of the place occupied, in a democratic movement, by the public, citizens and the common good.

South Africa has a rich history, and music is part of that deep history. Music has forged us as the people of this country, and it's the same music that helped the country free itself from the shackles of Apartheid and the oppression experienced by black people during that period. People like Hugh Masekela, Mariam Makeba, Sipho Mchunu, Johnny Clegg and many others were activists, anti-Apartheid musicians and, of course, there were revolutionaries fighting against the Apartheid government: they were people of different colors and genders, including Winnie Madikizela Mandela, Nelson Rholihlahla Mandela, Steve Biko, Helen Suzman and many others. When these heroes fought and, in some cases, were beaten to death by the then Apartheid government, they weren't just looking for peace: they wanted to be freed from the shackles of slavery. They wanted FREEDOM, not what is presented to people as DEMOCRACY. Hence this meeting entitled "DEMOCRACY, IPH INKULULEKO? This debate, this question, has often been raised, but no one in the ANC cabinet is prepared to answer the following question: where is the Freedom that was promised in 1994? It is this problem that is also at the root of the Fees Must Fall and Rhodes Must Fall movements.

When I was invited to organize these exchanges, I immediately thought of women and people from the LGBTQI+ community who are influential, outspoken, active and who I knew would move the debate forward and make their voices heard on the African continent: I have seen them suffer exclusion and be denied the opportunity to become leaders. I'm certain they have the power to point the right way and influence change in Africa. South Africa, Zimbabwe and Botswana have - like other African countries, even more than them - experienced oppression: it was therefore essential to have representatives from these countries. Botswana gained independence in 1966, South Africa in 1961 and Zimbabwe in 1965. Despite the declared independence of these African countries, oppression and slavery have never ceased. Black men and women have continued to suffer. Even since the end of Apartheid in South Africa, black people are still not free, men and women are still captives, especially women.

When I was looking for someone to write a text for these meetings, my first thought was to turn to young people who represent different political parties in the country - not so they could defend their agenda, but to highlight the change they want as future leaders of the country and for the audience and participants to understand what they mean by Freedom, versus what we understand as Democracy. Unfortunately, we had to change our minds. And it was at this point that I considered calling on Lwando Scott, a Next Generation Fellow at the Centre for Humanities Research at the University of the Western Cape, whose research focuses on what he loosely calls "Queer post-colonization", to write the text for this discussion.

Lwando's paper was essential: it examined freedom of self, freedom of country and freedom of others - those not considered or seen as human - while addressing gender and the disregard for the rights of black, young, poor and marginalized women. In her paper, Lwando also touched on the negative effects of Covid 19 on black people, communities and institutions, including hospitals, illustrating her point with the example of her cousin giving birth in a hospital corridor - this was highlighted in these difficult pandemic times. In addition to Lwando's strong commitment to the underprivileged, African singer and songstress Sibongile Mngoma spoke at length about her childhood in the townships and her fear of police dogs during the Apartheid era. Today, she compares this fear she had with the fear she feels with fellow artists and black people capable of selling your skin as in the old days, when whites used spies to assassinate or have freedom fighters arrested.

What was extraordinary about these exchanges was the multiplicity of spaces created by different periods, experiences, training and ages. The youngest of all, Khululwa Mthi, a staunch pan-Africanist born in 1994, also raised worrying questions about how the government is breeding the population like cows who have the right to vote. Young black people still live in the concentration camps where her parents lived. Khululwa Mthi also delved into the issue of trauma, particularly that of the miners killed at MARIKANA, whose widows have never been given the freedom to speak and who have never been able to express their emotions. She also spoke of her involvement in the Fees Must Fall and Rhodes Must Fall movement, which rests on three pillars: black consciousness, pan-Africanism and radical black feminism: the struggle for decolonization and the struggles for gender inclusion should result in the freedom black people need; and in this struggle, no one should be forgotten.

As a young person, Khululwa Mthi still experiences high unemployment today. When South Africa's democracy was established, free education for all was one of the promises made that never materialized: that's why students started fighting for free education in 2015 and are still fighting today.

Here are her most important ideas:

• What to do in a country with so many rape victims?
• We must demand broad efforts of understanding and dialogue on gender needs and gender relations to give South Africa a better future.
• How was the country we live in created? We need to start by understanding the background/historical foundations - perhaps that's where we can find answers.
• To dismantle a patriarchal, capitalist and racist system, we need to rip it out at the root.
• The system is structural, it's institutionalized, which makes change in favor of black people difficult; hence the need to tackle it without remorse.
• The struggle for freedom after the establishment of democracy: young people continue to fight for justice.
• Gender justice must be recognized as the freedom of young people and black feminists.

Finally, the choice of the three bands who played today was strategic. Personally, I wanted bands that could start the conversation and bring out facts through music. Liso The Musician sings about issues that people in townships and marginalized communities have faced and experienced. Her album Zaf'ingane ("Youth is Dying") was compiled while she was participating in the Fees Must Fall and Rhods Must Fall movement: her contribution to the struggle was to write music that bears witness to what happens to students and young people in South Africa who are killed, arrested and raped while fighting for their right to education. His famous song "POTA POTA" speaks of the lack of services in the townships, and of the bucket system used by communities during the apartheid era. Iphupho L'ka Biko (Biko's Dream) is a pan-Africanist music group, inspired by the ideologies, influences and exchanges within Steve Biko's black consciousness movement. The group brings a lot of hope to the black community: it carries songs of struggle that echo the country's past, songs of freedom that pushed people to stand up and fight against a segregated government that, during the Apartheid regime, kept black people in an inferior status.

Soweto Spiritual Singers is unifying - an a cappella gospel group that manages to bring everyone together. The group has had its fans since its collaboration with American singer R-KELLY during the 2010 World Cup: it united the entire audience by opening the concert with the South African anthem - "Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika" -; after this opening, it covered famous songs from the Apartheid period - "Not Yet Uhuru", by the legendary Letta Mbuli.

This meeting turned out just as I had hoped: it moved, inspired and empowered the assembly members who were introduced during the seminar."

"In a few months' time, "the most important elections since 1994", as some claim, will be held in South Africa. They come at a time of growing mistrust between the government and the population, and increasing abstention among voters. According to the latest National Youth Policy (NYP), people in the 15-34 age bracket account for over a third (34.7%) of the population. A young person can register on the electoral roll from the age of 16, and then vote at the age of 18. The Mail & Guardian recently reported that voter turnout in South Africa has declined across all age groups in every national election held since the historic 1994 poll, but most worryingly among the youngest. Current discussions about youth civic participation and the new positioning of youth as drivers of democracy couldn't have come at a better time.

• 1. Apathy or frustration?

By the local elections in 2021, almost 1.8 million young people between the ages of 18 and 19 eligible to vote had decided not to register to vote, and registration rates in the 20-29 age bracket have also fallen since the 2016 local elections. This phenomenon is generally attributed to a lack of interest in politics among young people, who are often among those citizens who are not sufficiently interested in issues of governance. However, this theory has been proven wrong. Jamal Tsotesti, one of the panelists, explains: "The issues affecting young people within a democracy are universal and not limited to any particular country. A system cannot be democratic if young people are disenfranchised and poorly represented."

• 2. Electoral reform

The discussions also addressed the issue of electoral reform and the need to find new solutions for electing public officials and holding them to account. Young people have opted out of institutionalized processes of democratic participation and are demanding new forms of political expression. Activist and political commentator Tessa Dooms explains that "young activists are primarily focused on campaigns and movements aimed at reforming institutional policies and processes, such as the #fallist movements." This means we need to find solutions that give young people a voice and understand their new forms of political expression.

• 3. Digitalization

Panel members expressed different points of view regarding the digital expression of democracy. Siyabulela Jentile noted that much of the debate in South Africa still focused on the use of social networks and digital media to make civic education more accessible, but panel members also explored the opportunities and dangers of online voting systems and the use of digital technology to enable local governments to collect data that would enable them to improve the essential services provided to the population. Saskia Postema, a professor at Leiden University's Institute for Security and Global Affairs, gave an overview of a research study into how and why celebrities and influencers on social networks can influence young people's decisions to vote, based on their online interactions.

The panel unanimously concluded that despite the progress and innovations underway around the world to achieve democratic processes, there is still this need for a "return to the great principles" and to let people know the concrete ways in which they can have influence, because "the future is being built now and we must respond present. Intergenerational solidarity must enable us to make room for youth and its representation, so that young people want to get involved and can do so," concludes Saskia Postema."

You originally trained as a journalist. What inspired you to move into human rights?

Actually, I'm not trained in journalism, but in political science. I studied politics and administration at the University of Zimbabwe and, being a polyglot, I was recruited by public broadcasting. So I trained on the job as a television journalist. However, I think television journalism became my second skin. It was a job I really enjoyed doing. When I left public broadcasting to join Radio Voice of the People, an alternative channel that was just starting up in Zimbabwe at the time, I had to go out into the field and gather information that we would then transmit on air. On one of these visits, I went to Matebeleland, a region in south-west Zimbabwe that was engulfed in civil war (some call it genocide) from 1983 to 1987. An estimated 20,000 people lost their lives and thousands more disappeared. I'd heard that men were especially targeted, as they were the ones considered to be dissidents. I wanted to talk to the women to hear their side of the story. During this interview, I realized that, as journalists, we weren't doing them justice in terms of what had happened in Matebeleland. Many of these women lost their husbands. Some were murdered before their very eyes. It was a painful experience just listening to them. I felt that this was a human rights issue that needed to be publicized, so I ended up in this field. Initially, I joined an organization called the Zimbabwe Civic Education Trust, whose aim was to foster coexistence and tolerance on a local scale. When I left, I joined ZPP.

What are your main objectives as director of the Zimbabwe Peace Project?

Our aim is to establish lasting peace. We don't just want to establish peace for current generations, but to create an environment where even our children's children can live in peace. We are aware that some people act in a certain way because they think they have the power and others have no voice. The ZPP was created to highlight some of these evils and injustices that take place in communities. We have a unique model that we use when we have volunteers who are committed and dedicated to this kind of work and who live within the affected communities themselves. We emphasize the voices of the victims. We also want to listen to the voices of the perpetrators, as we are aware that they are often manipulated. There are many unemployed young people whom politicians manipulate with a few silver coins, a T-shirt or even an opaque beer. Right now, we're worried that they're even offering them drugs. And then they ask them to do the dirty work. At ZPP, we want to shine a light on everything, and particularly on the places where human rights abuses are taking place.

At the same time, our aim is also to complement the work of the government. It is the government that is in a position and has the responsibility to ensure that citizens are able to exercise their rights. If these rights are violated, we let them know, and we want our government to denounce these situations and take action against these abuses, so that they don't happen again. In the targeted communities where we are implementing peace-building projects, such as Binga, Chiredzi, Mutoko, Matobo and Mutasa, we have set up what we call community ambassadors, whose aim is to trace the conflicts in their area. We have also equipped them to transform conflict. When we see a human rights violation, we also act as a referral center where we direct victims to lawyers for legal redress, to doctors to access medical care, and to psychosocial therapists for trauma victims requiring follow-up.

Recently, the ZPP launched its Resist, Reject and Report Violence campaign (Resist, Reject and Report Violence, in English). How has the campaign been received and what are, basically, the objectives to be achieved?

This campaign is still in its infancy, but the main aim is to get across the idea that communities cannot continue to elect violent individuals. Our message is that they must be resisted, rejected and denounced. The ZPP names and denounces the perpetrators of violence. We have also adopted a transformative approach whereby we will "name and shame" those who do the right thing. We have, for example, heard of a member of parliament who is adored by his community because, when the community receives resources, he shares them equally, rather than giving them to those who support a specific party. As we move closer to the 2023 elections, we also expect this campaign to facilitate the denunciation of electoral and political violence that can affect the process leading up to the elections. We want communities to stand firm and make it clear that leaders who embrace violence have no place in parliament. They must train and encourage others to live in peace and tolerate each other's opinions in order to coexist better. Violence affects people's willingness to vote. So we want to create an environment where everyone feels safe to do so.

You recently took part in the "Our Future: Africa-Europe Dialogues" forum (Our Future: Africa - Europe Dialogues, in English) in Johannesburg. At this event, players from various fields discussed the main challenges facing democracy in Europe and Africa. What issues are you most concerned about?

I presented the session on democracy and freedom. We talk so much about democracy, but where is freedom? Zimbabwe became an independent country in 1980 and a lot has changed. However, 42 years after independence, are Zimbabweans free? I always say that Zimbabwe aspires to become a democracy. We have a constitution which was very progressive when it was created, but which has changed due to regressive amendments. We have a broad Charter of Human Rights, but these rights are restricted. We don't exercise them in their entirety. Poor people can't access medical care. Due to high unemployment, parents can't afford to pay for schools and, as a result, children are sent home.

My country is supposed to be a multi-party democracy, but opposition party meetings are interrupted and banned and their supporters are beaten and arrested. This even happens during election campaigns. And we say, "where's the freedom if political parties can't participate in campaigns"? Recently, two women named Tsitsi Dangarembga, a well-known writer, and Julie Barnes were tried for holding up a placard, even though our constitution allows peaceful demonstrations. There is also selective application of the law. If a crime is committed by a member of the opposition, the police arrest them very quickly and usually keep them in custody for a long time without any form of trial, whereas bail is supposed to be a constitutional right.

I also attended another session organized by Play Africa where children were saying that they were not able to enjoy democracy because their parents and other adults did not allow them to express themselves. We have to give children the means to express themselves about their situation. If we don't listen to them, we risk them turning to drugs or violence, or committing suicide. We risk destroying a generation.

Threats to journalists are an equally important issue. This problem affects not just Zimbabwe, but many countries. We need to promote an environment where journalists can work without risking arrest or violence.

What are your hopes for the future of the Zimbabwe Peace Project? Have you seen any improvements in the situation in Zimbabwe since you took office?

My vision for the ZPP is to see a Zimbabwe where there is peace, justice, dignity and development for all.

There are improvements, but our influence is not recognized. The ZPP is part of the Zimbabwean election support network, and after every election we issue recommendations. In the past, we had presidential and parliamentary elections in different years. We were always in electoral mode. We recommended harmonized elections, since that's the best option, and that's now a reality. We used to have wooden ballot boxes, and now they're transparent. This is also part of the improvements. The extended Human Rights Charter is another improvement. It is also possible to request information under the Freedom of Information Act. In concrete terms, government departments have seven days to provide the required information.

During the run-up to the 2008 elections, we monitored and mapped active areas of violence. These issues were raised in the observers' report and, in the 2013 elections, there was a considerable change in the way the ruling party approached communities. Violence was still present, of course, but these were not instances of violence that caused major damage. Of course, there shouldn't be any violence, but it's still an improvement. As Zimbabweans, we can respect each other and vote without violence. In this way, the winners will know that they have won fairly, in an environment conducive to voting.