Pigs, promises and the ballot box: Africa’s ‘Animal Farm’ reality

Using George Orwell’s Animal Farm as a point of reference, the discussion examined how systems that retain the appearance of liberation can gradually lose its substance. The warning is not limited to the symbolism of pigs eventually resembling the humans they once overthrew. It lies in the slow acceptance of a political order that still performs the rituals of freedom while citizens become increasingly disconnected from its promises.

When democracy becomes a five-year ritual

Across much of the continent, democracy is often presented through a familiar sequence: a campaign, a vote and the transfer or retention of power. That cycle can reduce public participation to a moment that happens every few years, leaving the period between elections largely overlooked.

“Quite often, when we think about democracy, we have a frame… and quite often, that frame is very narrow,” Larok said. “We talk about elections; we talk about leaders… But we rarely observe in between these elections and underneath these elections.”

That distinction matters because elections are only one part of democratic life. They provide a way for citizens to choose representatives, but they do not automatically ensure that public institutions respond to daily needs. A democracy can maintain its formal procedures while people remain concerned about whether they are safe, whether there is food on the table and whether their children can access public education.

The cost of winner-takes-all politics

The political transitions of the late 1980s and 1990s brought profound hope as liberation movements dismantled colonial regimes and entrenched dictatorships. Yet the promise of those changes was followed by frustration in places where participation became tied to highly competitive, winner-takes-all political systems.

When a narrow majority can secure near-total control, the other side of the electorate may feel excluded from meaningful influence. Political competition then risks becoming less about civic dialogue and more about capturing the institutions and resources of the state.

In that environment, parties and candidates can be encouraged to protect power at almost any cost. Principles may be compromised, alliances consolidated and public attention directed towards winning the next contest rather than addressing the conditions that shape everyday life.

Larok said the practical concerns of citizens are often much simpler than the political spectacle surrounding them.

“At the end of the day, when I go to… exercise [my vote], what do I want really?” he asked. “People just want to live happily. People want to feel safe. People want to have food on their table. I want to be able to take my children to a public school… It’s just a disconnect because we focus on the performance of the form. And the winner takes all.”

What declining turnout may be signalling

One of the most important arguments raised at the gathering was that falling voter turnout should not automatically be interpreted as apathy. It can also reflect dissatisfaction with political systems that do not appear to deliver on their promises.

When citizens repeatedly see elections without corresponding improvements in their lives, participation can lose its sense of purpose. People may still value the right to vote while questioning whether the available political choices can address insecurity, poverty, inequality and the failure of public services.

That frustration does not necessarily mean people have abandoned public life. Larok linked resistance and repression to the continuing effort by citizens to demand something better.

“Underneath that is a struggle for people to look for better. If we were simply docile, and every single leader is sitting on us, then nobody would get arrested, nobody would be in prison… We are oppressed because we are standing up.”

The point is significant because it shifts the focus from passive disappointment to active dissent. Protest, organising and public pressure can all be signs that citizens continue to believe change is possible, even when formal political structures appear closed or unresponsive.

Looking beyond the ballot box

The central lesson drawn from Animal Farm is the danger of collective forgetfulness. In Orwell’s story, the rules are gradually rewritten until the animals can no longer distinguish between the values of the revolution and the behaviour of those who replaced the old rulers.

Applied to democracy, the warning is that citizens may retain elections while losing sight of what those elections are meant to achieve. The existence of a ballot does not, on its own, prove that people have agency between voting days. Nor does a change in leadership necessarily alter the deeper structures that produce exclusion and inequality.

A stronger democratic culture requires attention to what happens underneath and between elections. It asks whether people can hold leaders accountable, whether public institutions respond to communities and whether ordinary citizens have a meaningful role in shaping decisions that affect their lives.

Democracy as a living practice

Larok argued that imagining a different future requires a willingness to think beyond inherited political models. Rather than treating democracy as a finished system imported from elsewhere, societies can view it as a living practice that must continue to evolve.

“Why don’t you come tomorrow like a child? You know, every child is a genius… this, I think, is what we are struggling with. We don’t want to be childish, but we should be childlike with imagination.”

That call for imagination is not an argument against democratic institutions. It is a challenge to make them more responsive and more closely connected to human needs. Elections remain a vital mechanism for public choice, but they need to sit within a broader system of participation, accountability and social rights.

The measure of democracy, then, cannot be limited to whether campaigns are held or ballots are counted. It must also include whether people feel free, safe and able to influence the decisions that govern their lives.

Until that wider purpose is restored, the warning in Animal Farm remains relevant: citizens may continue looking through the farmhouse window, watching power change hands while struggling to tell whether the system has truly changed.