“The main point of departure for this regional research enterprise is the recognition that the entire African continent and the SADC region in particular, have made tremendous strides towards the embracing and institutionalisation of multi-party democratic governance. This study recognises the stark reality that the SADC region has undergone a democratic transition away from authoritarian rule of the past marked, in the main, by one-person rule, one-party rule and even military juntas of the 1960s-80s, towards the establishment of democratic governance.”