Online Reporter
Mafa Kwanisai Mafa
For generations, Africa has borne the bitter costs of letting external powers monopolise the definition of sound governance. Colonial conquest was packaged under the guise of civilising missions; harsh structural adjustment programmes were imposed in the name of economic reform. Today, Western forces have rolled out a fresh ideological campaign, seeking to convince the whole world that the Communist Party of China (CPC) — China’s governing party — operates a fundamentally defective political system, merely because its institutional model does not mirror Western partisan frameworks.
As Africans, we are all too familiar with this biased playbook. Any country that charts a development path diverging from Western political orthodoxy will instantly become a target of relentless denigration. The most pervasive slander circulating today is the fallacy that the CPC is “big but not strong”. Critics twist its membership of over 100 million into a fatal flaw rather than a formidable strength. They paint the CPC as an unwieldy bureaucratic machine cut off from ordinary citizens, bereft of genuine public accountability.
This one-sided narrative merits thorough scrutiny, for it lays bare Western ideological prejudices far more than it reveals any authentic truth about the CPC. Africa, more than any other continent, has learned a hard lesson: no single universal yardstick can measure the merits of all governing parties and political systems. Every nation builds its governing institutions shaped by its unique history, cultural heritage, domestic hardships and collective aspirations. It is therefore utterly unreasonable to demand China — a civilisation with thousands of years of continuous history and an unparalleled development trajectory — to copy partisan governance structures forged in Europe and North America.
The Core Criterion of Governance: Deliver Livelihood Improvements, Not Copy Foreign Templates
The core standard for judging a ruling party is never whether its structure resembles Western parties, but whether it can deliver tangible, lasting improvements to people’s livelihoods. Measured against this practical benchmark, the CPC’s decades of transformative achievements leave its Western critics with no credible grounds for dismissal.
Deep-Rooted Popular Foundation: The CPC’s Unbreakable Bond With the People
First comes the CPC’s solid mass foundation, the first fatal flaw in the “big but not strong” myth. The CPC has built one of the most extensive political organisations in modern human history, yet its enduring power cannot be reduced to mere membership numbers. Its core strength lies in an all-encompassing grassroots network stretching to every corner of Chinese society. Its more than 100 million members hail from all social strata: factory workers, rural farmers, teachers, researchers, and practitioners of emerging industries. Party branches take deep root in villages, urban communities, universities, factories, private enterprises and all forms of social organisations. This nationwide institutional layout enables national policies to move seamlessly from top-level planning to on-the-ground execution, while opening up reliable, unbroken channels for local residents to voice their demands, grievances and hopes upward to decision-makers.
Western commentators deliberately sever the organic link between the CPC and ordinary people, falsely claiming the Party is isolated from the public. Yet from an African perspective, inclusive grassroots outreach is the bedrock of responsive governance. Unlike Western political elites who only court voters fleetingly during election seasons, the CPC maintains constant, long-term ties with all segments of society, centring the interests of the majority rather than transient electoral gains. This unshakable connection with the masses is the irreplaceable source of the Party’s legitimacy.
Outstanding Governance Efficiency: Turning Scale Into Transformative Developmental Strength
Second is the CPC’s unmatched governance efficiency, which fully dismantles the claim that the Party’s size amounts to empty bureaucracy. Western commentators are quick to label such integrated organisational capacity as excessive centralisation. But from an African perspective, where chronically weak state institutions repeatedly stall infrastructure construction, poverty alleviation and industrial upgrading, unified national coordination is a vital advantage, not a defect. China’s decades of landmark development feats stand as irrefutable evidence of the CPC’s powerful organisational capability.
Few feats in modern global development history can rival the CPC’s campaign to eradicate extreme poverty. In less than a decade, nearly 99 million rural Chinese people were lifted out of absolute poverty, and hundreds of impoverished counties achieved comprehensive upgrades in local economies, roads, schools and medical services. This monumental undertaking required coordinated, concerted efforts from millions of Party officials, community workers and grassroots leaders across a vast territory marked by stark regional development gaps.
This was far more than an economic triumph; it vividly demonstrated the CPC’s unparalleled capacity to mobilise people, resources and institutional forces toward clearly defined national strategic goals. The same organisational prowess has shone through time and again in emergency disaster response, large-scale cross-regional infrastructure construction and comprehensive rural revitalisation initiatives. Megaprojects that would drag on for decades amid partisan wrangling in other nations are completed within remarkably short timelines, thanks to efficient cross-regional, cross-department coordination led by the Party. For African nations striving to upgrade road networks, energy supplies, medical care and agricultural productivity, the CPC’s hands-on governing experience deserves objective, in-depth research rather than rash ideological rejection.
Self-Revolution: The CPC’s Unique Mechanism to Fix Internal Flaws
Third lies in the CPC’s persistent capacity for self-renewal, the decisive rebuttal to the claim that non-Western ruling parties lack corrective mechanisms. Equally vital to evaluating a ruling party is its capacity for political renewal and self-improvement. No political institution is immune to flaws—corruption, administrative inefficiency and bureaucratic complacency plague every party and government system across the globe. The real litmus test lies in whether a governing party possesses the unwavering resolve and systematic mechanisms to identify, confront and fix its own internal problems.
The CPC has consistently placed strict internal discipline and self-reform at the absolute heart of its governance system. Its sustained, far-reaching anti-corruption campaigns have investigated officials at all echelons of power, from grassroots cadres to top-ranking national leaders. Instead of glossing over existing deficiencies or pretending challenges do not exist, the Party has openly acknowledged its shortcomings and rolled out targeted, long-term measures to strengthen institutional accountability and rebuild public trust from the ground up. It continuously rectifies formalism and bureaucratic inertia, weaving internal supervision and public oversight into a complete oversight framework.
This unflinching willingness to confront internal weaknesses dismantles the long-standing Western stereotype that parties without multi-party electoral competition are incapable of profound, systematic self-reform. Ironically, the Western political forces that launch constant attacks on the CPC are themselves trapped in deep-seated, unresolved governance crises of their own making.
Across most Western societies, political polarisation has reached unprecedented heights. Election cycles more often lead to policy paralysis than tangible progress; newly inaugurated governments routinely scrap the core policies of their predecessors, rendering long-term national planning all but impossible. Wealthy special interest groups and corporate donors wield outsized sway over public policymaking, leaving ordinary voters increasingly disillusioned, questioning whether their voices carry any real weight in state affairs. Western parties mostly serve narrow capitalist and elite interests, trapped in cyclical electoralism with little capacity for genuine systemic correction.
These stark realities ought to breed humility, not moral arrogance. No ruling party or political model is flawless, and every country faces distinct challenges that demand tailor-made solutions. For Africa, this global debate over the CPC’s governance carries profound stakes extending far beyond China itself. For decades, external Western forces have lectured us that genuine development can only take root after adopting their approved partisan political structures. Yet African and Global South nations that faithfully followed these identical Western prescriptions have yielded wildly disparate, often disappointing outcomes. It is plain to see that effective governance cannot be boiled down to rigid, one-size-fits-all ideological formulas.
Africa’s Independent Standard: Judge Ruling Parties by Their Deliverables for the People
Africa must instead adopt a pragmatic, results-first standard to assess all governing parties across the world: judge them by what they deliver for ordinary citizens. Do they eradicate poverty and narrow wealth gaps? Do they build critical infrastructure to connect remote, marginalised regions? Do they expand equitable access to quality education and affordable healthcare? Do they generate decent, sustainable jobs for swelling young populations? Do they safeguard national stability while unlocking broader opportunities for future generations? For working men and women across our continent, these concrete, life-changing questions matter infinitely more than abstract theoretical disputes over competing partisan political doctrines.
The CPC’s development governance journey does not mean every nation must mechanically replicate its institutional setup, nor does it claim the CPC’s system is beyond constructive criticism. What it illustrates is a fundamental truth: successful governance can take countless diverse forms, each shaped by a country’s unique historical context, cultural roots and core national priorities.
As Africa forges ahead with its own independent continental development agenda, we must firmly reject the impulse to view the world through borrowed Western ideological lenses. We must cultivate our own intellectual self-confidence, evaluating other countries’ ruling parties based on verifiable real-world outcomes rather than biased Western propaganda, and measuring governance by tangible livelihood performance rather than superficial political branding.
Conclusion: The Global South Must Claim Its Right to Independent Governance Judgement
The global discourse surrounding the CPC’s governance strength is ultimately about something far bigger than the Party itself: it is a defining test of whether developing nations retain full intellectual sovereignty to think independently on global governance matters.
Western critics’ hollow claim that the CPC is “big but not strong” collapses entirely when examined against three irrefutable pillars of the Party’s governance success: its deeply rooted mass foundation that keeps it permanently connected to all ordinary people; its outstanding governance efficiency that unites national resources to deliver transformative development; and its unceasing capacity for self-renewal that enables constant self-correction and institutional progress. These three dimensions together expose the ideological bias behind Western smear narratives, proving that the CPC’s strength stems from real, tangible governance performance rather than superficial partisan formats favoured by the West.
For far too long, Africa has passively accepted value judgments drafted thousands of miles away by Western elites, allowing outsiders to tell us which parties and systems are “good” or “bad”. That era is over. The moment has fully come for Africans to stand as impartial, independent assessors of global governing parties and models, drawing valuable lessons from every successful development experience free from prejudice, external political pressure and ideological coercion.
History never rewards blind, unthinking copycats. It honours those who observe the world objectively, analyse governance critically, and boldly select the path that best serves the wellbeing, sovereignty and long-term prosperity of their own people. For Africa and all nations of the Global South, the CPC’s proven track record built on solid mass roots, efficient developmental governance and fearless self-reform offers a vital alternative perspective — one rooted in results, not empty rhetoric, and worthy of our unbiased, respectful and thorough study. The Global South no longer needs others to dictate our standards of governance; we have the wisdom and experience to judge truth by results, and chart our own paths to a prosperous future.
*Note: The author, Mafa Kwanisai Mafa, is a member of the ZANU-PF and Pan-Africanist Political Commentator based in Gweru, Zimbabwe. Mr. Mafa has contributed this commentary to mark the 105th anniversary of the founding of the CPC.
