Programme director
The Mayor of Ethekwini Municipality, Councillor Obed Mlaba
The Premier of the province of Kwazulu-Natal Dr Zweli Mkhize
My Cabinet Colleagues present
Members of the Diplomatic Corps
Dignitaries present
Ladies and gentleman
All protocol observed.
It gives us pleasure as the Ministry of Economic Development and Tourism to join millions of Africans on the continent and in the Diaspora to celebrate a day of reawakening and a moment of intense reflection.
But more importantly we believe that today is a day during which we collectively as a people, bound by the history of pain and joy, reaffirm our commitment work hard in order to ensure that Africa and Africans hold her own in the family of nations.
As many of us are aware there can be no gainsaying about the importance on this day to us as African, but we believe that it is fitting to start our remarks with the words uttered by one of the path-finders to our liberation from colonialism, Kwame Nkrumah at the Independent Day Celebrations of Ghana in 1957.
“The new African is ready to fight his own battles and show that after all, the black man is capable of managing his own affairs. We are going to demonstrate to the world that we are prepared to lay our own foundation. Our independence is meaningless unless it is linked up with the total liberation of Africa.”
Exactly, six years after the sun of freedom had shone the brightest on one corner of the darkest continent, African leaders, led by Nkrumah and Julius Nyerere among others, would gather in Ethiopia on this day, to declare their commitment to ensure that every square inch of the African continent was rid of the colonialism and its ravaging vestiges.
This was a watershed moment for the continent not only because of its symbolism, but because Africans for the first time were taking their fate in their own hands, decades after a group of imperialists had met in 1884 and, with reckless disregard, carved the continent into pieces and single handedly decided the future of Africans.
Programme director, it is history now that, despite many challenges, Africa is today free of colonial repression. For many reasons, Africa Day remains an emotional moment for many of us in South Africa owing to the fact that we were the last country to gain independence in Africa. For many years while many African countries celebrated this day, South Africans were in the trenches, fighting to unshackle themselves from what was declared by the United Nations as a crime against humanity.
Further underscoring the day’s significance to us is the fact that the African Union (AU), which is a successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) was launched in South Africa and its inaugural president was our former president Thabo Mbeki. But the question that we should collectively answer, honestly and candidly as we gather here today on this glorious day, is what the meaning of Africa Day today is? In a globalised world in which, seemingly, everyone is a sum total of his wealth, where many people pay allegiance to no one but to their wealth which they can follow to any corner of the globe, is Africa Day still relevant?
Given the lukewarm record of many of our leaders in the post colonialism era and the multitude of challenges facing the continent today, is Africa Day still worth celebrating today?
Our submission is that Africa Day remains more relevant today than any other time in the evolution of the African history. Just like Americans celebrate their Independence Day with nationalist vigour, so we should observe this day as a sacred moment that marks our annual rebirth.
However, the reality is that given the complex mixture of challenges facing Africa today, we can ill afford, to turn Africa Day into a day where we make lofty speeches laced with rousing rhetoric and then continue with life as if nothing has happened. Africa Day should be a day of intense reflection, a day where all Africans on the continent in the Diaspora should re-commit themselves to work doubly hard to realise Africa’s total economic emancipation.
As all of us know, Africa is endowed with bountiful natural resources. However, the reality is that those resources have not benefited Africa and her people. While in the past the resources were pillaged by imperial forces, today they are sent to the same countries in the name of trade, only to return to Africa as finished products costing twice as much. Of course, this lopsided trade relation militates against our collective efforts to realise Africa’s economic emancipation.
The challenge, therefore, facing the African continent is to innovate and reinvest herself in the context of the global challenges facing the continent, especially the recent economic meltdown which brought the world economy to its knees. Already, with the emerging economy being the flavour of the month of investors, Africa has had its share of global investment cake.
Programme director, statistics show that Sub-Saharan Africa remained the third fastest growing major region in the world in 2010 in spite of the global recession. The demand for Africa’s commodities from Asia – particularly China and India- was $106 billion in 2008, while economic forecasters say that by 2030 Africa’s 18 biggest cities will have a combined $1,3 trillion in spending power. This shows that Africa’s economic recovery is truly and well in full swing.
In spite of many challenges facing the continent, what is encouraging though is that the political climate on the continent is showing relative signs of improvement. Just last year, more than 11 countries held presidential elections, including parliamentary elections and referendums. By the end of this year, at least seventeen elections would have been held across the continent. Also, the events of this year, which are now known as the Arab Spring Uprisings, have shown that democracy in other parts of the continent can no longer be a perpetual dream deferred.
Programme director, it is our contention that more than ever before Africa needs more trade than aid. The time for looking at the continent as, to steal a phrase from former British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, a festering “scar on the world’s conscience” is over. We are not seeking sympathy from anyone. Nor are we a charity case, looking for special favours.
All we are asking for is the leveling of the world economic playing field. However, in our attempts to woo investors into the continent, we must guard against unwittingly entrenching new forms of economic subjugation. As we all know, all the world’s superpowers are all scrambling to access Africa’s resources. In welcoming them to our shores, we must ensure that all the investments are in the interest of not only us but of future generation. Yes, we want investment, but we can ill afford to have investment without us.
We can ill-afford to have other countries creaming off investment opportunities in our continent while our people are watching from the sidelines as spectators. It is instructive to note that the theme of this year’s Africa Day celebration is: Accelerating youth empowerment for sustainable development, because more than ever before, Africa needs a crop of young leaders who will complete the daunting journey that was started by our founding fathers.
Africa needs a band of leaders who understand that being in public office means that you are carrying on your shoulders the hopes and the aspirations of the current and future generations. Just as the struggle to end colonialism was a collective effort among African countries, so do we need a collective effort among our sister countries to grow our economies. While we may not necessarily agree with some of the positions of the European Union in trading with other regions, including the African continent, we must concede that the EU, as a trading block, has done much to safeguard the economies of the various countries of that region.
Protectionism aside, we have all witnessed the assistance that has been extended to ailing EU economies by the EU family of nations during the current difficult times. The lesson for us as African economies is that, while it may have its downside, regional economic integration is the way to go. The goal of Southern African Development Corporation (SADC) economic integration by 2015 is one that we should pursue with vigour. This will eliminate unnecessary and destructive competition among neighbouring
SADC countries and ensure that our voice is strengthened in multilateral fora. When this integration escalates to the level of the AU, then Africa will become a formidable force in the world. We must resist the temptation, when things go awry in our respective countries, to rush to former colonial masters for assistance or to retreat into our shells of individualism. Unity among African countries is the key to our success.
For Africa to become a global economic giant, we need to produce multi-national companies that can begin to hold their own in the turbulent waters of the global economy. We need to create entrepreneurs who will grow the economies of their countries to reach the much sought after double digit figures.
We need to create economies that will be diversified, economies that will do away with the imbalance of skewed trade. But more importantly we need a new breed of young people who will make sure that the dream of Julius Nyerere, Kwame Nkrumah and Nelson Mandela to emancipate the continent is realised in our lifetime. After all it was Steve Biko who once said: “The great powers of the world may have done wonders in given the world an industrial and military look, but the great gift still has to come from Africa – giving the world a more human face.” Africa’s time has come and that time is now!
I thank you.
