Programme director
The Chairperson of the African Renaissance Festival, Professor Sihawu Ngubane
The African Union Goodwill Ambassador, Dr Manto Tshabalala-Msimang
The CEO of Tsogo Sun Mr Jabu Mabuza
The President of the Durban Chamber, Mr Clive Manci
Fellow delegates
Academics present
Dignitaries present
Ladies and gentlemen
All protocol observed on behalf of the people of the province of KwaZulu-Natal and South Africa as a whole, the government of KwaZulu-Natal extends its heartfelt welcome to all the delegates from our beautiful continent Africa who has descended on this beautiful eastern seaboard city of Durban to participate in this, the eleventh edition African Renaissance Festival.
The number eleven bears much relevance to our country this year than any other year because next year, on behalf of the African continent, South Africa will be hosting the world’s biggest sporting spectacle, the 2010 FIFA Soccer World Cup. Even those like ourselves with a pedestrian knowledge of the world’s biggest sporting code, soccer, know that it takes eleven players to make up a team to compete in any soccer match. The symbolism, therefore, of the number eleven is that, just like a soccer team, Africa is now ready to get into any field and play competitively with other continents of the world.
Indeed in the case of South Africa, we have been ready for the past fifteen years, for we could not have been deemed to be ready when a country in the southernmost tip of our country remained in bondage. South African poet Mzwakhe Mbuli had put it eloquently in one of his poems when he said “…and Africa shall know no peace, until we in the South are free”. To these lines we could have added that Africa would know no stability, prosperity, growth and development until South Africa had attained her freedom. It is thanks to the contributions of our fellow African sisters and brothers who stood shoulder to shoulder with us during the times of difficulties that our country has been free for the past fifteen years now.
Because of our collective efforts as African compatriots, transcending borders and ethnic lines, Africa is now free to engage in the historical imperative of rebuilding herself and taking her deserved place of honour in the table of the nations of the world. This eleventh edition of the African Renaissance Festival comes with an added impetus on all of us as Africans to gird up our loins and immerse ourselves in the task of building a continent fit for our children. The time for excuses is over and now is the time for Africans to stand up in unity and define their collective destiny.
We wish to extend our sincere gratitude to the organisers of this festival particularly the founding chairperson of the African Renaissance Committee, our honourable former Premier, Dr S J Ndebele, who had the vision to initiate this noble concept. In the same vein we wish to bow our heads in memory of our departed fellow activist, Reverend James Orange, who was called to higher service recently. It is our singular intention to ensure that we fulfil the task of building a stronger and resilient Africa that Reverend Orange and many other departed activists dreamt of.
Programme director, this festival comes at a difficult time in the global economic landscape. As all of us know, the world economic environment as we know it will never be the same again. This is thanks to the contagious effect of the sub prime lending crisis which has shaken the very foundation of the world’s financial systems. It is history now that all the countries have come up with various measures in their attempt to mitigate what has been described as the biggest economic crisis of our age, perhaps since the great depression. Such has been the devastating impact of this economic crisis that some analysts have referred to it as the death of planet finance.
Given the interconnectedness of the world, the question that we all need to answer as we gather here today is what it is that can we collectively do to ensure that we reduce the impact of this economic turbulence on our African economies. Put differently, what effect will this tectonic shift on planet finance have on us as one of the emerging markets. Already, as all of us know, our continent, which largely relies on foreign direct investment has been hardest hit by this global financial turmoil, owing to the fact that investors have become risk-averse. Instead of expanding their investment portfolios, many countries have resorted to protecting their market turfs, resulting in our economies which rely on capital in flows feeling the pinch. Precisely because some of our economies tend to depend on international donor assistance, the impact of the financial meltdown will indeed have a negative impact on Africa’s continued growth and development.
We believe therefore that as we gather here it is important for all of us to look closely at these matters. As part of the resolutions of this conference, we should come up with roadmap, taking our cue from the African Union, to deal with the impact of the current financial turmoil on Africa.
We also believe that the concept of African Renaissance can longer be an abstract term which is only the preserve of scholars but should be made relevant to the day to day experiences of our ordinary people. In the context of Africa’s rebirth and the world’s biggest economic meltdown, the question that we should therefore answer here is how do we ensure that while we forge ahead with our struggle to chart our own course as Africans and to mould our destiny, we, at the same time, are able to deal with the objective challenges of our time.
Programme director, it is our passionate view that with the challenges facing our continent, fora such as this one can no longer be annual pilgrimages where all of us come together and make lofty speeches, laced with nice sound bites, and then return to our homes and carry on as if nothing has happened. The time has come for action. We can no
longer afford to treat the concept of African Renaissance as if it is something that is dusted off during this time of the year and then kept safely locked in the closet for the rest of the year. The concept of African Renaissance should inform everything we do. From the way we do business and to the way we harness our indigenous knowledge systems and to the way we confront the global economic turmoil, we should all be driven by this
noble idea of Africa’s rebirth.
Fellow Africans we also meet against the backdrop of an Africa characterized by pockets of instability mainly as a result of conflict. Trampling against others’ human rights is, in certain isolated instances, still a cancer that threatens to undermine the giant strides which we have made since the independence of Ghana in 1957 and latterly the Republic of South Africa in 1994. Speaking after the Human Rights Defenders’ Conference held in Kampala between 20 and 23 April this year, Amnesty International’s Africa programme director, Mr Erwin van der Borght stated: “the human rights situation in many African countries remains precarious. Governments continue to restrict, without justification, the rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly.
Activists regularly have to flee their countries because of security risks and some are killed because of their human rights work.” This, he said, is despite the acknowledged giant strides made by most African Governments in upholding human rights.
We also meet in an Africa which is still, despite her resources, characterized by poverty and underdevelopment. Despite the fact that our continent is endowed with natural resources, it still largely remains the purveyor of raw materials whose down stream beneficiation is done elsewhere and then sold to us as a finished product. According to an article sourced from reports emanating from multilateral institutions and produced by the Wikipedia Encyclopedia: African nations typically fall toward the bottom of any list measuring small size economic activity, such as income per capita or Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita, despite a wealth of natural resources. The bottom 25 spots of the United
Nations (UN) quality of life index are regularly filled by African nations.
In 2006, 34 of the 50 nations on the United Nations (UN) list of least developed countries were in Africa. In many nations, the GDP per capita income is less than $200 US per year, with the vast majority of the population living on much less. In addition, Africa’s share of income has been consistently dropping over the past century by any measure. In 1820, the average European worker earned about three times what the average African did. Now, the average European earns twenty times what the average African does. Although GDP per capita incomes in Africa have also been steadily growing, measures are still far better in other parts of the world, such as Latin America, which suffers from many of the same disadvantages. Clearly this shows that over the past two centuries instead of progressing, Africa has actually regressed. This should concern all delegates gathered here today.
As we meet here today, Africa is also facing a challenge of rebuilding her customs, culture and tradition which distinguish us as Africans from the rest of the world. The growth and development leverage that can be derived from culture is immense, ranging from the freedom that comes with conceptualising new innovations within one’s context to the ability to package some aspects of our culture, like arts and crafts, for the consumption of international clients. Indeed the tourism sector, which is one of the biggest foreign currency earners for some countries, would benefit immensely from this rebirth.
Programme director, we have deliberately harped on some of the challenges facing our continent precisely because we want to drive home the point that, despite the progress made, a lot more still needs to be done to build an Africa characterised by peace, prosperity and stability. We also acknowledge that some of the sources we have quoted on the state of affairs in our continent, particularly with regards to human rights, may have exaggerated the extent of the challenges that we face but the fact remains that indeed we do have problems in certain areas. It would, therefore, not assist this gathering to question the source of information that depicts Africa in a negative light. Instead we
hope that the women and men attending this conference will conduct serious
introspection, identify our shortcomings as Africans and devise workable means to address these challenges. This Conference, therefore, is not mourning session but a working session for all Africans who yearn for peace, prosperity and stability.
Indeed we also feel that it is important acknowledge and apologise for the embarrassing and shameful actions of some of our South African compatriots who were engaged in xenophobic attacks against fellow Africans last year. If anything at all, the sad events of June last year, emphasized the need for all of us to constantly engage each other on the importance of being African and remind the peoples of the world of the solidarity that is shared by all human beings. In the same breath, we wish to commend the majority among our fellow South African citizens who, at times, risked life and limb to ensure the safety
of our fellow Africans. Indeed the rest of Africa is proud of you.
This conference, as we have said earlier, is a working conference. This is a conference where we must stop lamenting our fate but instead deal decisively with the challenges facing us. While we cannot change our past, we can certainly build a future of our dreams.
In this regard, we believe that this conference must come up with a proper evaluation and monitoring framework, particularly aimed at ensuring that the resolutions taken at this festival are implemented so that when we meet next time, part of the things we will do will be to report on the challenges and progress we have made in implementing these resolutions.
Programme director, it is the responsibility of this festival to ensure that it is able to influence decisions taken at multi lateral fora. Again, we need to develop mechanisms to ensure that the resolutions taken at this conference are elevated to the level of regional structures such as South African Development Community (SADC), Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), etc so that they can then be taken to the level of the African Union and then to the United Nations. Equally, we must also find a way to ensure that the papers that are delivered here are disseminated to all the corners of the African continent. To keep these papers and record of debates emanating from this Conference to ourselves, will only serve to short-change the world and rob it of our intellectual contribution.
In conclusion allow me to quote one of Africa’s prolific writers, Chinua Achebe, who wrote thus in his seminal work, the Anthills of the Savannah: “The cock that crows in the morning belongs to one households but his voice is the property of the neighbourhood.”
We believe that this excerpt captures the essence of what the African Renaissance is all about. We have no doubt that all the delegates who have traveled from all the corners of the African continent will emerge from this conference with concrete resolutions on how to advance Africa’s agenda within the context of the changing global economic climate.
Ultimately, the impact of this festival will be measured by how we collectively improve the lives of our people on the African Continent. To purloin an expression from Mzwakhe Mbuli, Africa will know no peace and stability until we as Africans stand up and define her destiny. Once against welcome to this beautiful province of KwaZulu-Natal. We certainly hope that during your stay you will find time to experience the warmth and the hospitality of the people of this province.
I thank you.
Issued by: Department of Economic Development and Tourism, KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Government
27 May 2009
Source: Department of Economic Development and Tourism, KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Government (http://www.kznded.gov.za)
