Msunduzi Municipality Banquet held on 24 May 2007 as part of the African
Renaissance
25 May 2007
Protocol
Welcoming of guests and delegates from the United States (US) and the
African family in the Diaspora. A special welcome and acknowledgement of the
long-standing relationship between the people of KwaZulu-Natal and the people
of Atlanta under the leadership of Rev Orange.
Africa stands on the verge of greatness but we must realise that of all the
people of the world, as Africans we have to work hardest to re-establish our
place among the nations and continents of the world. This is because as a
people we remain at the bottom of the rung everywhere you find us. Whether we
are in the favelas of Brazil, the projects of the United States, or the
townships of South Africa, it is the African child who bears the brunt of
poverty. It is the African man who fills the prisons of the world. It is the
African woman who is the victim of rape. It is the African family which goes to
bed unclothed and unfed because we are unemployed.
We understand the link between our condition and the relationship between
the Third World and the First World. We understand fully the consequences of
the relationship between the Brettonwoods Institutions and the socio-economic
condition of Africa. We are holding this African Renaissance Conference, as we
have been doing for 9 years now, because we want to do something ourselves
about this condition.
We are gathered today and most of this week because we have recognised that
we are the agents of our own liberation. Freedom from want, freedom from
poverty, freedom from unemployment will benefit the majority in KwaZulu-Natal,
but it will also benefit the entire province. It is incumbent therefore upon
all Africans to spend their energies in ensuring that Africa's image improves,
that Africa's socio economic status in the world grows better than it has been
all these years. There are at least five conditions which will speed the
African Renaissance:
1. Political peace must never be in doubt.
2. The human resource capacity of Africa must be boosted to be the best in the
world. That means improving the educational and skills base of all our people
but it also means repatriating the skills of Africans everywhere and reversing
the brain drain.
3. The infrastructure of Africa must be built, rebuilt and maintained.
4. Agriculture and mining must be geared towards benefiting Africa. This means
developing local industries and increasing beneficiation as opposed to shipping
the minerals abroad straight from the mines. At present South Africa only
beneficiates 1% percent of our precious metal output. We export it, and it is
manufactured outside the country into jewellery and we buy it back at inflated
prices.
5. Those who live only on the glory of the past, have little to offer the
future. Africa's glorious past is the basis for us to believe that we can again
rise, that we can again run as fast as the fastest growing nation in the world.
Our past tells us the future belongs to Africa.
I thank you
Issued by: Office of the Premier, KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Government
25 May 2007
Source: SAPA
