Address by President Jacob Zuma to the Pan African Students Association, Princeton University, New York
Africa the Renaissance: Post Conflict Investment Opportunities in Sub-Saharan Africa
Ministers from South Africa,
The leadership of the Princeton African Students Association,
Academics, Students,
Ladies and gentlemen,
It is my honour to join you today at this inaugural lecture aimed at promoting African presence on this campus.
It is significant that the Pan African Student Association on this campus seeks to enlighten students about Africa and the opportunities that exist on the African continent.
We meet against the background of the celebration of the 70th anniversary of the United Nations which was aimed at preventing wars and conflict and to promote socio-economic development and progress.
In the last 70 seventy years, the world has seen many developments. Peoples in Africa and around the world fought relentlessly for freedom and self-determination, and conquered. We saw the imposition of Apartheid in South Africa which was declared by the United Nations as a crime against humanity.
The successful international campaign against this crime culminated in a free and democratic South Africa in 1994.
We saw the start of the Cold War, which also manifested itself in proxy-conflicts in many developing countries, and the fall of the Berlin Wall, which had been a powerful symbol of the Cold War.
However, despite such progress in achieving a peaceful world, the war continues against underdevelopment, inequality, increasing poverty, economic exclusion and marginalisation as well as trade distortions and imbalances.
In Africa, we have worked hard over the years to promote peace, stability, good governance and socio-economic development.
Programmes such as the New Partnership for Africa’s Development, (NEPAD) and the African Peer Review Mechanisms developed over the years have been meant to promote democracy, good governance, human rights and economic development in our beautiful continent.
We did this because of the realisation that political freedom alone in the continent without economic freedom was not enough. We also realised very early on, that unity in Africa was paramount for us to be able to achieve our economic goals.
One of the founding fathers of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), and one of the key and foremost leaders in the advancement of the African continent, Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana advised of the need for economic freedom and unity as early as 1963 when the idea of the OAU was mooted.
He said: “As a continent, we have emerged into independence in a different age, with imperialism grown stronger, more ruthless and experienced, and more dangerous in its international associations.
“Our economic advancement demands the end of colonialist and neo-colonialist domination of Africa.
“But just as we understood that the shaping of our national destinies required of each of us our political independence and bent all our strength to this attainment, so we must recognise that our economic independence resides in our African union and requires the same concentration upon the political achievement”.
Taking such advice to heart, Africa continues to pursue unity and economic freedom.
There is no doubt that over the past decade, Africa has come from being the so-called ‘hopeless Continent’ to being a rising star.
Profound changes have taken place which has brought about this turnaround. Africa has come from being the notorious continent with raging wars in the past, to a continent which is fast achieving peace and stability. Around two thirds of governments in Africa are democratically elected, compared with just eight in 1991.
The spread of peace and good governance is providing Africa’s entrepreneurs with the necessary conducive environment to promote themselves and establish their industries.
They can now turn their ideas into major projects.
These new developments are backed up by growth figures.
It is remarkable that six of the world’s fastest ten growing economies are in Africa. In eight of the past ten years, Africa has grown faster than East Asia.
Naturally, we all want to see Africa's growth acceleration being widespread and also fairly inclusive, with the poor seeing significant improvements in their lives.
Steady progress has also been made in education, health, sanitation, and in empowering women but as the progress with the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals shows, the continent has a long way to go. But it is good that progress is being made economically, as this will produce the resources we need to achieve economic growth and improve the quality of life.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Many of us in the current leadership of Africa have been closely intertwined with Africa’s struggles for freedom, pain and suffering.
But today, we are optimistic as Africa is finally rising. There is no doubt that these are only the first signs of real progress.
There is still some way to go before we can proclaim victory and say that the prosperous Africa envisaged by Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana, Julius Nyerere of Tanzania, Oliver Tambo of South Africa or Agostinho Neto of Angola has been achieved.
But we are on the right track.
In 2013, the African continent committed the AU to the fifty-year vision called Agenda 2063. This innovative plan outlines the vision of building effective institutions, enhancing accountability, strengthening solidarity and integration, gender equality and peace and security.
It also talks about the reform of institutions of global governance, such as the United Nations, World Bank, and the International Monetary Fund.
It talks about women and youth empowerment, in line with the fact that the AU declared the years 2010 to 2020 a decade of women.
Our country is also exploring ways in which it will practically contribute to the success of the AU’s Agenda 2063. I urge you as the Pan African Students Association as young intellectuals, to engage with Agenda 2063 and tell us what you think its impact will be on the continent and how it can be implemented effectively.
Many reports have been produced by reputable think tanks pointing to the rise of Africa. Some are busy studying what makes Africa finally succeed. Princeton University could also engage in intellectual discourse and research about the continent, as it faces this new economic renaissance.
A further answer to the rise of Africa can be found in the current activities and developments taking place in Africa.
The African Union has taken a conscious decision about integration and to promote intra-African trade. Because of costly barriers, intra-African trade is unusually low. It averages 10%, which is less than half the level in other emerging market regions.
Creating larger regional markets will increase specialisation and competition and boost manufacturing.
A continental free trade area is being established.
And at a regional level, the Tripartite Free Trade area, bringing together COMESA, Southern African Development Community and the East African Community will create a market of 26 countries, with a population of about 600 million people and a combined GDP of one trillion US dollars. This augurs well for the economic future of these regions.
For South Africa, regional integration and growth has become one of the pillars of our foreign policy in Africa. Since 1994, trade with Africa has increased 35-fold to about 400 billion rand.
Despite the global economic down turn, African markets continue to show positive growth.
To this end, Africa remains an important economic region for South Africa as evidenced by not only the wide-spread presence of our companies on the Continent, but also the increasing trade cooperation. South Africa has become one of the major investors on the Continent.
The investments by South African companies on the Continent significantly contribute to employment, revenue and taxes in the countries concerned.
Another positive development is the infrastructure developments that are being undertaken in Africa which will eliminate most of the hindrances to growth.
It is widely known that Africa’s inadequate infrastructure is one of the main factors inhibiting trade, integration and economic development.
It has been calculated that if the continent continues to narrow its infrastructure gap, economic growth will receive a further large boost – perhaps by as much as two percentage points a year.
In view of this, the African Union has set up the Presidential Infrastructure Championship Initiative, a continental committee of eight NEPAD Heads of State and Government, to champion infrastructure projects at the highest level.
South Africa is also chair and champion of the North-South Road and Rail Corridor project.
The corridor cuts across eight countries in eastern and southern Africa and aims to facilitate trade by upgrading road, rail, power and port facilities, as well as simplifying cross-border regulatory procedures. This will enable producers and traders to access regional and international markets more easily.
Within South Africa, we have our own infrastructure development programme. We are on course to spend billions of rand on infrastructure in the coming years, focusing on rail, roads, energy, water, sanitation and the communication sectors throughout the country.
The plan also includes the building and refurbishment of universities, further education and training colleges, schools and hospitals. We have been working hard to unpack the projects and development implementation timelines. The programme will change the South African landscape. It will boost job creation, improve access to basic services and boost the competitiveness of our economy.
Africa is also succeeding, because of the continent’s demographic composition which is bound to fuel long term growth. In 2010, 42% of Sub-Saharan Africa’s population was younger than 14 years old.
By 2050, the continent will be home to one in five of the planet's young people and will have the world’s largest workforce of 1.2 billion. In that year, one in four workers in the world will be African, compared to one in eight from China, reversing today’s balance.
While other regions rapidly age, Africa will enjoy a demographic competitive advantage of young, energetic and increasingly educated workers to power the continent’s services and manufacturing sectors.
Importantly, the growth of the information and communications technology sector in Africa has been phenomenal.
The number of mobile phone users has multiplied 33 times to three hundred and sixteen million users since the year 2000.
The internet is spreading around Africa at an even faster pace. These trends have strong positive effects on growth.
For example, for every ten new mobile phones per one hundred people a country adds, the GDP is likely to increase by 0.8 percentage points.
Due to the lack of fixed line internet infrastructure, roughly 39% of mobile users access the internet via mobile.
This has opened an entire new portal for assistance in health and education, in especially the most rural areas.
Another new frontier for growth is the oceans. We have realised in our country that we have not explored the gold that is the blue economy. We launched a fast results delivery programme, Operation Phakisa, to unlock the potential of our oceans, and other sectors.
South Africa is uniquely bordered by the ocean on three sides – east, south and west. With the inclusion of Prince Edward and Marion Islands in the southern ocean, the coastline is approximately three thousand nine hundred and twenty four kilometres (3 924km) long.
This vast ocean space is relatively unexplored in terms of its economic potential.
In 2010, the ocean contributed approximately 54 billion rand to South Africa’s gross domestic product and accounted for approximately three hundred and sixteen thousand jobs.
An analysis was conducted of nine sectors that comprise South Africa’s ocean economy.
The ocean has a potential to contribute to the Gross Domestic Product up to one hundred and seventy seven billion rands (R177 billion).
The ocean also has a potential to contribute between eight hundred and one million direct jobs.
These growth levers reflect at least four percent annual growth in both Gross Domestic Product contribution and job creation.
Four priority sectors have been selected as new growth areas in the ocean economy, with the objective of growing them and deriving value for the country.
These are:
a. Marine transport and manufacturing activities, such as coastal shipping, trans-shipment, boat building, repair and refurbishment;
b. Offshore oil and gas exploration;
c. Aquaculture and
d. Marine protection services and ocean governance.
The Operation Phakisa project focuses on these four priority potential growth areas.
We have invited partnerships from Europe, the BRICS countries and countries in the South to partner with us in developing the ocean economy and we look forward to good economic spin-offs.
Another primary focus for us in South Africa is energy generation. Our infrastructure development programme has focused on improving the maintenance of our power stations in order to improve generation capacity.
To increase capacity, we are building three power stations - two mega coal-fired power plants and a pump storage facility.
The Kusile, Medupi and Ingula projects will see over 10 000 megawatts of capacity connected to the national grid.
In the long term, we are pursuing our Energy Security Master Plan, which calls for a radical change in the energy sector.
We are looking at an energy mix that comprises coal, solar, wind, hydro, gas and nuclear energy.
Energy generation is a focus area for most African countries as well, which provides many opportunities in the continent.
There are many opportunities in our growing continent.
Africa will continue to rise and will continue to provide opportunities for growth, which should result in the improvement in the quality of life of her peoples.
But what Africa needs, is to have her own people to believe this, and to spread this powerful positive message using all the tools and information at our disposal.
We need Africans to stop being pessimistic about their continent, and to be the leading spokespersons and ambassadors.
It is therefore very important to us that as the Pan African Student Association, you have sought to find out more about the continent and its new drive towards sustainable development, peace and prosperity.
I challenge all Africans today, all over the world including the diaspora, to accept the fact that their continent is changing.
They must release themselves from the shackles of self-doubt and celebrate these new developments.
Africa is rising, and the signs are there for all to see.
The global business sector must grab the opportunity and reap the rewards of this growth, in a manner that promotes inclusive growth, and which creates decent work for the African people.
Africa is indeed open for business.
Africa is open to equal partnerships for progress, growth, development and prosperity.
We thank you for being part of this new renaissance, the march towards prosperity for the African continent.
I thank you.
