A Pahad: KwaZulu-Natal African Renaissance Summit

23 May 2007

Programme Director, Dr KB Mbanjwa
Chairperson, MEC M Mthimkhulu
Premier Sibusiso Ndebele
MECs Present
Reverend Dr James Orange, affectionately known as brother leader,
not to be mistaken for another brother leader
Delegations from the USA
Delegations from Africa

It is a pleasure and honour to speak at the 9th KwaZulu-Natal African
Renaissance Summit.

This summit prioritises the special needs of Africa which must be recognised
by all as the most urgent global priority confronting humanity in this
century.

We cannot speak about its present challenges without being mindful of the
impact of its history of slavery, colonialism, neo-colonialism and the Cold
War.

I am reminded of the words of William Cowper, an anti slavery activist who
wrote, I quote:

"I own I am shocked at the purchase of the slaves,
And fear those who buy them and them are knaves;
What I hear of their hardships, their tortures, and groans,
Is almost enough to draw pity from stones.

I pity them greatly, but I must be mum,
For how could we do without sugar and rum?
Especially sugar, so needful we see,
What? give up our desserts, our coffee and tea!"

This conference must make the bold assertion that it refuses to be mum and
that we are prepared to give up our "desserts, our coffee and tea" as we
collectively confront the historic challenge of the day.

As we seek to meet these challenges we are acutely conscious that the world
has fundamentally changed since the end of the Cold War and the terrorist
attacks against the USA on the 9th of September 2001. Today, the international
paradigm is characterised inter alia by:

* the dominance of one major power and the absence of a balance of power in
the global system
* the continuing move to unilateralism and the weakening of the multilateral
system
* the stark failure of attempts at United Nations (UN) reforms
* failure to challenge the hegemony of neo-liberalism and the Washington
consensus
* the failure to develop a response to globalisation, which will ensure that it
benefits all
* the failure of World Trade Organisation (WTO) talks and why Kofi Annan was
forced to reflect.

The events of the last ten years have not resolved but sharpened the
challenges of our unjust world economy, world order and contempt for human
rights and the rule of law.

It is a world at which right is right and not right is might.

This really is unsustainable and has to be changed if we want a better
Africa and a better world.

2007 marks the 50th Anniversary of Ghana's independence, the 6th anniversary
of the establishment of the African Union and 40th anniversary of the death of
Chief Albert Luthuli, an outstanding South African, an outstanding African, an
outstanding internationalist. Next year is the 40th anniversary of the
assassination of Martin Luther King.

This is the 9th African Renaissance Festival and it is timely for us to ask
what have we achieved with respect to the African Renaissance. In 1998 then
Deputy President Thabo Mbeki said:

"The time has come that we say enough and no more, and by acting to banish
the shame, remake ourselves as the midwives of the African Renaissance" (Deputy
President Thabo Mbeki, 1998).

At a Conference on the African Renaissance His Excellency Hage G Geingob,
former Prime Minister of Namibia asked:

"But, what is this vision we call African Renaissance? How should the vision
itself be articulated? For now, when we talk about African Renaissance, we are
talking about renaissance with a lowercase 'r'. By definition, renaissance
means rebirth, reawakening, revival, reconstruction, renewal, resurrection,
etc. We want renaissance to mean it all and more. That still doesn't tell me
what African Renaissance is. May I therefore be so presumptuous as to suggest a
vision statement of what I see African renaissance to be as follows:

African Renaissance is our vision for Africa that, by the year 2025, it
becomes a continent in harmony with itself and with the world, where every
person has an opportunity to achieve his potential to the fullest in an
environment of peace and security, where every citizen of every country is
guaranteed human rights, and is assured of basic means of survival,
self-respect and fulfilment."

The questions we pose today are (i) what have we, whom President Thabo Mbeki
calls the midwives of the African Renaissance done to realise the vision of the
African Renaissance as articulated by His Excellency, HG Geingob?; and (ii)
What is the relationship between the African Renaissance and African identity
and citizenship?

To answer these questions we must become like the ancient God Janus. In
Roman mythology, Janus was the god of gates, doors, doorways, beginnings, and
endings. Janus is usually depicted with two faces looking in opposite
directions, was frequently used to symbolise change and transitions from the
past through the present into the future. He also represented time because he
could see into the past with one face and into the future with the other. He
was representative of the middle ground between barbarity and civilisation,
rural country and urban cities, and youth and adulthood.

In this the interregnum between the past and the future in Africa we must
become like Janus and look both forwards and backwards at the same time so as
to enable us to pursue with vigour the realisation of the African
Renaissance.

Certainly we can all agree that the vision of the African Renaissance is an
all-embracing vision that draws its inspiration from the rich and diverse
history and cultures of Africa. It acknowledges Africa as the cradle of
humanity, whilst providing a framework for the modern Africa to re-emerge as a
significant partner in a world characterised by co-operation not conflict,
sharing not greed, multi-lateralism not unilateralism, democracy and good
governance not autocracy, equality and social justice not inequality, respect
for fundamental human rights not the violation of rights and freedoms and the
creation of non-sexist, non-racial and prosperous societies free from
discrimination. This vision therefore touches all areas of human endeavour -
the political, economic, social, technological, environmental and cultural.

In 1999, President Thabo Mbeki raised and answered the question of "why
now." Why will the call for the African Renaissance succeed now? And his answer
is as relevant today was it was eight years ago:

"Accordingly, what is new about it today is that the conditions exist for
the process to be enhanced, throughout the continent, leading to the
transformation of the idea from a dream dreamt by visionaries to a practical
programme of action for revolutionaries.

What, then, are these conditions! These are:

* the completion of the continental process of the liquidation of the
colonial system in Africa, attained as a result of the liberation of South
Africa
* the recognition of the bankruptcy of neo-colonialism by the masses of the
people throughout the continent, including the majority of the middle
strata
* the weakening of the struggle among the major powers for spheres of influence
on our continent, as a consequence of the end of the Cold War
* the acceleration of the process of globilisation.

President Mbeki was urging us to seize the moment, to take advantage of
these changed circumstances, and to move to give birth to the African
Renaissance. Eight years on we know that the success of the African Renaissance
depends first and foremost on our ability to deal decisively the critical
challenges which face our continent today, including:

* poverty and underdevelopment
* strengthening democracy, good governance, accountability and
transparency
* social exclusion, social injustice and inequality
* abuses of fundamental human rights, including abrogation of the rights of
women and children
* conflict prevention and resolution
* reclaiming our natural resources and ensuring that the wealth of our
continent can be used to create prosperity for all on our Continent
* promoting socio-economic development and regional and continental
integration
* addressing the continued marginalisation of huge segments of Africa's economy
and society from the process of globalisation and addressing the negative
effects of globalisation.

This is the historic project that the African Renaissance must be centrally
engaged with. But the realisation of the African Renaissance requires both
political will and commitment and active engagement by all sectors of African
society, women, youth, people with disabilities, the African intelligentsia,
the workers and peasants the business community and the non-governmental
organisation (NGO) sector. This multi-sectoral approach to the realisation of
the African Renaissance must also be centrally engaged with the issue of
African identity and citizenship.

President Mbeki reiterating his view that the time is now says:

"The conviction therefore that our past tells us that the time for Africa's
Renaissance has come, is fundamental to the very conceptualisation of this
Renaissance and the answer to the question: Whence this confidence? Unless we
are able to answer the question "Who were we?" we will not be able to answer
the question "What shall we be?" This complex exercise, which can be stated in
simple terms, links the past to the future and speaks to the interconnection
between an empowering process of restoration and the consequences or the
response to the acquisition of that newly restored power to create something
new". (Deputy President 1998).

Being Janus like, we understand that identity formation and social cohesion
of Africans in the contemporary era is a complex response to many factors. The
African identity is richly textured and layered and has been forged over three
distinct epochs - the pre-colonial period, the colonial period and the post
colonial, neo-colonial period. The pre-colonial period was one where even as
Europe was entering its Renaissance, Africa had unrivalled societies and
centres of excellence in Mali, Ethiopia, Egypt, West Africa, East Africa and
Southern Africa.

These civilisations with their centres of learning and culture have
contributed enormously to the African Identity and to global knowledge and
culture. But their impact has been blunted and muted by the primacy of the
colonial and neo-colonial periods in shaping the African identity. In these two
historical eras identity formation was a result of struggle against colonialism
and then against neo-colonial engendered corruption, dictatorship, national and
regional conflicts. But it was also a result of grassroots initiatives directed
at poverty alleviation and sustainable development, improving the wellbeing of
millions, overcoming underdevelopment and creating inclusive and cohesive
communities, societies and regions.

Certainly, the recognition of the substantial inequality and absence of
social inclusion, coupled with the reality of colonialism, exclusion and
discrimination prompted among Africans a reflexive or what Castells calls a
"defensive" assertion of identity (Castells, 1997). The assertion of an
identity against colonial oppression, discrimination and exclusion lays the
basis for the emergence of a politics of inclusion and social cohesion that is
rooted in the African Renaissance.

This politics of inclusion linked to the African Renaissance is essentially
a politics that cuts across inter group and intra group identity and builds a
movement of solidarity fully capable of challenging both the negative impact of
colonialism on the African identity and of challenging Afro-pessimism. This is
similar to Giddens' notion of "dialogic democracy" based on a mutual respect, a
shared understanding of the pre-colonial past, the effects of exclusion and
marginalisation and the emergence of solidarity:

"Dialogic democracy... concerns furthering of cultural cosmopolitanism and
is a prime building block of that connection of autonomy and solidarity...
dialogic democracy encourages the democratisation of democracy within the
sphere of the liberal-democratic polity." (Giddens, 1994: 112).

The growth of the African identity therefore is producing the conditions for
the strengthening of the African Renaissance rooted in what David Held calls a
"cosmopolitan democracy" (Held, 1995:226-231) that recognises differences,
respects differences and that argues for African unity out of immense
diversity. The definition of an African identity as a response to colonialism,
discrimination, oppression and exclusion starkly poses the question of equality
in contemporary period. This is where excluded groups contest their exclusion
in a number of arenas -employment, service and governance. So an African
Renaissance discourse that does not simultaneously address these critical
manifestations of exclusions in the midst of globalisation cannot succeed.

What the above suggests is that the African Renaissance is as much about
rebirth as it is about redress and it is about a shift onto the terrain of
civil and political equality and social justice.

It is this dualism one rooted in the many different pasts and one forward
looking that continually shapes the African identity. And it is in this dualism
that we find the seeds of the African Renaissance. For, unless the African
Renaissance is people centred, as a historic project it will not succeed.

So the contemporary African identity must be intimately linked to the
African Renaissance, it must be forged out of a quest for peace and social
justice, the eradication of poverty and unemployment, it must be linked to an
infinite improvement in the social condition of the vast majority of poverty
stricken African people.

At its core, African Renaissance is an economic and social development
agenda for Africa. It is a comprehensive and far-reaching global plan of action
to tackle poverty and the developmental needs of Africa in an era of
globalisation.

The rebirth, revival and renewal of Africa are encapsulated in the vision of
an African Renaissance and in the belief that this will truly be the African
Century. This concept of an African Renaissance is highly compelling because it
goes beyond the language of oppression and enables the dispossessed, the poor
and the marginalised to give voice and expression to the way in which they have
experienced colonialism and neo-colonialism, they way they experience
globalisation, the way in which they experience market forces and the way in
which they experience the totality of their socio-political and economic
existence.

The vision of the African Renaissance resonates with many including those
who (i) are denied access to the valued goods and services in society because
of their race, gender, religion, disability etc; (ii) lack adequate resources
to be effective, contributing members of society; and (iii) are not recognised
as full and equal participants in society. The roots of the African Renaissance
are deep, historical and must be continually reproduced in both old and new
ways in contemporary society.

Without undertaking an analysis of the complexity of the African identity
and how the African Renaissance can redefine the African identity, we will
languish in a world where we only look backwards. The contemporary discourse on
the African Renaissance must not be narrowly focused on poverty and integration
into the paid labour market, it must be linked to an alternate discourse that
speaks of inclusion, power and empowerment, equality and access, prosperity for
all and ecological sustainability, values and ethics.

The value of African Renaissance is that it fully capable of meeting the
greatest challenges posed by diversity in Africa - to build on the traditions
of equality and to move to the incorporation of the ideals of anti-racism,
anti-sexism and anti-discrimination as core ideals exemplifying African
Renaissance values. The African Renaissance is capable of this because it is
about respect for differences and it is about the removal of barriers to
effective and equitable participation in all spheres of public life.

The politics of the African Renaissance is about an inclusive democracy that
places issues of social justice at the heart of the historic Renaissance
project. Democracy and an inclusive polity are the locus of citizenship and it
is essential to recognise that the very definition of Renaissance in the public
sphere and inclusive African citizenship on a continental scale are still
contested notions. There is no single public sphere, no single acceptable
notion of citizenship and no single notion of social cohesion. There are
instead multiple spheres and spaces in which historically marginalised groups
develop their own sense of cohesion to contest oppression, discrimination and
exclusion - where they posit a different understanding of space, citizenship
and social cohesion. In positing this different and alternate understanding,
they are challenging us, the midwives of the African Renaissance, to put issues
of inequality and social justice at the heart of a reclaimed African
Renaissance. When historically marginalised groups contest notions of rights
and conceptions of citizenship they are simultaneously seeking an alternative.
And the alternative is about inclusion as valued participants in an Africa that
is committed to the eradication of poverty, the vestiges of colonialism and the
colonial mentality, violence and conflict and disadvantage in all its forms and
manifestations.

In the narrow sense citizenship is exclusionary. It is about who is a
citizen of a nation state and what bundle of rights that citizen can exercise
and it is about what that citizen is entitled to as a member of the nation
state. In the realm of formal equality the laws, the constitutions, the human
rights codes proclaim the equality of all citizens. In this realm, it is just
that citizens should be equally entitled to certain rights typically associated
with a democracy - the right to vote, to freedom of association, freedom of
religion etc.

As a discourse within a broader rights and equality discourse, African
Renaissance forces us to think beyond the realm of formal equality and into the
realm of substantive equality. African Renaissance begins from the premise that
it is democratic citizenship that is at risk when we on our continent fail to
develop the talents and capacities of all our citizens. The African Renaissance
is undermined when the rights of our people are not respected and accommodated
and they lose respect for the institutions of governance.

For the African Renaissance to succeed there can be no contradiction between
democratic citizenship and differentiated citizenship (where people can hold
dual and even multiple loyalties). The African Renaissance is about valued
participation, valued recognition and belonging. At a minimum, it is
characterised by:

* all the political rights associated with formal equality
* a right to equality and a right to equal access to valued goods and
services
* an intimate relationship between the individual and the community
* reciprocal relationship of rights and obligations
* a commitment on the part of the state to ensure that all members of society
have equal access to developing their talents and capacities
* providing all members of society with the resources to exercise democratic
citizenship
* the eradication of poverty, unemployment and underdevelopment
* pro-poor sustainable development.

The realisation of the African Renaissance has a number of important
elements to it. There can be no African Renaissance without peace and security.
The January 2007 African Union (AU) Summit in Addis Ababa recalled that "the
maintenance of international peace and security is the primary responsibility
of the United Nations Security Council and called upon the United Nations to
examine, within the context of Chapter VIII of the United Nations Charter, the
possibility of funding, through assessed contributions, peacekeeping operations
undertaken by African Union or under its authority and with the consent of the
United Nations."

There can be no African Renaissance without African solutions to the
intractable conflicts on our soil, including the conflicts in Sudan/Darfur, the
Horn of Africa, and Cote d'Ivoire.

There can be no African Renaissance without intense and immense support to
the fragile peace achieved in Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo
(DRC).

There can be no African Renaissance unless we deal with socio-economic
inequalities and realise the Millennium Development Goals to which we have all
committed ourselves. In 2000, in the historic Millennium Summit Declaration,
world leaders pledged their commitment not only to their own citizens, but also
to all people in the world. They proclaimed as follows:

"We believe that the central challenge we face today is to ensure that
globalisation becomes a positive force for all the world's people. For while
globalisation offers great opportunities, at present its benefits are very
unevenly shared, while its costs are unevenly distributed. We recognise that
developing countries and countries with economies in transition face special
difficulties in responding to this central challenge. Thus, only through broad
and sustained efforts to create a shared future, based upon our common humanity
in all its diversity, can globalisation be made fully inclusive and equitable.
These efforts must include policies and measures, at the global level, which
correspond to the needs of developing countries and economies in transition,
and are formulated and implemented with their effective participation."

Five years later, in 2005, the World Summit Outcome Document, in reviewing
progress achieved in the implementation of the Millennium Declaration, world
leaders proclaimed:

"We strongly reiterate our determination to ensure the timely and full
realisation of the development goals and objectives agreed at the major United
Nations conferences and summits, including those agreed at the Millennium
Summit that are described as the Millennium Development Goals, which have
helped to galvanise efforts towards poverty eradication."

Progress towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals has been
exceptionally slow, most notably in Sub-Saharan Africa. This slow progress can
primarily be attributed to the fact that current international efforts to
assist developing countries in their efforts are inadequate to meet the need.
The ongoing initiatives to identify and utilise various innovative new sources
of financing for development are therefore critical to overcoming the financing
constraints that limit progress towards the achievement of international
development objectives. The global imbalance between developed and developing
countries continues to widen, however. This situation must be urgently
addressed if the world as a whole is to prosper into the 21st century.

There can be no African Renaissance unless we provide education and
healthcare, eradicate highly preventable diseases, deal with malnutrition and
hunger and ensure that no child and no adult in Africa goes to bed hungry. For
why would our people be interested in the lofty ideals of the African
Renaissance when they cannot feed themselves and their families?

There can be no African Renaissance without good governance. And in an
effort to enhance the quality of governance in Africa, the Sixth Summit of the
African Heads of State and Government Implementation Committee (HSGIC) of the
New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) held in Abuja, Nigeria, in
March 2003, adopted the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) of the African Peer
Review Mechanism (APRM). It is an instrument voluntarily acceded to by member
states of the African Union (AU) as a self-monitoring mechanism.

The mandate of the APRM is to ensure that the policies and practices of
participating states conform to the agreed political, economic and corporate
governance values, codes and standards contained in the Declaration on
Democratic, Political, Economic and Corporate Governance adopted at the AU
Summit in 2002. The primary purpose of the APRM is to foster the adoption of
policies, standards and practices that will lead to political stability, high
economic growth, sustainable development and accelerated sub-regional and
continental economic integration through the sharing of experiences and the
reinforcement of successful best practices, including identifying deficiencies
and assessing the needs of capacity building.

The APRM is open to all members of the AU and so far twenty six member
countries have acceded to it. Since its inception in 2003 the APR Panel has
launched reviews in 13 countries and peer reviews have been finalised in three
of these countries namely Ghana, Kenya and Rwanda. South Africa welcomes the
Report by the APR Panel. The Report including South Africa's comprehensive
Programme of Action will be presented to the Heads of State and Heads of
Government of the African Peer Review Forum in July of this year.

There can be no African Renaissance without a developmental state committed
to development and sustainable economic growth, sharing the fruits of
prosperity and redistribution to close wealth and asset gaps between rich and
poor. President Thabo Mbeki noted that:

"The time has come that we call a halt to the seemingly socially approved
deification of the acquisition of material wealth and the abuse of state power
to impoverish the people and deny our Continent the possibility to achieve
sustainable economic development."

The most recent Economic Report on Africa, published by the United Nations
Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) in February 2007, illustrates the
relationship between development, peace and security. In their report, the ECA
states that, during 2006, growth in Africa has increased but it is still not
enough. The report states that African economies continue to sustain the growth
momentum of previous years, recording an overall real Gross Domestic Product
(GDP) growth rate of 5,7% in 2006 compared to 5,3% in 2005 and 5,2% in 2004. As
many as 28 countries recorded improvements in growth in 2006, relative to 2005.
Only Zimbabwe recorded a negative growth rate in 2006.

There can be no African Renaissance without regional and continental
integration. Regional integration and the creation of an African common market
has been the vision of African leaders since the early years of independence.
The regional process of economic integration must be viewed within the context
of the continental efforts towards economic and political integration. It will
be recalled that the AU Heads of State and Government at their meeting held in
Sirte, Libya in July 2005, reaffirmed that the ultimate goal of the African
Union is to realise a full political and economic integration leading to the
United States of Africa. The Union Government was envisaged to have
identifiable goals based on a set of clear, shared values and common interests.
In order to effectively drive the African integration agenda, South Africa must
ensure that the regional and continental processes are complementary and
mutually supportive. A hallmark event in determining the next phase of the
African century will be the July Summit of AU Heads of State and Government
which will be devoted to the "grand debate" to consider the process of economic
and political integration of the continent.

These renewed efforts at integrating economies and expediting economic
growth confirm that Africa remains determined to pursue the African Renaissance
objectives of accelerating socio-economic development and ensuring that the
continent assumes its rightful place in the international community.

There can be no African Renaissance without South-North partnership on the
basis of equality, recognition of the need for reform and democratisation of
multi-lateral institutions of governance and to ensure peace, security and
development in the South.

There can be no African Renaissance without a sustained and informed
South-South dialogue. South Africa actively advances the African agenda and
that of the South through engagement with like-minded countries in regional and
sub-regional groupings in the South e.g. Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), G77 and
China, India-Brazil-South Africa (IBSA), New Asian African Strategic
Partnership (NAASP) and the China-Africa Forum, as mentioned above. These
groups provide platforms for countries of the South to articulate and promote
their collective interests and enhance their joint negotiating capacity on all
major international economic and development issues. South Africa is fully
committed to the following up on the outcomes of the Second South Summit held
in Doha, Qatar in June 2005 aimed at enhancing technical co-operation among
developing countries and strengthening interdependence amongst these countries
in various areas such as poverty eradication, health, education, population,
women and children.

South-South Dialogue is instrumental in realising the objectives of the
African century and countries such as India, Brazil, China and the countries in
the Middle East are being mobilised to partner with Africa to implement its
programmes, particularly the New Partnership for Africa's Development
(NEPAD).

President Thabo Mbeki definitely challenges us when he says:

"And again we come back to the point that we, who are our own liberators
from imperial domination, cannot but be confident that our project to ensure
the restoration not of empires, but the other conditions in the 16th century
described by Leo Africanus: of peace, stability, prosperity, and intellectual
creativity, will and must succeed! The simple phrase "We are our own
liberators!" is the epitaph on the gravestone of every African who dared to
carry the vision in his or her heart of Africa reborn."

So we understand, both as our own liberators and as the midwives of the
African Renaissance, that this historic project includes all spheres of the
economy, society and the polity. Its realisations requires a very high degree
of inter state co-operation and co-ordination.

Interestingly, it can well be argued that the preconditions for the
realisation of the African Renaissance are in many respects also its goals and
objectives. For poverty eradication, peace and security, sustainable and shared
growth are all preconditions for the realisation of the African Renaissance.
And in a very real and tangible sense in order to achieve the social and
economic regeneration and development of the Continent we need a
Renaissance.

What makes a discourse on African Renaissance most compelling is that
it:

* is the political response to centuries of oppression, colonialism and
neo-colonialism
* is proactive; it is about demandings that nation states and the institutions
of nation states be proactive in advancing an inclusive vision of Africa
* promotes solidarity; Africans from diverse backgrounds can come together on
the basis of common purpose and can engage in an inclusionary politics that is
directed at the creation of inclusive communities, cities and an inclusive
continent
* by virtue of vision can make governments and institutions transparent and
accountable for their policies
* is about transformation; it is about the political struggle and the political
will to transform the colonial and post colonial mindset and further a vision
of inclusion and cohesion that binds its proponents and adherents to
action
* is embracing; it posits a notion of an African identity rooted in democratic
citizenship as opposed to formal citizenship - an identity rooted in a
commitment to peace, security, social justice and improving the well being of
all and especially of the most marginalised and excluded on our continent.

African Renaissance, therefore is about social cohesion and inclusion plus,
it is about citizenship plus, it is about rights and responsibilities plus, it
is about accommodation of differences plus, it is about unity in diversity
plus, it is about democracy plus, and it is about a new way of thinking about
solutions to the critical challenges facing Africa. It is the combination of
the various pluses that make the discourse on the African Renaissance so
incredibly exciting. Let us be seized by the possibilities of building an
Africa that is cohesive and united in its diversity, an Africa that takes its
rightful place in the 21st century as a continent in the midst of a
Renaissance. As President Mbeki oft repeats, there has never been a better time
to embrace the vision of an African Renaissance than now. And if we agree that
Africa will be a much stronger, peaceful and prosperous continent if we embrace
the African Renaissance as a transformative tool and as a normative ideal, then
the question that remains is how will this conference and how will participants
at this conference further the aims and ideals of the African Renaissance?

African Intellectual Obenga, has noted:

"Any renaissance must correspond to a period of strong emotions, intensive
creativity and flames illuminating the countryside - an exceptional period when
a nation's creative genius discovers its mission, fulfil it to its best,
without betraying, diminishing or downsizing it. It should correspond to great
moments in history, and great works. All people want rebirth after misfortune,
wars, genocide, holocaust, ignorance, obscurantism, colonialism. Rebirth is a
positive attitude of hope."

We have to mobilise the masses in Africa and internationally "to bless
Africa with a generation creative genius that discovers its mission, fulfil it
to its best, without betraying, diminishing, reducing or downsizing it - the
missionary to achieve Africa's integration and renaissance."

I am confident that this conference will contribute to our efforts to
ensuring that these fundamental values do determine the new world order, which
is equitable and ensures that the quality of life of millions of Africans
improve substantially and that "right is might and not might is right."

Issued by: Office of the Premier, KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Government
23 May 2007
Source: SAPA