…Zimbabweans call for new paradigm from African leadership.

Ngoni Dapira

TO most people, Africa Day which was commemorated on Monday is mostly remembered as the brainchild of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was the driving force behind the ant-colonialism movement that moved across the African continent in the 1960s.

The origin of this was in the vision of African nationalists that played significant roles in the attainment of independence for their respective nations, among them Kwame Nkrumah (Ghana), Modibo Keita (Mali), Julius Nyerere (Tanzania), Jomo Kenyatta (Kenya) and many others who were inspired by the Pan-African movement.  It was these African nationalists who later became strong pan Africanists and the founding fathers of the OAU, which later changed to the African Union (AU} in 2002.

When the OAU was created the major concern then was motivating nationalism among Africans to guarantee the independence of all the colonized African countries. It was initiated on the 15th of April 1958 by the first eight independent African States. The previous year, Ghana was the first African country to attain its independence on the 6th of March 1957. The Africa Freedom day was initially celebrated on the 15th of April until the first OAU conference which was held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on the 25th of May 1963, which became the official Africa Day date of commemoration up-to-date.

Dr Kwame Nkurumah

This year’s 57th Africa Day celebrations were running under the theme, “Silencing the guns: Creating conducive conditions for African development and intensifying the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic.” Despite the Covid-19 pandemic mandatory lockdown measures the commemorations were as usual characterized by a public holiday in most African countries, the formal national address speeches by Heads of States in their respective countries and solidarity messages from various organisations to remember the formation of the African Union.

Present-day all African States have long-since achieved independence from colonial rule, but the vision of the founding fathers to turn Africa into a leading economic hub to increase cooperation and integration of African states that would drive Africa’s growth and economic development, is yet to be realized. On its inception the main objectives of the OAU were to rid the continent of the remaining vestiges of colonisation and apartheid, to promote unity and solidarity amongst African States, to coordinate and intensify cooperation for development and to safeguard the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Member States. It has taken too long for the vision to come to fruition that most people across the continent now consider the AU as a lip-service and politicking organ. Easterntimeszim interviewed some Zimbabwean opinion leaders about what they thought about Africa Day, 57 years after, and assess whether the envisaged dream is alive or remains a pipe-dream?

Funeral business mogul who is the founder and group chief executive officer of Nyaradzo Group, Philip Mataranyika, said Africa Day should always be taken as an opportunity to take stock of what has been achieved as African States and African people at large, as well as to deliberate on new ideas to develop the continent.

Nyaradzo Group Ceo Philip Mataranyika.

Mataranyika said Nkrumah in his iconic speech to his fellow founding fathers of the OAU in Addis Ababa, he illuminated the great vision for Africa. The vision was to see a Union Government of African States with a unified or common economic and industrial programme that included a common market for the continent, a single currency and an African central bank, among other things. Sadly this vision has not fully materialized but is said to be in the pipeline through the envisaged African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

“57 years later, all African states are independent, but the vision that Nkrumah and many other African statesmen of the time had aspired for – that of a United States of Africa – still hasn’t been realised. If they were to rise from the dead, they would likely be saddened to see their vision in limbo, with Africa dogged by a multiplicity of challenges,” said Mataranyika.

The humble business magante said it is high time African leadership really step up and provide ‘bold’ solutions to end poverty and diseases, which are the basis for some of the conflicts ravaging Africa’s hotspot nations that are suffering from famine and civil wars. Mataranyika however said behind every dark cloud is a silver lining, citing how the dark cloud of colonialism led to black consciousness and freedom for Africans back then. He said the current extreme under-development in Africa should inspire a spirit of inter trade and unity to uplift each other’s economies as AU member States.

“We have the resources. It was colonialism in the first place that prevented us from accumulating the effective capital, but we ourselves have failed to make full use of our power of independence to mobilise our resources for the most effective take-off towards economic and social development. We have been too busy nursing our separate States to understand fully the basic need of our union, rooted in common purpose, planning and endeavour. It is only by uniting our productive capacity and the resultant production that we can amass capital. And once we start, the momentum will increase. With capital controlled by our own banks, harnessed to our own industrial and agricultural development, we shall make our advance…Long live Africa, long live African Union, long live African development,” said the Nyaradzo Group boss.

Mutare based liberation war veteran Vladimir Mukada who was called Cde Nyikahairovi Mutongadzimwe, a rank detachment trustee commander duties instructor for HMG (heavy machine guns) at Mapinduzi and Takawira 2 in Mozambique for the Zanla forces, said he is not happy about the state of affairs in Africa, 57 years after the OAU was created. Mukada said political leadership throughout the continent should really take stock of achievements and errors.

Cde Vladmir Mukada

“But what exactly is today’s Africa celebrating, now that every country on the continent is independent? Most of the founding goals centred on freedom of African States were achieved, but what has been the new pressing need and what should be the new paradigm focus for our Continent? It is shameful that the Africa that yearned for independence and self-rule in 1958 has its citizens risking their lives, desperately appealing to go and live in the countries of the former oppressors,” said Mukada.

Mukada added that the million-dollar question which should be asked every Africa Day should interrogate the reason behind the massive exodus of the African child away from the Motherland, despite the continent being endowed with vast mineral and natural resources.

“Africa is endowed with minerals, vast land for agriculture, flora and fauna for tourism, intellects with a hardworking ethic, but why has all this not translated to attracting Africa’s own children to stay or come back home? Year in year out Africa’s children drown in the high seas, seeking to migrate to America and Europe in search of a better life. Has Africa failed to translate its independence to something meaningful to the ordinary citizen? Has Africa failed to lead beyond the vision of the patriarchs of the African Dream like Nkrumah? Has Africa remained dependent and yet independent?” he questioned.

In his Africa Day remarks, AU chairperson President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa called for the unconditional lifting of sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe and Sudan, to help the nations effectively deal with the covid-19 pandemic. Mukada however said, though the sanctions are real, instead of mourning over sanctions, the former breadbasket nation of Africa, Zimbabwe, should think of home grown solutions under sanctions, fostering strong trade ties with AU member States.

“If Africa is independent, why should a country believing it is under sanctions of the former colonizers cry foul when the very goal of independence was self-determination and emancipation? Why should the perceived sanctions by Europe or America cripple a country that has vast resources and fellow African trading partners? Why should sanctions cripple a country that has always traded more with fellow African power houses and not the West? Why do we as Africans shun each other and yet prefer to look back to the colonizers for trade? Unless we combine forces and negotiate deals as the African Union we are vulnerable and exposed to the powerhouses of China, USA and others,” said Mukada, who is well known for being vocal about developmental concerns as an ex-combatant.

President Ramaposa said covid-19 knows no borders, nationality, or skin colour and called on solidarity to address the escalating humanitarian crisis. He said without solidarity the global pandemic threatens to reverse the developmental gains of most African States.

President Ramaposa

“We must forge ahead with meeting the aspirations of Agenda 2063. We must move ahead with the most ambitious step towards pan-African integration to date, the creation of the African Continental Free Trade Area, and ensure that it is operationalised soon. We must not let up on our efforts to drive the African agenda of security, peace and stability, of democracy and human rights, of women’s emancipation and the protection of the environment,” said the AU chairperson.

Renowned economist Vince Museve said it was very disappointing to commemorate Africa Day today under the appalling under-development state of affairs in most countries on the continent. He said there is absolutely nothing to celebrate and point to that has caused a significant leap forward for the continent and for its people.

“Politics is still the main game as people still fight and kill each other because of political power. Once they get into power they do not deliver and people are still poor. There is no building of our own technology and we still rely on others technologies, so we are just so dependent. We have not taken the self determination that was envisaged, we have not seen the self-empowerment that was envisaged by the forefathers of Africa,” said Musewe in a Whats App interview.

He said there is much work to be done and said the only hope lies in a new political generation that is unpainted by colonialism, so that it can begin to create a modern, industrialised Africa. Musewe said despite the efforts that some individuals are taking, Africa remains a cesspit of poverty and corruption characterized by lack of development and a brutal life for the poor people.

“Until we can get to that stage of producing our own products that we can consume, where we use our own money without borrowing international funds, then we can celebrate. This means having our own capital base in Africa. We are united in trading within Africa, we have seen progress on that score but to this date Africa is still not trading with itself, so all those issues still need to be addressed and we need one voice and one economic agenda for the continent,” he said.

Musewe castigated the regional economic communities (RECs) for not achieving much over the years and blamed the caliber of leadership in Africa. The RECs are closely integrated with the AU’s work and serve as its building blocks, with their relationship tied by the 1991 Abuja Treaty. The RECs are regional groupings of African states and generally, the purpose of the RECs is to facilitate regional economic integration between members of the individual regions and through the wider African Economic Community (AEC), which was established under the Abuja Treaty (1991).

Vince Musewe

AU recognises eight RECs, the Arab Maghreb Union (UMA), Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), Community of Sahel–Saharan States (CEN–SAD), East African Community (EAC), Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC).

“We continue to repeat the same mistakes done in the past. Our economies have not transformed at all, we are still highly consumptive, with a high import syndrome, low wage economy, less technology and no infrastructure development. To me the main issue is of leadership. The caliber of leadership that we have that we are putting in place is not for new paradigm mindset to actually appreciate the potential for Africa,” said Musewe.  He gave an example of how in Zimbabwe, international investors are still prioritized at the expense of local entrepreneurs

We continue to have food insecure countries in Africa regardless of the big tracts of arable land and water resources that we have. Musewe said another problem in most African States was that they never transformed their institutional architecture to meet the growing needs of its population after inheriting colonial structures. “We inherited colonial structures then the new revolutionary elite came in and continued with the same system where we have dual economies. One is urban and the other is the poor rural folks. This has been the structural design of Africa to this date.”

According to the AU the first day of trading under the continent-wide free trade area is set for 1 July 2020. The Agreement establishing the AfCFTA was negotiated from 2016 to 2018. It was opened for signature on 21 March 2018, at the 10th Extraordinary Summit of African Union (AU) Heads of State and Government in Kigali, Rwanda. At that Summit, 44 AU member States signed the agreement, Zimbabwe included, with others signing later. By February 2020, 54 of the AU’s 55 member States had signed the AfCFTA Agreement.