The Sunday News
Pathisa Nyathi
ON 25 May 1963 the Organisation for African Unity (OAU) came into being. Last year, 2013, the Pan-African body, now known as the African Union (AU), celebrated her golden jubilee. At the time of the OAU’s formation there were 34 independent African states, whereas now there are 54.
Today we celebrate Africa Day and as we do so we seek to rededicate ourselves to the lofty ideals that the founding fathers set to achieve. Are we still being guided by the same original ideals that inspired the formation of the Pan-African body?
When primary production increased within the economies of the United States of America, South America and the Caribbean islands there was demand for cheap labour. The countries concerned turned to Africa where they sourced slave labour. Africans were shepherded into waiting ships where they were packed like sardines and transported to the distant lands where they laboured long hours on the cotton and sugar plantations.
A legitimating ideology had to be crafted. The African was a lesser being, one who was inferior to the white race. They were called niggers and kaffirs, a race that could be driven into slavery without their enslavers feeling guilty about it. It was this racially inspired ideology that lay behind slavery, colonisation and apartheid.
Slavery lasted several centuries, from the 15th to the 19th century. It was economic interests that powered the slave trading enterprise. Sadly for the Africans, no sooner had slavery been abolished than industrialisation took root in Europe and the rest of the western world. There was a need for raw materials and markets for the finished products. The industrialising world looked to Africa once again as the source of raw materials, a situation that has not changed to this very day.
It was time to colonise Africa and create zones for resource exploitation. The Scramble for Africa started in earnest. The process of colonisation was likely to cause conflict among the various colonising powers: the United Kingdom, France, Belgium, Spain, Portugal and Italy. In order to eliminate possible friction among the colonising powers a conference was called where the modalities for the colonial project were to be thrashed out. The conference was called the Berlin West Africa Conference or simply the Berlin Conference which ran from 1884 to 1885.
Africa lost her political independence. Africa was economically disempowered. She lost her dignity, respect and sense of self-esteem. It was an untenable situation that could not last forever. Africans in the Diaspora began to question the indignity that they were subjected to. They could no longer stomach the racial discrimination that they were subjected to. They demanded their rights and numerous civil rights movements came into being in the United States of America.
A number of personalities in the Diaspora championed the cause of the Black race: William Edward Du Bois, Malcolm X, Marcus Garvey (the Black Moses), Martin Luther King and George Padmore, among others. Meanwhile, Blacks from Africa went overseas in search of higher education. They came under the influence of the Pan-Africanists. Among them were Kwame Nkrumah, Dr Hastings Kamuzu Banda, Jomo Kenyatta and Mwalimu Julius Nyerere.
Nearer Africa the Indian Congress became a source of inspiration in the drive to attain independence for the African colonies. Ghana became the first colony to gain independence in 1957 and her political freedom became an impetus in the struggle for independence for the rest of black Africa. By the 1960s the colonising powers began to acknowledge that the wind of change was blowing across the African continent. More and more colonies joined the league of free nations.
The Organisation for African Unity was founded at the time when 34 former colonies had become self-governing states. It was these that came together on 25 May 1963 to found the Pan-African body. There were clear objectives that were spelt out by the OAU. The continental body sought to promote the unity and solidarity of the African states. The African countries sought to defend their sovereignty, their territorial integrity and independence. All forms of colonialism were to be eradicated from Africa. The Liberation Committee was formed in pursuance of that noble goal. Independent African states sought to promote international cooperation, having due regard to the Charter of the United Nations and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
As the African continent celebrates Africa Day it is imperative and incumbent upon her to take stock of the current situation where she is facing increased onslaught from the very quarters that enslaved her people and partitioned the African continent. Africa needs to be alert to the global solidarity among the countries that are after controlling African resources. The natural resources are still the basis for covert political and military intrigue and machinations calculated to effect an enduring stranglehold on the continent’s natural resources such as oil and strategic minerals such as uranium and platinum.
When Africa was decolonised there was a strong sense of Pan-Africanism, an ideology that sought to restore dignity, independence and respect for the Black people. There was strong collaboration and solidarity among the Africans at home and those in the Diaspora. The worldwide Black solidarity has since been dealt a fatal blow. The Black Caucus in the United States is not linked in any positive way to the Africans on the continent. If anything, the Black Caucus is fighting on the wrong corner of the ring.
Africa is found wanting. There is no leadership that is still committed to the ideals of Pan-Africanism. There are virtually no individual political leaders able, willing and ideologically endowed to instill a sense of African pride among fellow leaders. Africa has been Balkanised into camps allied to former colonisers. Their policies, be they political, economic, financial or fiscal are approved in the very same metropolis that guided the process of colonisation. Africa is not speaking with a single united and convincing voice.
African leaders, some of them at least, are acquiescing to covert destabilisation intrigues. There is presently a clear trend where armed militias are created and funded to destabilise African regions that are well endowed in natural resources. When insecurity sets in, a suggestion is quickly made to bring in troops to assist the destabilised states gain an upper hand and nip the insurgency in the bud. While the left hand sponsors destabilisation, the right hand fishes in troubled waters. The much needed natural resources are looted.
It is likely the African continent is going to face more and more destabilisation in more and more regions across the continent. The southern African region should never imagine it is safe. There are political situations that are taken advantage of to import destabilisation: clan, religious and ethnic rivalry.
As we celebrate Africa Day we need to take stock of our situation and analyse it objectively in order to identify key challenges being faced and find ways to achieve political independence, economic empowerment and dignity and respect for the African people.
