Beleaguered Africa needs exemplary leadership

By Ishmael Mzwandile Soqaga

Certainly Africa has a colossal, chequered history to boast about, for long time
that this giant continent existed and received absolute recognition
from the great book the Bible, Quran, Greek mythology. Fundamentally,
it is fashionably known as the cradle of mankind.

From ancient times this beloved continent has a record of greatly impressive tales from the visit of Queen of Sheba to Jerusalem, the beauty of majestic
pyramids in Egypt, the famous first written language in the world
hieroglyphics; and the extraordinary River Nile is among the splendid
and wonders of antiquity of Africa and the world.

Notwithstanding the colonialism of Africa by the European countries, this essentially made the indigenous people of Africa to wake up and realize to come
together and unite. In fact largely, the white intruders during colonialism
were soberly creating unpleasant situation in Africa. From all
corners of Africa white imperialists were chaotic and caused
mayhem and with their advanced weapons they were able to overwhelm
and subjugate Africans under their authority.

One should remember that before the arrival of whites in Africa the Africans were
comprehensively aware about their basic needs as human beings. During
the launching of Organisations of African Unity the forerunner of
African Union in 1963 in Addis Ababa on the 25 of May Emperor Hail
Selassie said: “We seek, at this meeting, to determine whether we are
going and to chart the course of our destiny. It is no less important
that we know whence we came. An awareness of our past is essential to
the establishment of our personality and our identity as Africans.
This world was not created piecemeal. Africa was born no later and no
earlier than any other geographical area on this globe. Africans, no
more and no less than other men, possess all human attributes, talents
and deficiencies, virtues and faults. Thousands of years ago,
civilizations flourished in Africa which suffers not at all by
comparison with those of other continents. In those centuries,
Africans were politically free and economically independent. Their
social patterns were their own and their cultures truly indigenous.
The obscurity which enshrouds the centuries which elapsed between
those earliest days and the rediscovery of Africa are being gradually
dispersed. What is certain is that during those long years Africans
were born, lived and died. Men on other parts of this Earth occupied
themselves with their own concerns and, in their conceit, proclaimed
that the world began and ended at their horizons. All unknown to them,
Africa developed in its own pattern, growing in its own life and, in
the nineteenth century, finally re-emerged into the world's
consciousness.”

Colonialism ultimately propelled Africans to unite in 1963. Moreover for the first time in history after the emergence of great modern African thinkers such as Edward Wilmot Blyden, Henry Sylvester William, Marcus Garvey and W.E.B Dubois asserted that unity of the Africans is only the best solution for their plight of colonialism.
Necessarily their thinking was realized and it remains a burnished, living dream,
Now we expect our current leaders to advance their vision.

This noble Pan African Fathers were utterly conscious about the social life of the Africans and they were familiar with the diverse societies of Africa. It is a well known fact that when our Fathers gathered in Addis Ababa in Ethiopia to form a unitary body of Africa they were diverse and even today that diversity is yet persisting. Africa has different cultures, different religions and various languages. Like Emperor Hail Selassie said: ‘’their social patterns were their own and their cultures truly indigenous.

Therefore we are now looking to our current African leaders to lead us
in a way that is excellent and promising. As the former president of
South Africa Thabo Mbeki in 2003 said ‘’We suffer hardships in our
Continent, most notably, poverty and conflict. We need to address
these challenges with dedication and commitment, and recognise that
these hardships extend beyond the original, political mandate of the
OAU. For this reason we have transformed the Organization of African
Unity into the African Union in order to deal with the socio-economic
development of the continent in tandem with the need to build
political stability.” Imperatively enough is conspicuous from what
Thabo Mbeki has said that Africa is faced with serious challenges that
need the AU to address.

It is obvious that African Union recently has become fragile as the
results of its unwillingness to be decisive to resolve continental
crisis. Apparently in the highly contested position of the
chairperson of the commission of AU where Sir Jean Ping won with a
slight margin against Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma one could witness that
AU is in dilemma. Many reporters gave information about the two
candidates and it was reported that that Sir Jean Ping and other
Francophone countries were concerned about the link with France. If
then is correct that Sir Ping has the interests of France than that of
Africa our continent is in deep crisis. AU was entrenched under
difficult circumstances when terror and suppression was hindrance and
threat for the subsistence of the Africans. Africans must watch with
the careful understanding the convoluted business of AU, as now we saw another
struggle in African continent. It has become complicated for Africa to
solve its problems. Leaders of Africa are often subjected to the Hague
international criminal court. Africa is suffering from within, as in
the last year’s spring uprising in Maghreb which began in Tunisia, Egypt
and culminated in Libya. In the case of Libya we saw how South Africa
essentially concurred with United Nation Security Council under the UN resolution 73
which culminated in the assassination of the Libyan Brother leader
Muammar Gaddafi. I agree with Thabo Mbeki in his recent Stellenbosch speech when he referred to the situation in Libya and Iraq as false information fabricated by the west.

For AU to achieve its mission and objective in the midst of economic
crisis of euro zone it needs not to be a press statement body that only
condemns any action that is against the rule of law of the Union.
Specifically, it must increase its peace keeping mission and
consolidate its security council and concurrently act decisively
against those who contravene its rules. Africa now is faced with huge
societal problems such as xenophobia, terrorism and undemocratic
states. Surprisingly one read in a Sunday paper (authored by Maite Nkoana-Mashabana) that the UN must take the AU serious, in the same letter, she alluded
how resolution 73 was ill transcribed by the North Atlantic Treaty. AU
must not expect the west to act on their behalf as it happened in
Libya; Africans should not seek any favour from someone it must take
charge of its own continental affairs.

It is indeed disturbing to hear, read and learn about the heinous atrocities
committed by the Africans against Africans. It can’t be that at this
current time when the world is advancing in technology and other
marvels of our electronic world that Africans resort to war against
themselves. Imagine a child who is born and grows up in Africa today
- will he ever wish to stay in Africa? African Union needs to be a strong
body that is determined to advance Africa’s cause in the family of the
nations. We should be ashamed of ourselves if we will allow our
conscience to mislead us to be the monsters against Africa.

Fundamentally, ordinary people of Africa should be informed about the
progress of African Union, they need to be involved in reshaping Africa
that must be great among the family of sundry nations. When Alshabab of
Somalia attacked innocent people in Uganda who were watching World
Cup soccer tournament in South African 2010. The African Union acted
immediately and AU troops were sent to Somalia. Such was a great move
but now it seems AU is losing the focus, and unnecessary things that
jeopardize the unity of Africa are happening and no action is
taken.

For example, we should blatantly denounce what is happening in Nigeria
today, Boko Haram is attacking Christian churches for nothing, unleashing horror and unbridled violence. The struggle to free Africa from colonial bondage was both fought by the Christian and Muslim, then why are we undermining what our Fathers fought for? We must always learn to defend and preserve the legacy of the African Union as Africans and know how to remember people such as Kwame Nkrumah, Gamel Abdel Nasser, Haille Selassie, Mmandi Azikiwe, Sekou Toure, Modibo Keita, Kenneth Kaunda, Mwalimu Julius Nyerere, Augostino Neto, Samora Machel, Amilcar Cabral, Albert Luthuli, Oliver Tambo, Walter Sisulu, Nelson Mandela and many others.

* Mr Soqaga is an eminent essayist, critic and writer based in Bloemfontein