Thinker 62 by Liesel van der Schyf

TheThinker QUARTER 4 – 2014 / VOLUME 62

A PA N -A F R ICAN Q UARTERLY FOR T HOUGHT L E ADERS

Ndangwa Noyoo ABDEL-HAIFZ NOFAL

Neal Hall

Sibusiso Vil-Nkomo

Oyama Mabandla

Manusha Pillai Herman Ntlemeza Senzo Nkabinde MokubuNG Nkomo

Madalisto Phiri

Mammo Muchie

MONGANE Serote

Joel Netshitenzhe

Thabile Wonci ELWOOD DUNN

President Zuma on

SOUTH AFRICA R29.90

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Pan-africanism

In This Issue

CONTENTS

TheThinker QUARTER 3 – 2014 / VOLUME 61

A PA N - A FRI CA N Q UA RT E RLY FO R T H O UGH T L EA DER S

Mammo Muchie

Contributors to this Edition

Africa Rising: Reflections on the Role of the State

Public Policy-Making in the Mbeki Era

Joel Netshitenzhe

Ndangwa Noyoo

Neal Hall

OYAMA MABANDLA

Manusha Pillai Herman Ntlemeza Senzo Nkabinde

Thabile Wonci ELWOOD DUNN

President Zuma on

PAN-AFRICANISM

SOUTH AFRICA R29.90

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ABDEL-HAIFZ NOFAL

MOKUBUNG NKOMO

Interview with President Jacob Zuma Dr Essop Pahad

Ndangwa Noyoo

Sibusiso Vil-Nkomo

MADALISTO PHIRI

MONGANE SEROTE

Joel Netshitenzhe

Letter from the Editor

UK £2.95

On the Cover: For Pan African Unity and Cohesion © GCIS

Building Free African Futures Today, Not Tomorrow?

African Indigenous Knowledge, IKS and the African Primary Institution

A Sovereign and Independent Palestine

Mammo Muchie

Mongane Wally Serote

Abdel-Hafiz Nofal

The Politics of Hunger in South Africa: Food Security or Food Sovereignty? Madalitso Phiri

On Form and Content of Debate in Revolutionary Movements

Decolonising The African Mind

Thando Ntlemeza

Senzo Nkabinde

Human capital investment and development for the heroes and heroines of Democracy Sibusiso Vil-Nkomo

Of Music and Peroration

The formation of the BRICS Think Tanks Council

Through a Creative Lens

Oyama Mabandla

Manusha Pillai

Poetry by Neal Hall

Readers' Forum

On minding your mind and language By Mokubung Nkomo A Living Wage and Class Struggle in South Africa By Thabile Wonci Ebola: A Threat to International Peace and Security By D. Elwood Dunn

Volume 62 / 2014

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

Israeli War Crimes in Gaza

n the months of July and August 2014, the Israeli war machine subjected the occupied territory of Gaza to a relentless barrage of bombings and ground military assaults. For 50 days, Gaza, a strip of land 40 km long and a few kilometres wide, with a population of about 1.8 million people, was subject to a sustained and terrifying war. This barbaric slaughter of Palestinians, reducing their homes and critical infrastructure to rubble, was a clear attempt to annihilate their resistance to occupation and oppression. In that short period more than 1300 people were killed, mostly civilians, of whom nearly 500 were children. The scale of death and destruction can and should be classified as war crimes. Steps should be taken, by competent authorities, to charge Israel with war crimes at the International Criminal Court. At the time of writing Israel and Hamas have agreed to an Egyptian sponsored ceasefire in Gaza. However, as one of the most outstanding intellectuals of our time, Naom Chomsky, has written: “This is, however, just the most recent of a series of ceasefire agreements reached after each of Israel's periodic escalations of its unremitting assault on Gaza. Throughout this period, the terms of these agreements remain essentially the same. The regular pattern is for Israel, then, to disregard whatever agreement is in place, while Hamas observes it - as Israel has officially recognized - until a sharp increase in Israeli violence elicits a Hamas response, followed by even fiercer brutality. These escalations, which amount to shooting fish in a pond, are called "mowing the lawn" in Israeli parlance. The most recent was more accurately described as "removing the topsoil" by a senior U.S. military officer, appalled by the practices of the self-described "most moral army in the world." It is noteworthy that the escalation of military aggression followed the unity agreement signed by Hamas

THE THINKER

and the Fatah led authority in the West Bank. This unity agreement underlined the Palestinians’ commitment to nonviolent forms of resistance, adherence to past agreements and recognition of Israel. The right-wing Israeli regime, which contains persons who openly support genocide and ethnic cleansing as well as the illegal occupation of neighbouring territories, angrily rejected the unity agreement. They then used the brutal killing of 3 young Israelis in the West Bank as an excuse to launch their murderous attack on Gaza. Soon after the ceasefire agreement the Israeli apartheid regime illegally annexed 400 hectares of land just west of Bethlehem in the West Bank. All these nefarious activities demonstrate that the Netanyahu regime is determined to scuttle attempts to find a two-state solution based on the borders prior to the 1967 war. Yet the US administration and the EU continue to give full economic, military, political and diplomatic support to Israel. Israeli military actions have been roundly condemned by the international community. Mass protests and demonstrations have been held in major capitals in the world including South Africa. Amongst the voices condemning Israel and expressing support for the Palestinians were prominent Jewish intellectuals, academics, political figures and cultural workers. ‘Jews for Palestinian Right of Return’ said in a statement: “To confront the root cause of this violence, we call for the complete dismantling of Israel's apartheid regime, throughout historic Palestine - from the River to the Sea. With that in mind, we embrace the 2005 Palestinian call for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign, which demands: • An end to Israeli military occupation of the 1967 territories • Full equality for Palestinian citizens of Israel • Right of return for Palestinian

refugees, as affirmed by UN resolution 194.” Progressive forces in our continent have also expressed their solidarity with the Palestinians and called for the imposition of sanctions and the boycott of Israeli institutions. To give wide coverage to this we publish, as part of the editorial, statements by the ‘Concerned Africans Forum’ based in Johannesburg, and ‘African scholars and scholars of Africa’ organised by CODESRIA in Dakar, Senegal. In the latter statement we have omitted the footnotes.

Concerned Africans Forum: Statement On Israel’s Agression

1. The Israeli government’s latest air and sea military assault and land invasion in the Gaza is the third in five years. This criminal conduct is again extremely disproportionate and violates all rules of International Humanitarian Law and the Geneva Convention which governs the rules of war pertaining to civilians. The air and sea bombardment of this de facto concentration camp interning 1.8 million Palestinians has resulted in hundreds of deaths and thousands of casualties, including women and children and the extermination of entire families. There has been

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR massive destruction of property and infrastructure including mosques, hospitals, schools, and electricity and water systems. Equally tragic, a new group of Palestinian refugees has been created. 2. The enormity of the tragedy was captured by Jonathan Whittal, head of humanitarian analysis of Doctors Without Borders (MSF). He commented that working in the Gaza was akin to being “in an open-air prison to patch up prisoners in between their torture sessions… they can’t leave and only the most limited supplies essential for basic survival are allowed to enter…”. He then plaintively asks “at what point does MSF repeated medical action in an unacceptable situation like Gaza become complicity with aggression and oppression?” 3. The collective punishment of innocent Palestinian men, women, and children is, therefore, criminal, barbaric and constitutes a war crime which must be condemned. The powerful Israeli lobby supported by major western governments and the media, including sections of the South African media, have launched an orchestrated campaign to convey the message that Israel acted in response to the killing of three Israeli youth and in “self-defence.” Major western powers and media have publically supported Israel’s “self-defence” response yet have conveniently ignored or distorted the basic facts. It is worth recounting these: • In 1948 Israel was created by violent dispossession of Palestinian land and under the pretext of “self-defence” proceeded to occupy Palestinian territories. Many Palestinians have been systematically and forcibly removed from their property; agricultural infrastructure has been destroyed; and an apartheid wall has been built which cuts off families from their kin, work, land, mosques, schools, hospitals etc. Palestinians continue to be subjected to all sorts of inhumane and humiliating treatment: they have to carry colour coded IDs and are subjected to a permit system which is actually worse than the apartheid pass laws system; a highway infrastructure system has been put in place which

protects illegal Israeli settlements but which Palestinians cannot use; and resisting Israeli occupation has resulted in thousands of Palestinians being killed, imprisoned or forced into exile. All these atrocities have been carried out to achieve an exclusive Zionist state. It is a matter of historical record that Palestinian violence has been a response to an aggressive Zionist agenda. • Hamas has denied involvement in the killing of the three Israeli youth. However, there is much evidence to suggest that the Israeli government knew within hours that the youth had been killed and who the prime suspects were. The Israeli intelligence agency, Shin Bet, ordered the Israeli media not to report this information. Netanyahu and the Israel lobby went viral by mobilising international support

Progressive forces in our continent have also expressed their solidarity with the Palestinians and called for the imposition of sanctions and the boycott of Israeli institutions. to “find and save our boys.” At the same time and as part of this Israeli subterfuge, over 500 Hamas supporters in the West Bank were arrested, more than 12 Palestinians were killed, and the bombing of Gaza started. A poll released on the 2 July revealed that 76% of Jewish Israelis supported the Israeli military and the gagging order imposed by the Shin Bet. • Rocket attacks by Hamas have been at their lowest level for the last 12 years and the recent rocket attacks against Israel were a response to egregious Israeli military aggression. Israel, with massive US support, has been able to build an effective defence system against rocket

attacks and Israeli casualties from such attacks have been limited. Yet Israel has cynically exploited the rocket attacks as justification of their illegal military aggression. There is growing suspicion that some of the rocket attacks have actually been carried out by Israeli agents. We therefore urge legitimate Palestinian organisations to halt the rocket attacks so as to deny Israel and its supporters any justification for “self-defence.” This crisis situation demands that the Palestinians in the occupied territories seek new and creative forms of resistance which involve Palestinians in Israel as well as progressive and democratic Israelis and other exploited and persecuted minorities in Israel. The international solidarity movement must be mobilised to support all such initiatives. • The land invasion by Israel which has dramatically increased Palestinian casualties has been justified on the grounds of destroying Hamas tunnels used to infiltrate weapons and to build Hamas’ infrastructure. It is common knowledge that since the military takeover in Egypt, most tunnels have been closed and the movement of Palestinians through Egyptian checkpoints has been severely restricted. The latest aggression should be seen as another response to the recent agreement between Fatah and Hamas to form a “national reconciliation” government. This, for the first time in many years, has provided a united Palestinian opposition to Israel’s final solution policies in the occupied territories. It should come as no surprise that after the agreement was signed, Israeli violence against Palestinians by the Israeli army and settlers suddenly increased, culminating in the latest land, air, and sea assault. • The aggression against the Palestinians is part of the broader Sunni-Shiite conflict in the whole Middle East region. Some Gulf States are cooperating with Israel to destroy Hamas, the Assad government in Syria, and the government of Iran. This is why Hamas rejected a peace plan because no peace plan

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LETTER FROM THE EDITOR can be imposed on it or any other Palestinian organisation. Hamas must be treated as an equal partner in any truce negotiations. The stark reality is that Israel has never negotiated in good faith. Genuine negotiations are incompatible with the logic of the Zionist state and Israel has continued to change facts on the ground by forcibly expropriating Palestinian land and dramatically expanding illegal Israeli settlements. Moreover, Israel has systematically violated all agreements to find a negotiated solution. • The kidnapping and killing of three Israeli youth is a tragic consequence of the policies of the Israeli government and the refusal of successive Israeli administrations to genuinely implement the Oslo Agreement and all subsequent agreements. The assassination of Prime Minister Yitsak Rabin, who made some serious compromises, is but one example of Israeli political realities. The failure of the recent US peace initiative driven by Secretary of State John Kerry is also a consequence of Israeli intransigence and continued failure to accept a two-state solution based on UN resolutions. Israel has arrogantly rejected all UN and other resolutions regarding the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people. The US government has aided and abetted Israel by using its veto powers on the UN Security Council to obstruct and prevent any mandatory international sanctions against Israel. 4. The Israeli lobby in South Africa, represented by the SA Jewish Board of Deputies and the SA Zionist Federation, reacted angrily to an ANC statement condemning the military aggression against defenceless Palestinians in Gaza and once again has equated all criticisms of Israel’s atrocities with anti-Semitism. This is another example of the Israeli lobby’s refusal to accept any criticism of Israel and to rather blame the victims, the Palestinian people. The ANC statement was a correct response to Israel’s policies of ethnic cleansing and must be followed up by concrete solidarity activities in support of the Palestinian people.

THE THINKER

5. The guilt complex of some western governments, their geostrategic interests, and the presence of a powerful Israeli lobby are not sufficient justification for the overt or covert complicity of the UN Security Council and major western governments in the atrocities carried out against the Palestinian people. Sadly, the myth has once again been propagated that the victims are the aggressors and the aggressors are the victims who have carte blanche to act in “self-defence.” The UN once declared apartheid in South Africa to be a “crime against humanity.” Israeli policies and practices with regard to the Palestinian people are actually worse than the apartheid regime and campaigns must be intensified

We applaud the few dozen Israeli academics who have protested against their government, and the several dozen who signed a petition calling for an end to Israel’s bombardment of Gaza. Alarmingly, they have faced disciplinary measures from their own universities. We stand by these academics and support them. to similarly declare Israel’s policies in the occupied territories to be a “crime against humanity.” 6. There have been huge demonstrations in South Africa and throughout the world as expressions of moral outrage against Israel’s naked aggression. The time is now ripe to intensify the isolation and sanctions campaign against Israel. As successfully conducted against apartheid South Africa, this must include an economic, academic, cultural, sporting, and arms embargo. Public demonstrations in South Africa must be complemented

by picketing all institutions which directly or indirectly to business with Israel including shopping centres and retail outlets. The University of Johannesburg’s severing of academic links with Ben Gurion University must be followed by similar actions by other South African and African universities; South African sporting and cultural bodies must declare Israel a “no-go area”; religious leaders must speak out and campaign against the Israel’s military aggression in Gaza; and the South African Ambassador to Israel must be recalled for consultations. The Indian novelist and winner of the 1997 Booker Prize, Arundhati Roy, warned us: “never get used to the unspeakable violence and the vulgar disparity of life around you… never simplify what is complicated or complicate what is simple…try and understand, never look away. And never, never to forget.”

African scholars and scholars of Africa: African Solidarity with Palestine

We, the undersigned African scholars and scholars of Africa, hold that silence about the latest humanitarian catastrophe caused by Israel’s new military assault on the Gaza Strip - the third and most devastating in six years - constitutes complicity. Member state of NATO which mounted an air war on Libya ostensibly to protect civilians in Benghazi have been by and large quiet about the fate of civilians in Gaza. World governments and mainstream media do not hold Israel accountable for its violations of international law. We, however, as a community of scholars have a moral responsibility to do so. Neither the violation of international law nor the destruction of Palestinian life in Gaza, however, began or will end with the current war. The suffering of Palestinians is not limited to Gaza: the occupation and dispossession in East Jerusalem, the Naqab (Negev), and the West Bank; the construction of walls and fences around the Palestinian population, the curtailment of Palestinian freedom of movement and

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

education, and the house demolitions, all have long histories that will have to be addressed. As employees in institutes of higher learning we have a particular interest in and responsibility to respond to the obstacles to the right to higher education that the Israeli state has created for Palestinians both inside Israel and in the occupied territories. In the past two months alone, Israeli forces have raided Al Quds University in Jerusalem, the Arab American University in Jenin, and Birzeit University near Ramallah. In the current attacks, Israeli aerial bombardment has destroyed the Islamic University of Gaza. More generally, the Israeli state discriminates against Palestinian students in Israeli universities; and it isolates Palestinian academia by, among other tactics, preventing foreign academics from visiting Palestinian institutions in Gaza and the West Bank. We are also alarmed by the long history of confiscations of Palestinian archives and the destruction of libraries and research centers. The ongoing Israeli massacres in Gaza have been ghastly reminders of the complicity of Israeli academic institutions in the occupation and oppression of Palestinians. Tel Aviv University, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Bar Ilan University, Haifa University, Technikon, and Ben Gurion

University have publicly declared their unconditional support for the Israeli military. More generally, there are intimate connections between Israeli academic institutions and the military, security, and political establishments in Israel. To take but one example: Tel Aviv University is directly implicated, through its Institute for National Security Studies (INSS), in developing the Dahiya Doctrine, adopted by the Israeli military in its assaults on Lebanon in 2006 and on Gaza today. The Dahiya Doctrine advocates the extensive destruction of civilian infrastructure and “intense suffering” among the civilian population as an “effective” means to subdue any resistance. We applaud the few dozen Israeli academics who have protested against their government, and the several dozen who signed a petition calling for an end to Israel’s bombardment of Gaza. Alarmingly, they have faced disciplinary measures from their own universities. We stand by these academics and support them. We feel compelled to join the growing number of academics in Israel and around the world who support the Palestinian call to boycott Israeli academic institutions. This call responds to Palestinian civil society organizations’ long-standing appeal for the comprehensive implementation of

boycotts, divestments, and sanctions (BDS) of Israel, and is supported by the Palestinian Federation of Unions of University Professors and Employees (PFUUPE). Following in the footsteps of the growing number of US academic associations that have endorsed boycott resolutions, we call on our colleagues to boycott Israeli academic institutions, and we pledge not to collaborate on projects and events involving Israeli academic institutions, not to teach at or to attend conferences and other events at such institutions, and not to publish in academic journals based in Israel. We call for doing so until such time as these institutions end their complicity in violating Palestinian rights as stipulated in international law, and respect the full rights of Palestinians by calling on Israel to: 1. End its siege of Gaza, its occupation and colonization of all Arab lands occupied in June 1967, and dismantle the settlements and the walls; 2. Recognize the fundamental rights of the Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel and the stateless Negev Bedouins to full equality; and 3. Respect, protect, and promote the rights of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and properties as stipulated in UN Resolution 194. 

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CONTRIBUTORS TO THIS EDITION

All contributing analysts write in their personal capacity

Oyama Mabandla is a Johannesburg based businessman. He is a former chairman of the Vodacom Group and deputy Chief Executive Officer of South African Airways. He was born in Cape Town and left South Africa in 1980 to join the ANC in exile. Mabandla writes on the intersection of culture and politics and is the author of the ebook, The Rebirth of Cool: Barack Obama and Miles Davis. He is a member of the Board of Governors of the Mapungubwe Institute for Strategic Reflection (Mistra). Professor Mammo Muchie is a fellow of the South African Academy of Sciences and the African Academy of Sciences. He is a Professor at Tshwane University of Technology, adjunct professor at the Adama Science and Technology University in Ethiopia and a senior research associate at the Technology and Management Centre for Development at Oxford University. Since 1985 he has produced 365 publications, in books, chapters in books and articles. Joel Khathutshelo Netshitenzhe is the Executive Director of the Mapungubwe Institute for Strategic Reflection (Mistra). He has an MSc degree in Financial Economics from London University and a Diploma in Political Science from the Institute of Social Sciences in Moscow.

THE THINKER

Between 1994 and 2009 he served in government, variously, as Head of Communication in President Nelson Mandela’s Office, CEO of Government Communications and Information System (GCIS) and Head of the Policy Unit in the Presidency under Thabo Mbeki. He is a member of the NEC of the ANC and of the National Planning Commission. Senzo Nkabinde is a Founding Director of Lovers of the African Union and United States of Africa and was the Programme Manager for the NEPAD Youth Development Programme. He is currently a post-graduate student in Engineering at the University of Johannesburg. Dr Ndangwa Noyoo had his primary and tertiary education in Lusaka, Zambia. After completing his Bachelor of Social Work Degree at the University of Zambia he obtained a M Phil degree in Development Studies from Cambridge University and PhD from the University of Witwatersrand. Following a Post-doctoral fellowship at the Foundation Maison des Sciences del’Homme (FMSH) Paris, France he worked as a Senior Social Policy specialist for Department of Social Development in South Africa. Dr Noyoo has written scores of articles and chapters in books as well as three books on Social Welfare, Social Policy

and Human Development in Zambia. His is currently an Associate Professor at the University of Johannesburg. Thando Ntlemeza holds a BA (Law) and postgraduate LLB from the University of Cape Town, where he was active in student politics. He is an Attorney of the Western Cape High Court. He worked as a Senior Researcher for the ANC in parliament. He has written many articles for various publications, including Hlomelang (ANCYL) and the ANC’s Umrabulo. He is now working in the Ministry of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs. Abdel-Hafiz Nofal has over 40 years of experience as a diplomat, economist and freedom fighter. He has served as the Head of the Economic Relations Department for the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) activities in Africa, Deputy Minister at the Ministry of National Economy and on a number of important Palestinian economic and international trade committees. He has a Master's degree in International Economic Relations from Kiev University and is presently the Ambassador of Palestine in South Africa. Dr Mongane Wally Serote is a South African poet and writer. In 1973 he won the Ingrid Jonker Poetry prize.

TheThinker CONTRIBUTORS TO THIS EDITION

As a Fulbright Scholar, he obtained a Fine Arts Degree at Columbia University in 1979. In 1993, he won the Noma Award for publishing in Africa. He served as Chair of the Parliamentary Select Committee for Arts and Culture and was formerly the CEO of Freedom Park, a national heritage site. His written works include several acclaimed novels, volumes of poetry and a collection of essays. In August 2012, he was awarded the prestigious Golden Wreath Award. Manusha Pillai is currently the communication manager at Brand South Africa. She has previously been responsible for communications at the then Department of Foreign Affairs and Home Affairs reporting to Minister Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma. She was also part of the African Union Commission Chairperson’s transitional team ahead of her departure to Addis Ababa. She holds a degree in Journalism from Rhodes University and a Master’s Degree in Diplomacy from the University of Pretoria. She is currently completing a Master’s in Business Leadership. Madalitso Zililo Phiri is a Doctoral Research Fellow in International Politics at the University of South Africa (UNISA) in the DST/NRF SARChI Chair in Applied Social Policy housed at the Archie Mafeje Research Institute (AMRI). He holds an MPhil in Development Studies from the University of Cape Town. His publications include a co-authored book chapter in Africa and the Responsibility to Protect: Article 4(h) of the African Union Constitutive Act (Routledge, 2014) and articles in the African Journal of Conflict Resolution, The South African Journal of International Affairs, and Urban Forum. Professor Sibusiso Vil-Nkomo is Chairperson of the Mapungubwe Institute for Strategic Reflection (Mistra). From 2011-2012 he was a Fulbright Scholar at Fordham University and Fellow of the Fordham Business School Consortium in New York City. He has been a researcher at the Brookings Institution Library, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund Libraries and the Library of Congress. He is Research Professor and a former member of the Executive of the University of Pretoria and Dean of the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences. He was formerly Public Service Commissioner under President Mandela. President Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma has a long and illustrious involvement in the struggle for freedom in South Africa. For his involvement in the ANC underground and MK he served 10 years on Robben Island. For more than 35 years he has occupied leading positions in the ANC as Deputy General Secretary, Chairperson, Deputy President and currently President. From 1999-2005 he was Deputy President of South Africa. He was elected by Parliament as President in 2009 and re-elected in 2014. 

A PAN AF RICAN QUART ERLY F OR T HOUGHT L EAD ER S

Advisory Council Ademola Araoye (Nigeria), Professor Puleng Lenka Bula (South Africa), Dr. Faisal Devji (Tanzania), Professor Chris Landsberg (South Africa),

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THE CALL NOW IS FOR EACH OF US TO ASK OURSELVES: ARE WE DOING EVERYTHING WE CAN TO BUILD THE COUNTRY OF OUR DREAMS? NELSON MANDELA

As the world reflects on his legacy, we give thanks for Madiba's life, his leadership, his devotion to humanity and humanitarian causes. We salute our friend, colleague and comrade and thank him for his sacrifices for our freedom. The Nelson Mandela Foundation delivers to the world an integrated, dynamic and trusted resource on the legacy of Nelson Mandela and with this, our mandate to promote the vision and work of our Founder by convening dialogues and creating platforms for engagement around critical issues to promote social justice and drive positive change. South Africa occupies a unique space in Africa and globally as an example of a country that emerged from the intersections of deeply rooted racial, cultural and political divides. The Foundation's mandate is to relevantly and tangibly use memory to inform, develop and define. It is the role of an embracing educator - whether you are an adult or a child to utilise the history, experience, values, vision and leadership of our Founder and key stakeholders to provide an impactful platform and springboard to drive positive change. The Nelson Mandela Foundation was established in 1999, when its Founder, Mr Nelson Mandela, stepped down as President of South Africa. In 2004, Mr Mandela inaugurated the Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory (NMCM) with the aim to create a public facility

Tel: +27 11 547 5600 Fax: +27 11 728 1111 www.nelsonmandela.org

as a multi-purpose space of memory and dialogue on his life and times. Mr Mandela's understanding of the importance of memory as a powerful informant of the present was engendered through his years of incarceration, cut off from the possibility of a private and family life. Memory gave him the stamina and courage to continue. His ethos of inclusivity and the need to tolerate, engage and resolve conflict through dialogue and negotiation, created the space for the South African constitution to be written with the possibility of social revolution, and civil war in South Africa averted. The many areas of war and conflict which prevail around the world today are testimony to the need for Mr. Mandela's legacy of social justice and dialogue to prevail long after the man has left us. With its launch in November 2013 of its newly refurbished building, the Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory houses a state of the art archive with access to Mr Mandela's office, a unique permanent exhibition on the life and times of Nelson Mandela, and a temporary exhibition space and interactive dialogue spaces.

NelsonMandela NelsonMandelaCentreOfMemory @NelsonMandela

AFRICA

DR ESSOP PAHAD INTERVIEWS

President Jacob Zuma

THE THINKER

AFRICA

ssop Pahad (EP): Mr President, allow me first of all to congratulate you and the ANC on your overwhelming electoral victory. However, the ANC has lost some support in certain key metropolitan areas. What does the ANC need to do to redress this position before the 2016 local government elections? Jacob Zuma (JZ): Firstly, let me start by saying that we thank the people of South Africa for overwhelmingly voting for the African National Congress. This was one of the difficult campaigns taking into consideration the fact that it also took place in the year in which we celebrated 20 years of our freedom. It shows that the people understand that only the ANC is a champion of the oppressed and poor majority, only the ANC has a clear vision and programme of how to deal with the challenges of our country including the triple challenges of poverty, unemployment and inequality. The confidence that they have shown in the ANC is not taken for granted, nor taken lightly, nor will it ever be taken for granted. We will continue to do our best at the level of delivering basic services to our people, like water, electricity, roads, housing, sanitation, free health-care, and education amongst others. The elections highlighted a number of areas where we need to strengthen our performance in all spheres of government. We will pay particular attention to changing the way local government performs. Where people have grievances those will be tackled with speed and decisiveness. We will close the gap that exists between local government and local communities. During this second phase of our transition we have realised that we must adopt more radical economic policies. Most importantly we will make serious interventions in the economy. Our economy has to start growing at a fast pace so that we can deal with the issue of unemployment and poverty. We have outlined the drastic measures and type of interventions that will be made in the economy. The economy must start benefitting all our people not just the rich minority. We will continue with our work of changing the way government works and we will ensure that non-performance and non-

delivery is not tolerated in any of the three spheres of government. EP: In this interview my focus is primarily on the issues and challenges facing our continent. It seems to me that there is a perception in many countries in Africa that in recent years the South African government and yourself are no longer deeply passionate and committed to African unity, cohesion, growth and development, or to the African Renaissance. How do you respond to this inaccurate perception? JZ: Africa has remained at the centre of our foreign policy. We have worked hard to strengthen support for the African Union, SADC and all continental bodies whose purpose is to achieve peace and security. We

The economy must start benefitting all our people not just the rich minority. We will continue with our work of changing the way government works and we will ensure that nonperformance and non-delivery is not tolerated in any of the three spheres of government. have also prioritised the promotion of regional economic integration, and sustainable development in the continent. This year we also submitted our third country report to the AU African Peer Review Mechanism which was well received. We also continue to support peacemaking and conflict resolution. In this regard, South Africa will continue to support both regional and continental processes to respond to and resolve crises, promote peace and security, significantly increase intra-Africa trade and champion infrastructure development. Over the next five years we will

continue to promote the building of a better Africa and a more just world. This will entail supporting and executing decisions of the African Union as well as the promotion of the work of its structures. EP: Do you think that Africa has a future in which it will become steadily stronger, more prosperous, stable, democratic, peaceful and just? JZ: Yes, and it is in view of this we have continued to advocate for the strengthening of the structures of the African Union to enable the Continent to address the challenges of conflict and unconstitutional changes of government. We believe that the Peace and Security Council (PSC) of the African Union (AU) as the organ within the African Peace and Security Architecture (APSA) remains an effective body through which the Continent responds to conflict and crisis situations. Whilst there have been significant successes registered, there are challenges that need to be addressed as the Continent strives for a conflict-free Africa. The experiences of the past ten years since the PSC started functioning have also presented lessons learned; from these, opportunities for the enhancement of the work of the Council can be elaborated and exploited. EP: Does our continent have the kind of leadership at national and continental levels to bring about the Africa you have just described? JZ: Yes. However there is a need for concerted efforts in addressing the number of conflict and crisis situations on the Continent and greater attention is required on the part of the Peace and Security Council (PSC) to the objectives for which the Council was established. This must include the anticipation and prevention of conflicts and the promotion of peace-building and post-conflict reconstruction and development to ensure that the recurrence of conflict is curtailed. This requires the strengthening of the analytical capacity within the Continental Early Warning System. There is a need to better analyse the political economy of conflict, paying particular attention to the

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AFRICA security and development nexus. Such factors as resource distribution, poverty and inequality and how these drive conflict should be considered when comprehensive and sustainable solutions to conflicts are being devised. In this regard, there is a need to exploit the policy frameworks that have been put in place including the African Union Policy on Post-Conflict Reconstruction and Development. Consistent with the principle of African solutions to African problems, AU members must be willing to contribute resources (financial, human resources and otherwise) to the peace and security efforts of the Continent. One vehicle that could be used to finance these efforts is the Peace Fund which is currently underfunded. Creative funding techniques such as raising funds from the private sector operating in Africa or introducing a peace tax should be explored. With regard to the challenges posed by lack of implementation of decisions, a structured monitoring (from adoption to implementation and enforcement) mechanism or the creation of a new PSC Subsidiary Body for this purpose could be explored as possible solutions. EP: One of the weaknesses in many African countries is the lack of mass organised formations, such as trade unions and organisations of women, rural people, students, youth and civil society. The Pan-African Parliament and other Pan-African bodies also lack strength and cohesion. In this context, what in your view should be done to strengthen progressive continental organisations and movements? JZ: This weakness was indeed observed but we must categorically state that efforts have been made to strengthen the involvement of civil society in all decisions that impact our continent and its people. When for example the Pan African Parliament celebrated it first decade in March this year, we agreed that a lot has been achieved by this body and yet more needed to be done. The PAP has not been found wanting in attending to various hotspots affecting the continent and thereafter giving the necessary advice to the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the AU

THE THINKER

through their activity reports and resolutions. Agenda 2063 in its evolvement further recognised the inalienable role that civil society formations play in the development of the continent. Various AU organs offer this platform for civil society to play a part, the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights recognise the role of civil society in the promotion and protection of Human Rights and so does the African Court on Human and Peoplesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Rights. As South Africa, we have been very strong in this regard and our cooperation with civil society organisations is well established and dates back to when we were confronted with the system of apartheid. It is our wish to see and have a very strong civil society movement that is a moral compass and guide for the continent and is driven by the needs of the African continent and its people. EP: To achieve the goals we have set for Africa and its Renaissance, we need to ensure that the voices of the masses are heard and given serious consideration. How do you think we can ensure the active participation of the African masses in the economic, political, cultural and social life of each country and of the continent as a whole? JZ: Indeed, currently there is no structure explicitly representing the voice of people at the local level through their locally elected leaders and local authorities within the AU. Structures do exist at the continental level championing issues of local development, decentralisation and local government such as the African Union Ministerial Conference on Decentralisation and Local Development (AMCOD) and the UCLGA. However neither of these structures is accommodated within the AU governance architecture as the direct representative of the people at the local level. Even existing organs like the Pan African Parliament and the Economic Social and Cultural Council of the AU (ECOSOCC) do not at all represent the people at the local level in Africa. As you may be aware, during the June 2014 AU Summit held in Malabo the African Union Commission tabled

a report on the Implementation of Decision Assembly/AU/Dec.460 (XX) on the Establishment of Supreme Council of Local Communities within the framework of the African Union. The key question considered is whether a need exists to accommodate and better structure the voice of African local authorities in the governance architecture of the AU, and if so, what form should this take. Following the adoption by the Assembly of Decision Assembly/AU/ Dec.460 (XX) on the Representation of Local Communities in the Organs of the African Union, the Third Extraordinary Meeting of the African Union Ministerial Conference on Decentralisation and Local Development (AMCOD), held during September 2013 in Dakar, Senegal, approved the conceptual framework for the establishment of the Supreme Council. The Conference also recommended that the document should be submitted to the policy organs in January 2014 and the proposed High Council of Local Authorities be established as well as the identification of a sustainable financing mechanism for its effective and efficient operation. The primary mandate of the AU High Council of Local Authorities should be to represent and be the unmediated voice of African people at the local level through their local authorities and local governments within the governance architecture of the African Union. This mandate is premised on representing local interests, concerns and priorities at the continental level in a manner that complements and adds value to policy making processes at the higher levels of governance as well as to the implementation and monitoring of adopted policies. The Commission proposes that Senegal hosts the Council, as the country has offered to provide a furnished and equipped building for the Headquarters of the High Council as well as a residence for the Secretary General. Through the Report, the Commission strongly believes that the establishment of such a consultative organ will not only strengthen the evolving African Governance Architecture which lacked local content and foundation, but it will significantly contribute to the

AFRICA achievement of the vision of an African Union of peoples. In light of the above, South Africa is in full support of the establishment in principle of the proposed High Council of Local Authorities. EP: The South African government is committed to rolling out a huge programme for the development of infrastructure, to deal with the challenges of unemployment, poverty and underdevelopment. NEPAD has a similar strategy for the continent. Are there any synergies between our country’s plans and the NEPAD programme? If so, are there any win-win outcomes for all concerned? JZ: NEPAD is the socio-economic blueprint for sustainable development on the African continent. This implies that since its inception, the aims, objectives and vision of NEPAD were to be domesticated into the national development programmes and plans of all African governments. The Government of South Africa has ensured, over the years, that the basic pillars of NEPAD that address sectoral priorities have been brought into our national development strategies. Synergies between NEPAD and our national plans include a focus on bridging the infrastructure gap, specifically with regard to ICT, energy, transport, water and sanitation. The Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA), the Presidential Infrastructure Championing Initiative (PICI), and the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP), amongst others, are key AU/NEPAD programmes in which South Africa plays an active role. These activities are aimed at ensuring the improvement of the lives of all South Africans, as well as citizens of SADC and Africa as a whole. In addition, another key NEPAD priority is human development, with a focus on poverty reduction, access for all children to education and dealing with health challenges specifically related to the combating of HIV/ AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. This has been at the centre of government interventions. Implementation of NEPAD programmes and projects nationally,

regionally and continentally have, over the past years, ensured that the development trajectory of South Africa, the SADC region and the continent has been upwards. The involvement and support of development partners towards the implementation of NEPAD has also facilitated socio-economic development and addressed key challenges at a grass-roots level. EP: In your view what needs to be done to bring about greater utilisation of the African Peer Review Mechanism and the Africa Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance? JZ: South Africa is a founding

As different countries supported our country during the liberation struggle we also learnt about the importance of solidarity and comradeship. Many countries in our region were poor but they spared no effort or resources in support of our struggle. member of the African Union and as such has acceded to various AU instruments that govern the conduct of democratic elections including the Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance, which came into force in 2012, and the OAU/AU Declaration on the Principles Governing Democratic Elections in Africa. In this regard, South Africa considers elections as a platform by which the nurturing of governance through the electoral processes enhances democracy and builds a solid foundation for citizens’ full participation in democratic processes. What has been outstanding in many African countries is the domestication of these instruments. When this has been done by the continent, they will earn the respect they deserve from the populace and politicians who contest

elections. It has been our intention as a country to domesticate the Charter and increase its reach and effect. EP: You have amassed a great deal of experience and understanding of the continent from the time you spent in Swaziland, Botswana, Zambia, Mozambique and Angola. Can you tell us something about your stay in these places and the way in which your experiences have influenced your expectations of the future of our continent? JZ: I believe that many of us who spent time in exile learnt some very valuable lessons indeed, first and foremost was the lesson that we were Africans in an African continent. Our experiences taught us that we are one united Africa, with a common destiny, as Africans we all had similar experiences with regards first to slavery and then later to colonialism and imperialism. The majority of African countries lived through such experiences. This then also said to us we have a common destiny to break down the chains of oppression and colonialism. The neocolonial struggles that many African countries waged also meant that we had to forge African unity in order to achieve our objectives. Unity was central in all struggles that were waged by various liberation movements. We built bonds of friendship and struggle when we shared common camps with members of other liberation movements in the continent and the region. These included the formation of solidarity with other like-minded liberation movements like MPLA in Angola, SWAPO in Namibia, FRELIMO in Mozambique, CCM in Tanzania, ZAPU in Zimbabwe, UNIP in Zambia and many others. As different countries supported our country during the liberation struggle we also learnt about the importance of solidarity and comradeship. Many countries in our region were poor but they spared no effort or resources in support of our struggle. We will always value that; hence our interaction with many African countries is informed by those relations that were forged out of struggle. Our commitment to the African agenda today was shaped by our experiences during those tough and difficult periods. 

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AFRICA

AFRICA RISING

Reflections on the Role of the State

What requires ongoing reflection is how to ensure that democracy runs deeper than fiveyearly electoral rituals; and how to combine formal democracy with genuine inclusivity in respect of ethnic, religious, regional and other ‘minorities’. By Joel Netshitenzhe

THE THINKER

significant part of discourse on the socio-economic progress that most of sub-Saharan Africa has made in the past decade-and-half, now characterised as “Africa Rising”, has included the narrative about the correlation of such progress with the transformation of the state. This is interpreted, on the one hand, as confirmation that institutional reform, particularly good political and economic governance, is the magic wand to lift nations onto higher levels of socio-economic development. Others perceive this coincidence as laying to rest the celebrated notion of the ‘invisible hand of the market’: it is state activism and state intervention that have set the continent on a new course. It should be acknowledged, though, that social dynamics do not lend themselves to mechanical reductionism where direct causality can be easily identified and objectively proven. In relation to Africa’s improving performance in the past fifteen years, a variety of conjunctural conditions can be identified, including: changing geopolitics as the Cold War came to an end; South Africa’s liberation which afforded the continent a unique opportunity to focus on new priorities; and the push-and-pull factors that attach to the rise of China, India and other developing countries. Beyond this, domestic factors that played a critical role include: discovery of massive new natural endowments and their systematic exploitation; the emergence of a new corps of political leaders; and higher levels of activism on the part of the intelligentsia, business and broader civil society. This is not to devalue the role of the state as an institution. In fact, it can be argued that even with the factors identified above, if there had not been some modicum of state transformation, Africa’s progress would, at least, not have been this positive. Inversely, the continent’s performance may have been superior to current trends, had the state performed better. Why is the state critical to Africa’s fortunes? While in many parts of the world, nation-states emerged as a consequence of recognition and even

AFRICA enforcement of some homogeneity in the context of industrialisation, African nations are in large measure a product of the continent’s partitioning into European ‘spheres of influence’.1 In a sense, such artificiality imposed an added burden to convert formal geographic entities into platforms of a common identity, integrated economic activity and common statehood. The national liberation struggle, combined with the promotion of pan-African solidarity, contributed to these efforts. And the post-colonial state had and still has a fundamental role to play in the process of nation-formation. The imposition of artificial colonial boundaries was aggravated by policies of socio-economic exclusion, construction of economies that were mere appendages of the colonial metropolis, and the maintenance of systems of governance that sought to enforce acquiescence by the native population. Such massive social engineering demanded and still calls for profound post-colonial social re-engineering, with the state as a strategic player. In the words of Prof Thandika Mkandawire, Africa needs “…a commonly-shared institution to address the main long-term problems that require coordinated collective action…, especially if one accepts that African states must radically and rapidly transform their economies, not only to address the known ills of poverty, ignorance and disease, but also to deal with the new challenges of climate change and the ever present threat of external plunder”.2 Globalisation in the past three decades has fostered stronger international economic and other relations. In spite of this, the nationstate has not lost its salience as a basic unit of planning and social intercourse. Globally, the crucial role of the state has, over and over again, been emphasised by state-led responses to major economic developments. On a proactive macro-scale, this is reflected in the sustained successes of East Asian developmental states and the rise of China, India and Brazil, among others. The global economic downturn of the past seven years has further muted the triumphalism of neo-liberal

economics. Quite clearly, the dynamic of the relationship between the state, the market and the citizen is being irreversibly redefined on a global scale. What are the main attributes of a state and how have these found expression in Africa? Practical experiences in this regard are as varied as the number of countries on the continent and the phases through which they have gone in the postcolonial era. But some generalisation, especially as it pertains to sub-Saharan Africa, may stand the treatment of this issue in good stead. In some classics, the state is defined as “a product of society at a certain stage of development; it is the admission that this society has become entangled in

For the African state to become an effective champion of economic development in the modern era, it has to have levels of popular legitimacy, authority and transparency that cannot be attained without meaningful citizen participation. an insoluble contradiction with itself”. As such, it becomes necessary to have “a power…that would alleviate the conflict and keep it within the bounds of ‘order’” .3 The state therefore can be characterised as an instrument of coercion and cohesion – and the African state is no exception. In its genesis, though, the African postcolonial state bore less emphasis on class distinctions. A product of national liberation alliances bringing together the intelligentsia and other middle strata; existing, nascent or aspirant capitalists; as well as peasants and workers, the state emerged as a concentrated expression of the interests of these class alliances. The

balance of power and influence among these social groups was varied across countries and regions depending on the levels of economic development and the form and intensity of the independence struggles. Intersecting with the class expression of the state were matters to do with multi-ethnic solidarity, management of the question of race especially in those states such as Zimbabwe and South Africa with large European settler communities, and such other identities as religious affiliation, regional interests, gender and generation. Inter-state relations and the Pan-African project were also relevant to these efforts. And so it can be argued, in broad terms, that in the period when there was less success in negotiating this minefield of complex factors on the part of the political leadership and the state, socio-economic progress was compromised. Ethnic and regional patronage and pork-barrel politics gave birth to cynicism and in some instances violent conflict within and among nations. Poor race relations and/or poor relations with the erstwhile metropolises which control resources for investment – directly or through Bretton Woods institutions – were ruthlessly punished. Among others, this took the form of structural adjustment programmes, proxy wars, coups d'état and assassinations. At the same time, the rising political elite had to assert the newly-won independence by seeking to transform ownership and distribution of wealth and income. In some instances, this was done genuinely with the aim of correcting a historical injustice. Success in some countries was sabotaged from the outside or resisted by all kinds of retrogressive forces from within. Yet in other instances, the policies themselves were poorly conceived. There are of course countries where the new political elites sought, through corruption, to amass wealth for themselves, with “western democracies” conniving in this, or simply turning a blind eye. At the heart of such conduct by the self-declared paragons of democracy and ethics were considerations of geo-politics in the context of the Cold War, an attempt to contain the liberation

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AFRICA struggles that were still under way in southern Africa as well as economic self-interest informed by the thirst for Africa’s natural resources. A brief treatise such as this cannot quite capture the complex processes that unfolded in scores of countries over the first thirty years of African independence. What this truncated analysis seeks to do is to underline the effect of choices of the political leadership and the role of the state in describing the trajectory that the continent experienced in this period. In brief, while some of the reversals were a consequence of external intervention, issues such as how the African leadership conducted itself, and whether the state was embedded in society as a legitimate instrument of all the people, were critical to how these dynamics played themselves out. This is in contrast to the new energy that started to infuse African governance in the 1990s, driven in part by changing global geopolitics; but more critically, by the emergence of a new corps of leaders who sought to extricate the continent from the status of a basket case that it had become. As JP Landman observes, from only three democracies in about 1982, by 2007 more than 40 of the 53 African countries were holding multi-party elections.4 The handling of public finances had also improved; and so had the investment climate with better, transparent and law-governed management of national economic activity. There were deliberate efforts to contain and eliminate intra- and inter-state conflicts. But could the continent have done better? And what more needs to be done to improve the positive role that the state can and should play in Africa Rising? There is no definitive dividing line between the epochs described above. Elements of old dynamics continued to play themselves out as, in aggregate, the continent entered a new phase at the turn of the 21st century. This is critical to internalise, for progress going forward depends on whether the positive factors predominate over the negative ones. The grand narrative of Africa Rising may describe general trends of the

THE THINKER

current moment; but along with such progress are weaknesses that require urgent attention. A few examples deserve mention, if only for purposes of illustration. With regard to the prudent management of resources, the question can be posed, for instance, why a Ghana that had been growing at high rates at the same time as it unearthed massive natural resources, had to approach in 2014 the Bretton Woods institutions for a bail out. Herein lies one of the lessons about rapacious exuberance: when and how and in what measure the gains of progress need to be distributed to ensure sustainable development! The fact that Angola has settled the civil war that ravaged the country for decades is worthy of celebration. Given its abundant resources, Angola’s economic growth rate surpasses that of most countries in the world, and improvements in socio-economic conditions are starting to manifest. But critics point to whispers about the apportionment of the economic rents among members of an elite, in a manner that has little regard for ethical and lawful conduct. South Africa has made massive progress in extending services to sections of society that were deliberately neglected by the racist regime; opportunities have been opened up that only two decades ago seemed unattainable to black people; gender equality was for many years pursued with gusto – to quote a few examples. But incidents and trends such as the Marikana tragedy when in 2012 mineworkers were mowed down by the police of a democratic state, the so-called service delivery protests, and weak levels of private sector investment point to the insidious effects of massive social inequality, venality, poor state capacity especially at sub-national level even when resources are available, as well as levels of mistrust and even selfishness among those who own the bulk of investment resources. In Mozambique, the rate of economic growth has been admirably stellar for over a decade – along with the entrenchment of democracy. Yet only a few months ago, the nation seemed to be tipping at the

precipice, with threats of renewed civil war. Thankfully, this seems now to have been resolved. All manner of explanations have been proffered for these developments. But the brittleness of peace also speaks to the issue of how the largesse of newly-discovered endowments is shared beyond ruling party and ethnic alliances, at least to make it impossible for retrogressive forces to clutch at straws for counterdevelopmental mobilisation. With the long-awaited rebasing of its economy, Nigeria in 2014 celebrated its emergence as the biggest economy on the continent, pointing among other things to the extent of diversification that has taken place over the past two decades and the great potential for sustained growth. Yet the disintegrative tendencies of religious intolerance as well as ethnic and regional mobilisation against the integrity of the nation-state still manifest, at times in a manner that appears truly ominous. In South Sudan the attainment of self-determination that seemed to herald a new era of peace and inclusive development for both the North and the South appears to be unravelling. In Mali and Côte d’Ivoire impositions from the outside may have brought some semblance of stability. But was this premised on untangling the substance of the causal social antagonisms that precipitated the conflicts in the first place; or will it prove ephemeral in the medium- to long-term? Let there be no doubt about the accuracy of the Africa Rising narrative. As Osaghae asserts, in relation to Nigeria in the midst of its current challenges, “based on the positives…in terms of the frame of new beginnings, which are conducive to the decolonisation of the state…the country is better positioned to surmount the immediate problems and divisions”.5 This posture derives from more than sheer optimism. It is about recognition of the reality that the positive changes that have taken place on the continent over the past decade-and-half are expressive of green buds from roots that have found fertile soil. However, they need to be nurtured, at the same time as the weed of retrogressive tendencies is dislodged. The further transformation of the African state

AFRICA will render these green shoots sturdy enough to withstand the wind and the drought and the hail of heady moments and inclement weather. Three pillars of state transformation deserve emphasis. Firstly, African states need to root themselves in visionary thinking that answers the call of David Scott to become “self-conscious actors, resisting, translating, displacing, and so on, that dominant [colonial –Ed] power in the course of making their own history”.6 In many countries of the continent, long-term strategic thinking has started to take root, reflected in national development plans with concrete targets about the human condition on the continent in the decades to come. The African Union is also playing a critical role in this regard, and its Agenda 2063 should further infuse this paradigm across the continent. On one plane are issues of political and socio-economic targets: the specific ideals that describe what each society seeks to become in the long-term. This requires clarity about economic growth paths, the identification of competitive and comparative advantages that each country and each region should take advantage of, and the complementarities that should inform regional and continental integration. How to take full advantage of natural endowments and use them for the development of industrial capacity; how to manage macroeconomic balances; how to diversify the economy; how to skill the African youth, women and society in general; how to improve workers’ remuneration and productivity; how to promote entrepreneurship and manage foreign direct investment; and how to deploy fiscal resources including in the sorely needed massive infrastructure projects – all these are the critical economic issues on which the state should deliberately focus. In doing so, it should be informed by the fundamental starting point that economic growth is not an end in itself, but must act as the foundation for the improvement of the human condition. On another plane should be the conceptualisation of an Africa that asserts itself in the broader context of the evolution of human civilisation.

As Chief Albert Luthuli declared in his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech: “Somewhere ahead there beckons a civilisation which will take its place in God’s history with other great human syntheses: Chinese, Egyptian, Jewish, European. It will not necessarily be all black: but it will be African”.7 In other words, the paradigm of thinking among the political leadership and the objectives that the state sets itself should transcend the small-time pre-occupations merely with the here and the now. Surely, this will require that Africa selects the best among its luminaries to take the political helm and staff the organs of state. This is not to suggest that, at the head of African governments and states should be sages of letters and

The paradigm of thinking among the political leadership and the objectives that the state sets itself should transcend the small-time preoccupations merely with the here and the now. science. But a modicum of acumen fully to appreciate the modernisation required in each country and the dynamics of fluid global political and economic relations is crucial. This will arm the rulers with the wisdom to appreciate the African intellectual resources extant within and outside the country, and how to mobilise them to become active participants in national life – as leaders of state-owned enterprises, owners of private enterprises and even partners and managers of the subsidiaries of foreign multinationals, and as bureaucrats, advisors and even political or civil society activists. Secondly, a social compact to attain the national vision is required – and related to this is the need for the state to play a leading role in uniting society, beyond matters of national

identity. The African state should be so law-governed, transparent, ethical and rule-bound that it enjoys the confidence of all sectors of society. Thus it will be embraced by society as a whole as a legitimate collective instrument of progressive change. At the same time, for the state to play this role requires activism on the part of all the other social partners. Business people, intellectuals and researchers, workers, peasants, religious leaders and other civil society activists, as well as youth and women wherever they may be located – all these should see and conduct themselves not as passive objects of state largesse and experimentation. Rather they should actively involve themselves in shaping the destiny of the nation, which requires, among other things, ensuring that the state fulfils its objectives and stays within the straight and narrow. In other words, the relationship between the state, the market and the citizen should not be a function merely of the initiative of political leaders. Proceeding from this premise, there will then be a better appreciation that each sector of society not only has a role to play; but should also be prepared, where necessary, to make short-term sacrifices to attain the larger goal. As Mkandawire argues: “Social compacts are not selfsustaining equilibria. They often need an external actor to provide the framework for negotiations and for ensuring respect by all parties for the conditions of the bargain. The predispositions of the state towards various actors can facilitate social pacts. The state can help by providing a credible societal vision and by coordinating expectations of different social constituencies.”8 Thirdly, the act of transfer of power at the moment of independence entailed in many African countries cynical transitional shepherding by the colonial masters – in some instances through the phase of ‘responsible government’ leading ultimately to formal transfer of political power. This straightjacketed the new rulers with regard to the re-organisation of the inherited colonial state. And so, the colonial macroorganisation of the state, as well as the systems and the culture were largely

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AFRICA retained, in spite of the fact that strategic objectives and tasks had fundamentally changed. This even included the practices of patronage and corruption that the colonial masters had relied on to sustain oppressive rule, with new motivations, new benefactors and new beneficiaries. Attempts to change this were successful in some countries; but in others, the changes themselves so disrupted state functionality that new retrogressive practices emerged. Yet in other instances, the colonisers left in a hurry and in pique, defeated by the advancing liberation forces – and they deliberately sabotaged the systems and instruments of governance. Whatever the concrete experiences (and there are many more), ongoing transformation of the state should include deliberate alignment between the macro-organisation of the state on the one hand and, on the other, the nation’s strategic objectives, the phase of development, the capacities required at national and sub-national levels and the imperatives of regional and international relations. This applies, for instance, to numbers and configurations of Ministries and departments which should be determined on the basis of science and logic; and not merely by imperatives of political patronage. And, as argued earlier, employment in the bureaucracy should be based on merit (including genuine potential), with rigorous and transparent processes of selection. All these are not new wisdoms. Without suggesting mechanical superimpositions, acknowledgement is due that, more than any other region of the world, East Asia has over the centuries made an invaluable contribution to state organisation and state capacity. And their progress in the past forty years is in part a consequence of the marshalling of the state to meet focussed objectives. Dr Francis Fukuyama captures this very well in relation to the appointment of bureaucrats: “At the beginning of the American Civil War, the whole American system was characterised by patronage politics and so a lot of Lincoln’s early generals were basically political generals that he had to appoint as a result of a political debt. They were the ones who lost a lot

THE THINKER

of the early battles to the confederacy. But the Chinese had worked this out 2500 years ago, and as a result, they began the process of selecting people on the basis of merit… This principle of merit is very deeply engrained as is the principle of education. And one of the reasons … that East Asia has been extremely successful in terms of economic development, is that Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Singapore have all inherited the Chinese tradition of government. This is one example of where a modern state comes from…”9 In dealing with these pillars of African state transformation, not much reference has been made to democratic systems of government. In part, this is because the primacy of democracy is assumed. But it is also because the advances in many of the East Asian Tigers started under

A social compact to attain the national vision is required - and related to this is the need for the state to play a leading role in uniting society, beyond matters of national identity. authoritarian regimes, and China still has some way to go in this regard. Over time, most of these societies introduced electoral democracy; and with all its weaknesses, China does have complex systems of accountability and popular participation. The issue of the relationship between sustained economic development and democracy has been debated over many years; and it is not the purpose of this treatise to rehash these. Save to assert, as Mkandawire argues (citing the varied views of, among others, Samuel Huntington, Charles Tilly, Amartya Sen, Michael Mann and Peter Evans): presenting a choice between development and democracy as a trade-off is an erroneous “tendentious reading of recent developmental history”. Africa’s peoples, the African

Union and the majority of Africa’s leaders do appreciate that democracy may be messy, but it is not “a luxury that the poor [cannot] afford”!10 For the African state to become an effective champion of economic development in the modern era, it has to have levels of popular legitimacy, authority and transparency that cannot be attained without meaningful citizen participation. To thrive in the longterm, social compacts in modern times cannot but be voluntary. What requires ongoing reflection is how to ensure that democracy runs deeper than five-yearly electoral rituals; and how to combine formal democracy with genuine inclusivity in respect of ethnic, religious, regional and other ‘minorities’. There should also be reflection on how to refine electoral systems – in particular the balance between constituency-based and proportional representation – taking into account their varied centripetal and centrifugal effects on the project of nation-formation and economic development in each specific setting. To recapitulate: the African state, with particular reference to subSaharan Africa, needs to play an even more strategic and active role in socioeconomic development. For this to happen, it must refine its strategic outlook, improve its capacity to act, and strengthen the popular legitimacy required to marshal society for the attainment of the national interest, working in tandem with other states on the continent and further afield. These changes require more than half-hearted reform. The African state must transform at the same time as it strives to transform society; and its positive impact on Africa Rising must become the new continental default.  References 1 General Act of the 1884 Berlin Conference, www.bbc. co.uk 2 Prof Thandika Mkandawire, Mapungubwe Annual Lecture (www.mistra.org.za), March 2012 3 Engels, The Origin of the Family, Private property and the State, pp157-158 4 JP Landman, Political Comment, 2007 5 Eghosa Osaghae, ‘The decolonisation challenges and matters arising’, The Thinker, Quarter 2 – 2014 6 David Scott, Conscripts of Modernity: The Tragedy of Colonial Enlightenment, Duke University Press 2004, (p113, Kindle edition) 7 Chief Albert Luthuli , Nobel Peace Prize Acceptance Speech, December 10, 1961 8 Op cit 9 Dr Francis Fukuyama, Mapungubwe Public Lecture (www.mistra.org.za), 10 May, 2013 10 Op cit

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POLITICS

Public PolicyMaking in the Mbeki Era

The author, Zambian by birth and now an associate Professor at the University of Johannesburg, publishes some parts of the introduction to his forthcoming book entitled Public Policy-Making in the Mbeki Era. By Ndangwa Noyoo

THE THINKER

POLITICS

n 21 September 2008, the second democratically elected president of South Africa, Thabo Mvuyelwa Mbeki, resigned his position as state president, with only seven months left of his official tenure. Whilst delivering his resignation speech - which was beamed live on one of the channels of the country’s official broadcaster, the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) – Mbeki exhibited extreme calmness, maturity and dignity. However, his pain was clearly discernable, even though he tried in vain to mask it. Mbeki informed the nation why he had decided to resign in this manner: “I have no doubt that you are aware of the pronouncement made yesterday by the National Executive Committee of the ANC with regard to the position of the President of the Republic. Accordingly, I would like to take this opportunity to inform the nation that today I handed a letter to the Speaker of the National Assembly, the Honourable Baleka Mbete, to tender my resignation from the high position of the President of the Republic of South Africa, effective from the day that will be determined by the National Assembly.” Mbeki went on to assert: “I have been a loyal member of the African National Congress for 52 years. I remain a member of the ANC and therefore respect its decisions. It is for this reason that I have taken the decision to resign as President of the Republic, following the decision of the National Executive Committee of the ANC.” Mbeki then thanked the nation and the ANC for giving him the opportunity to serve in public office. He also recalled the values of Ubuntu1 and the leaders of the liberation struggle who were able to impart such values to him and other ANC cadres, namely Chief Albert Luthuli, Oliver Reginald “O.R.” Tambo and Nelson Mandela, among others. He then cited some of the achievements which were attained in the democratic order and wound up his address by thanking all his colleagues in government who had made these feats possible.2 In his last speech as president of South Africa, Mbeki was able to re-cast light

on his whole public life in a matter of minutes: from the liberation struggle, through to the post-apartheid era. He also synoptically charted his evolution in the ANC from the time he was a young cadre up to the period when he became president of South Africa. He further reiterated his Two-Nation State and African Renaissance theses. This book intimates that the Mbeki era was instrumental in putting South Africa on a firm footing in regard to modernity and modern governance, in stark contrast to the obtaining realities in many other African countries. This was also the period

The reality is that Thabo Mbeki was a visionary who was able to steer South Africa in the uncharted and at times turbulent waters of a post-Cold War world order, coupled with an incessant and deeply penetrating globalisation, which, more often than not, proved inimical to the development of Africa and the developing world. which allowed the country to begin shedding its apartheid baggage which was in effect a major hurdle to the modernisation project which was envisaged and propagated by Mbeki. It can thus be speculated that Mbeki was quite clear, in his mind, as to what kind of society he wanted South Africa to be, namely, a well-functioning democratic and modern African society. Therefore, it is contended in this book that South Africa owes its modern stature, especially in the post-apartheid era, to among other things, Mbeki’s vision, coupled with his personal drive, commitment,

sense of public duty, courage, strategic thinking in regard to modern governance, African solidarity and internationalism. It is also argued in this work that such a situation came to pass due to his insistence in shaping a strong public policy agenda that was predicated on sound planning and evidencebased policy- and decision-making. By delving into the Mbeki era and examining the public policy-making process, it is hoped that this book will be able to marshal necessary evidence and properly ascribe some of the ground-breaking initiatives which were launched in South Africa, and which had far-reaching implications for the country’s future development prospects. It is also intimated in the book that Mbeki’s legacy forced South Africa to at least follow a certain trajectory, of modern nation-state building. Indeed, even though some quarters in the country may not want to verbally acknowledge this fact, the reality is that Thabo Mbeki was a visionary who was able to steer South Africa in the uncharted and at times turbulent waters of a post-Cold War world order, coupled with an incessant and deeply penetrating globalisation, which, more often than not, proved inimical to the development of Africa and the developing world. In a continent where presidents either refused to vacate office when they were voted out of power by the electorate, or where they simply dug in, even when they were overwhelmingly rejected by citizens, Mbeki’s acquiescence in relation to the aforementioned matter should not be taken lightly. Some of Africa’s more autocratic leaders have been prone to staying in power for decades. Without a doubt, the arrival of Thabo Mbeki on the African political scene was a breath of fresh air. After decades of dictatorships – military or otherwise – across the continent, and a host of presidents who only qualified to be called warlords or strongmen, the presidency of Thabo Mbeki signified a quantum leap from such ludicrous leadership that was commonplace in Africa. This was also after the golden era of early post-colonial Africa that

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POLITICS had boasted the likes of Kwame Nkrumah and Julius Nyerere, among others, who were at the forefront of articulating a pan-Africanist agenda of liberation and the advancement of the African continent. After Africa’s abysmal and comical performances on the international front, especially in the 1980s, Mbeki was able to make the world, especially the West, take notice of Africa in a different light. He did this, not in a loud or abrasive manner, but through sound intellect, calm persuasion and a high sense of dignity. Mbeki was also able to signal to the world that Africans were no longer prepared to explain themselves at every juncture or apologise for being who they were, namely, Africans. In this regard, Mbeki did not fit the stereotypical roles of buffoonery or frivolity that had come to typify some of Africa’s leadership. It is also noteworthy that Thabo Mbeki and other progressive African leaders played a crucial role in re-defining the thrust of certain African institutions and helped to re-sculpt them for the twenty-first century. The change in name and mandate of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) to that of the African Union (AU) and the creation of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) remain cases-in-point. Also, through evocative speeches such as I am an African, Mbeki was able to summon the pride and purpose of the early pan-African development agenda in eloquent prose. Perhaps the prevailing mood of optimism in South Africa at the time, as well as of Mbeki, is best captured in a sentence of his speech I am an African which notes: “Today it feels good to be an African.” It is safe to assert that Mbeki was a very visible and engaged president. This may be in part due to his extensive knowledge of politics, economics and other intellectual disciplines. More importantly, Mbeki was an academically inclined politician, among other attributes – which is still a rare feat in Africa (or anywhere in the world) even today. He would write treatises in different media or on the internet. In fact he had an online weekly newsletter and without fail,

THE THINKER

every Friday, there would be something topical that Mbeki would be analysing. At times he would be amongst eminent scholars presenting papers or championing certain positions at various symposia. Even though some people complained that he had stifled robust debate in the country, on the contrary, he had encouraged it and even decried its absence. One of his famous questions on this issue had been: “Where are the intellectuals?”4 In spite of such pursuits, he did manage to make himself enemies as is the case with any successful human being. Also, Mbeki seemed not to have lost touch with his earlier aspirations which had drawn him to the liberation struggle of his country. Hence his high sense of public service. It has been reported in various works that Mbeki slept little and worked into the late night or early

Mbeki was able to make the world, especially the West, take notice of Africa in a different light. He did this, not in a loud or abrasive manner, but through sound intellect, calm persuasion and a high sense of dignity. hours of the day. It can also be speculated that Mbeki considered himself as somebody who had a date with destiny. Arguably, he did take himself as an historical figure. His demeanour and actions seemed to suggest this – perhaps due in part to the heavy weight of responsibility which was placed on his shoulders, by historical forces, from an early age. Even the statements he made are pointers to how serious Mbeki took himself, not in a haughty or egoistical manner, but in an almost grave and sombre kind of way, suggesting that he was acutely aware of his leadership role in his people’s struggles and an understanding that

certain positions are by nature life’s burdens. But he also had a remarkable way of either poetically driving this point home or vividly capturing the moment in flowery prose. In many ways, his assertions left those who paid attention seriously ruminating on them – the real food for thought. For example, at his inauguration, he made the following assertions: And because we are one another’s keepers, we surely must be haunted by the humiliating suffering which continues to afflict millions of our people. Our nights cannot but be nights of nightmares while millions of our people live in conditions of degrading poverty. Sleep cannot come easily when children get permanently disabled, both physically and mentally, because of lack of food. No night can be restful when millions have no jobs, and some are forced to beg, rob and murder to ensure that they and their own do not perish from hunger.5 Such statements were not only powerful but also evocative. They were also, in this case, made as a way of acknowledging the enormity of the task before Mbeki. After having had direct experience of governance and its attendant responsibilities as the country’s Deputy President, it must have been pretty clear to him that the 5 years of ANC rule had not even made any serious dents in the inherited apartheid edifice. This painful reality is also amplified in the foregoing speech as Mbeki remonstrated: …the full meaning of liberation will not be realised until our people are freed both from oppression and from the dehumanising legacy of deprivation we inherited from our past…Our days will remain forever haunted when frightening numbers of the women and children of our country fall victim to rape and other crimes of violence…6 Also, Mbeki’s inaugural speech seemed to have cast a mould for future government interventions and public policy choices. The former would be unpacked in his yearly State of the Nation addresses from 1999 to 2008. The State of the Nation

POLITICS address was an important annual tone-setter, and also served to provide the country and government with the rationale for action in regard to national development concerns and the transformation agenda. After Mbeki took over the reins of power, “fast-tracking” service delivery became his administration’s mantra. There was a general understanding, during this era, that government interventions would be shaped by sound public policies that were underpinned by hard evidence. This was insofar as policies were to be tracked and assessed in regard to their impacts on the quality of life of the citizenry. Thus, Monitoring and Evaluation was brought onto the centre stage of public policymaking. At the time, it was noted that the policies which had been developed since 1994 not only needed to be augmented with the right political will and organisational capacity, but were to be successfully implemented (Noyoo and Mamphiswana, 2003). The other idea that emerged during this period was one of Joined-up Government. Mbeki’s government expressed this notion in the form of what came to be known as the cluster system. What is clear is that Mbeki, from the time that he was the Deputy President of the country, and throughout his presidency, had his meticulous persona permeate not only the government space, but arguably most of civil society. Mbeki would get stuck in the nitty-gritty of governance and his lieutenants had to double-up in order to keep pace with him. This was an aberration in Africa where most presidents are prone to chaotic governance. Mbeki also had a unique quality of rallying the citizenry around a common theme and then giving it a policy resonance, whereupon government would then seek strategies for intervention. These dexterous qualities are what this book will continue to ferret out as it traces the evolution of public policy-making post1994, especially during the period when Mbeki was president. Although there are numerous accounts relating to the origins and background of Thabo Mbeki, it is still

imperative to have such a synoptic account for the purposes of this book. Thabo Mbeki was born on 18 June 1942 into a politically aristocratic family. He was literally thrown into South African politics and the liberation struggle from an early age by virtue of his family background. His parents were both members of the Communist Party of South Africa (CPSA) and later, the South African Communist Party (SACP) and the ANC. Govan Mbeki, his father, was one of the Rivonia accused, together with Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu, Elias Motsoaledi, Raymond Mhlaba, Andrew Mlangeni, Ahmed Kathrada and Denis Goldberg. These men were accused of high treason and sentenced to life imprisonment in 1964. Apart from Denis Goldberg (the only white person on trial), who served his sentence in Pretoria, the rest were

Even though some people complained that he had stifled robust debate in the country, on the contrary, he had encouraged it and even decried its absence. imprisoned on Robben Island. The former president’s mother also came with her own political credentials. MaMbeki, as she was commonly referred to in South Africa, was trained as a teacher and was born in 1916. She studied at Lovedale Teachers’ College and Adams College respectively (at the time, these were highly prestigious institutions of higher education). She was recruited by the CPSA in 1937, at that time the second black woman to join the organisation. Therefore, the Mbeki household was not only educated, but was also politically astute. Mbeki joined the ANC at a tender age of 14 years. Due to his politically active family, he was made aware from an early age of the necessity to liberate South Africa from white domination. He was also alerted to the dangers that

were associated with this task and his father made sure that he was exposed to these realities. Later on, Mbeki joined the ANC’s armed wing uMkhonto we Sizwe (the spear of the nation) before leaving the country and going into exile. It would be nearly three decades before he would return to the land of his birth, South Africa. However, his main destination after leaving South Africa was the University of Sussex in the United Kingdom where he studied and earned himself both an Undergraduate Degree in Economics as well as a Master’s Degree in Economics. Whilst studying at the university, Mbeki championed the liberation of his country and popularised the cause of the Rivonia triallists through demonstrations and other political activity. He also went for political and military training in Moscow in the former Soviet Union. Undoubtedly, these experiences would prepare him for future events and greatly influence his approach to politics years later. After leaving Sussex, Mbeki steadfastly applied himself to the task of liberating his country from the yoke of colonialism and apartheid. He was posted to various African stations by the ANC where he executed his responsibilities diligently. After 28 years in exile, Thabo Mbeki triumphantly returned to his country and immediately set out to re-establish the ANC internally. He also joined the rest of the ANC and its leadership in negotiating for a peaceful political settlement. Effectively, Mbeki spent most of his adult life in African countries such as Botswana, Nigeria, Swaziland, and Zambia where he represented the ANC. He also visited many other African countries in the process. In Europe he stayed for a considerable period in the United Kingdom as a young student and spent a short spell in the Soviet Union. Mbeki had also crisscrossed the globe, whilst representing the ANC on various assignments. He would eventually spend longer periods in Zambia as this was the ANC’s Headquarters. Without a doubt, Mbeki has had personal experiences of post-colonial Africa in both its progressive and nefarious forms. He was allowed the rare opportunity of seeing countries

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POLITICS rise out of the ashes of colonialism and chart their destinies with pride and dignity, but only to implode decades later. He was also privy to the spectres of dictatorships and one-party state regimes on the continent. Also, Mbeki was aware of the continent’s high levels of poverty and inequality as can be discerned from the citation below: An ill wind has blown me across the face of Africa. I have seen the poverty of Orlando East7 and the wealth of Morningside in Johannesburg. In Lusaka, I have seen the poor of Kanyama township and the prosperous residents of Kabulonga. I have seen the African slums of Surulere in Lagos and the African opulence of Victoria Island.8 I have seen the faces of the poor in Mbari in Harare and the quiet wealth of Borrowdale (Mbeki, 1998:1). This profound knowledge of African socio-economic conditions and the politics of the post-colonial era may have proved invaluable to the postapartheid ANC-led government’s transformation project – when Mbeki became the leader of a free South Africa. Being the ANC’s international relations’ point-man, Mbeki also accrued an expansive and in-depth world view. As he traversed the continents of the world and whilst broadening the struggle against apartheid through various diplomatic initiatives, Mbeki was inadvertently elevated to the status of a world statesman. Years later, the world stage would be his domain when he was both the Deputy President and President of South Africa. It seems as if he was less driven by emotions and was more concerned with the most viable and available means to achieve both socio-economic and political freedom for his people. Thus, he had the foresight to make strides and create conducive conditions for negotiation between the ANC and the apartheid government to transpire. He saw this as a necessity in the march towards South Africa’s eventual freedom. But more importantly, he had the courage to take such a stance at the risk of being labelled a “sell-out” “reactionary” and so forth, which in any case, did happen. Poignantly, when negotiations for

THE THINKER

South Africa’s freedom were in their embryonic phase, the ANC’s and Mbeki’s host country, Zambia, was unravelling. In 1990, as the ANC and the apartheid regime were tentatively establishing the rules of engagement for a negotiated settlement, after the unbanning of various liberation movements, Zambia was rocked by riots that had been precipitated by a high cost of living and political misrule. Kenneth Kaunda, the president of Zambia of 27 years and also the chief patron of the ANC had fallen out of favour with his people. The United National Independence Party (UNIP) government of Kaunda and its leaders had become so unpopular that Zambians were ready to have any alternative as long as change transpired in the political arena. Eventually Kaunda and UNIP were voted out of power in 1991 and

This profound knowledge of African socio-economic conditions and the politics of the postcolonial era may have proved invaluable to the post-apartheid ANC-led government’s transformation project – when Mbeki became the leader of a free South Africa. replaced by a party with neo-liberal leanings - the Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) and arguably, an extremely reactionary president, Frederick Chiluba. The new Zambian president was not interested in the ANC.9 It is important to mention that the bond between the ANC and the UNIP predated Zambia’s independence. Kenneth Kaunda and the UNIP had forged ties with the ANC even prior to Zambia’s independence in 1964. The UNIP was already, before 1964, providing logistical support to the

ANC by facilitating its transit through colonial Zambia en route to Tanzania.10 Solidarity with the ANC was further cemented after Zambia’s liberation from colonial rule in 1964. Later, the ANC’s Headquarters was established in the country’s capital, Lusaka. What is instructive as regards this brief history of Zambia is that many of the ANC leaders in exile were first-hand witnesses to the country’s fortunes and woes. They had seen Zambia’s meteoric rise in the light of social upliftment and economic prosperity in only just two decades after its independence and then saw the country spiral out of control into chronic poverty and destitution. When Zambia plunged into the abyss of human deprivation, whilst earning itself the status of “one of the poorest” countries in the world, the ANC was operating in the country. It is also noteworthy that when wrong-headed policies and misguided “socialist” experiments were being implemented in Zambia, the ANC membership was also part of the rubric of this society. Its members also stood in the long queues for essential commodities such as bread, cooking oil, sugar, medicine, among others, when the economy had plummeted to unmanageable levels due to ill-conceived policies.11 Therefore, ANC members could not escape the hardships that this state of affairs brought upon Zambians – exemplified by the lack of (or derelict) infrastructure, amenities and other critical social services.12 Nonetheless, sight must not be lost of the immense sacrifices which were made by Zambia and its people towards the liberation of not only South Africa, but other Southern African states such as Angola, Mozambique, Namibia and Zimbabwe from settler and white minority rule. According to Banda (2000) Zambia’s apartheid related economic cost is in excess of US$ 19 billion. At least US$ 5.345 billion is debt which can be linked to apartheid causes. In addition, many Zambians, especially in rural border areas, were displaced and their livelihoods interrupted. Furthermore, Zambia had to support hundreds of thousands of refugees who had fled the effects of settler domination and racial oppression in the region. In

POLITICS terms of lives, thousands of Zambians, freedom fighters, and refugees were killed on Zambian soil by the forces of Rhodesia (backed by apartheid South Africa), the Portuguese, and South Africans. Thousands of people were killed by land mines and military raids – air, land, and water. Angola and Mozambique also suffered long and corrosive civil wars which were sponsored by apartheid South Africa. Rogue rebel movements, namely, the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola or União Nacional para a Independência Total de Angola (UNITA) in Angola, which was led by the late Jonas Savimbi, and the Mozambican National Resistance or Resistência Nacional Moçambicana (RENAMO) in Mozambique, which is led by Afonso Dhlakama, wreaked havoc in the said countries. These rebel forces neither professed any clear ideology nor national agenda. They were just bent on spreading terror and death in Angola and Mozambique. Those South Africans who had lived outside South Africa, especially in neighbouring countries, and were able to witness the terror that the apartheid state had unleashed on the region and its people, as earlier noted, were well aware that the armed struggle had faced an uphill battle. During this period, all Southern African countries were already weary of the continued harassment from the South African Defence Force (SADF) and apartheid assassins or death squads. Indeed, there was no doubt that Pretoria was a formidable foe. The apartheid military apparatus was colossal and South Africa even boasted nuclear weapons. On the other hand, African states that were hosting the ANC had ill-equipped armies and were also crippled by their own domestic problems stemming from weakening economies and failed politics. This situation was further complicated and compounded by the strident support of apartheid South Africa by the equally powerful and wealthy Western nations. For decades, resolution after resolution condemning the violent acts of the apartheid state at the United Nations, were spurned by the United Kingdom, United States of America, France, West Germany and Japan. With most of the leadership of

the liberation movements languishing in jail and branded as “terrorists”, Western powers as well as Israel did everything in their power to thwart, stifle and delay all efforts by the majority of South Africans to attain their freedom. It is only fashionable these days to be associated with Mandela, the ANC and black South Africa. During the height of the struggle and when the chips were down, so to speak, the fight for freedom was supported by African states, Scandinavian countries, the

With most of the leadership of the liberation movements languishing in jail and branded as “terrorists”, Western powers as well as Israel did everything in their power to thwart, stifle and delay all efforts by the majority of South Africans to attain their freedom. It is only fashionable these days to be associated with Mandela, the ANC and black South Africa. Soviet Union and the rest of the former Eastern bloc and Cuba. This book also examines the role of leadership in public policy-making. In this regard, the question to ask would be: What kind of leadership style did Mbeki adhere to whilst in power? Thus it evaluates the public policy scenario when Mbeki was president and seeks to dovetail his leadership style with public policy choices and outcomes in South Africa, when he was in power. Before ending this section, it is important to ask the question: Did the ANC have many choices in the light of the type of society it wanted to

create in the post-apartheid era? Such a question needs to be posed because some sections in South Africa have hinted on how the ANC and its leaders, especially Thabo Mbeki, “sold out” due to the negotiated settlement, which was agreed upon by the ANC and its former enemy, the NP. Critically, the foregoing must be answered whilst bearing in mind the practicalities of governing a post-apartheid society in the light of re-configured global geopolitics.  Notes This is an African principle of caring for each other’s well-being through a spirit of mutual support. Each individual’s humanity is ideally expressed through his or her relationship with others and theirs in turn through recognition of the individual’s humanity. Ubuntu means that people are people through other people. It also acknowledges both the rights and the responsibilities of every citizen (Ministry of Welfare and Population Development, 1997). 2 The Presidency, September 21 2008. 3 Statement of Deputy President Mbeki, on behalf of the ANCV, on the Occasion of the Adoption by the Constitutional Assembly of “The Republic of South Africa Constitutional Bill 1996.” Cape Town, May 8. 4 Thabo Mbeki had criticised “timid” black intellectuals for their apparent silence on the lack of transformation in South Africa, suggesting that they feared criticism for stepping out of line with conventional thinking (Michaels, 2003). 5 Speech of President Thabo Mbeki at his inauguration as president of the Republic of South Africa: Union Buildings, Pretoria, 16 June 1999. http://www. info.gov.za/speeches/1999/990617935a1002.htm, (Accessed on 12 April 2013). 6 Ibid. 7 A section of SOWETO Township in South Africa. 8 An affluent suburb of Lagos, Nigeria. 9 In fact Frederick Chiluba invited the last apartheid president F.W. de Klerk to Zambia in July 1993, where he officiated at the Zambia Agriculture and Commercial show. 10 Janet Smith and Beauregard Tromp in their biography: Hani – A life too short, describe how Chris Hani, Zola Skweyiya and other ANC operatives were able to evade the police in colonial Zambia (Northern Rhodesia) on their way to Tanzania (Tanganyika) in the following manner: “Livingstone was crawling with police, who would not leave the area until the train for Lusaka had departed. But once in Livingstone, the ANC men found Kenneth Kaunda’s UNIP had swung into action, arranging refreshments for the weary group and temporary accommodation in a local township. Now wary of the authorities’ knowledge of their movement, the group had to take extra precautions” (p. 55). 11 Many ANC operatives lived in the sprawling urban townships as well as middle-income and affluent suburbs of Lusaka for instance, Lilanda, Mtendere, Chilenje, Kabwata, Emmasdale, Woodlands/ Woodlands Extension, Chelstone, Kabulonga, Avondale, among others. They therefore had first-hand knowledge of the hardships of ordinary Zambians. The ANC also had a camp in the farming area of Makeni. 12 In the autobiography of Mac Maharaj, Shades of Difference, by Padraig O’Malley, Maharaj (2007:321) narrates how he had to airlift his wife out of Zambia to Zimbabwe, after she was involved in a car accident, for medical treatment as the country’s health system had totally collapsed, in the following manner: “She was unconscious for forty-eight hours and awoke in a grimy hospital in Lusaka. The initial diagnosis was nineteen fractures, two in the spine. The hospital lacked rudimentary facilities, even painkillers…She was flown to Harare.” This was the situation that was obtaining in Zambia prior to South Africa’s liberation. Everything was in a state of decay and in those days, service standards in Harare, Zimbabwe, were far better than in Zambia. 1

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ECONOMICS

Building Free African Futures Today, Not Tomorrow?

The monetary arrangement can be designed in such a way that Africans are enabled to consume the products they produce, and discouraged from consuming luxury items imported for the few who own foreign dollars and Euros. By Mammo Muchie

n this Jubilee fiftieth year of OAU/ AU, there is a critical question we must reflect on: whether Africans know where they have been, where they are now and where they are able to go? The answer will enable us to chart a future that will close all varieties of coloniality for good and open a free, prosperous, spiritual, humane and independent future.

THE THINKER

Africa's new relationship with the rest of the world will be born when Africans learn to neutralise the harm resulting from that unholy trinity of loans, aid and debt. One key initiative African leaders can take collectively is to establish a dual currency system that can largely self-finance an integrated African development. The currency for the domestic economy should

be an inconvertible people's money. The existing state currencies that are not exchanged directly with each other, and whose exchange rate is mediated with the dollar, the franc and the Euro, should give way to direct exchanges based on a fair settlement of the appropriate par value. Naturally, diversities, inequalities, different levels of development, differing attitudes and interests present problems in constructing a workable unified currency system. It is precisely to deal with these varied problems that Africa needs a currency system to create liquidity. The direct exchange of local currencies promotes the exchange of private labour across Africa. The exchange of the local to local currency via a global currency continues to fragment Africa and integrate discrete interests and regions with the world economy. The key is to find strategies for Africa to integrate with a world economy as a whole and not in parts. The domestication of the foreign orientation of the existing national currencies is necessary to make Africa re-link with the world economy on its own terms and not terms dictated by others. Monetary union is a key strategy to bring about a new relationship. Its proper construction requires bountiful political will that we cannot take for granted, given the propensity of the existing states not to pursue real collective action in a meaningful way. Differences in the economic size and significance of the existing 54 states cannot be pushed aside. In principle, large and small economies can enter into a unified system without loss. As long as a situation of 'being better off for some without being worse off for all' exists for all those embarking on currency union, negotiations for a peaceful and evolutionary monetary system can proceed. At all costs states should not demand parity between large economies and small economies. The objective is in the end to evolve into a unified market, unified currency area and unified economic zone. However, the move must be sensible and realistic and various domestic constituencies and their external supporters within the existing states have to be brought along by initiating a programme of fair,

ECONOMICS gradual and transparent African-wide currency or monetary union. If the costs and benefits for the various sections of social groups can be fairly worked out, it may even be possible to neutralise transnational, supranational actors, who will no doubt be worked up by the suggestion of an African monetary union. There are innumerable informal, spontaneous and voluntary crossborder transactions in Africa. Most of those engaged in such transactions would prefer exchanging their goods for hard currencies such as Dollars or Euros. This is often related to the pegging of local currencies with the US dollar and the Euro. An African currency that can be built up to serve as a sort of local Dollar, Euro or Franc will stimulate the domestic market and the communication amongst African regions, peoples, communities, markets and states. Once agreement is reached to embark on the process of making a unified currency, adjustments can be negotiated, trust can be built and exchange rates can be settled. The unified currency will assist gradually to overcome the limitation of many weak currencies with new money serving as a unit of account, a store of value, means of payment and means of circulation convertible within Africa. The Case for an Inconvertible African Currency African economies are said to be rising, some even being described as roaring lions. African economies continue to import and export vertically and not horizontally with each other. This structure reflects also a largely unchanged trade pattern between Africa's primary products and manufactured products from the western world. Economic diversification is a goal still waiting to be achieved. The weakness of African currencies is tied to the lack of a diversified economic structure. The price of foreign money is high and the price of local money is low. For example, the French Franc used to be worth 100 times the local CFA Franc in West and Central Africa. One Euro is CFA 665.957. Now the Franc is dead in France, replaced

by the Euro, and is alive in West and Central Africa! Tourists and real estate dealers with French francs or Euros can purchase services and local assets in Africa with a couple of thousands of these notes. Africans wishing to import Western goods will want to get hold of Euros as their money is too weak to purchase foreign goods. African exports should be cheaper but with so many tariff barriers to Africa's primary and semi-manufactured goods and worsening terms of trade, and unchanging commodity portfolios, the advantage of devalued local currencies is neutralised. Africa in the CFA zone largely loses both in its exports and imports based on the existing arrangements. Money and financial flows still occur between Africa and the west rather than within Africa itself. InterAfrican integration, mobility of money, labour and capital is more difficult than the movement of money, people and capital between African states and the west. This pattern has been reinforced by the system of Africa's dependence on loans, grants and debt. When debt repayment becomes a priority, the political economy of the interest of the International Financial Institutions (IFIs) becomes paramount. When improvement of the standard of livelihood of the population is a priority, social spending will be necessary to bring it about. However, despite the rhetoric by the IFIs as "friends of the poor" following policies of poverty reduction, loans through such schemes as the heavily indebted poor countries schemes (HIPCs), policies of structural adjustment have been followed, in reality, at the expense of social spending for development. Africa has been confronted with a stark constraint: a policy structure that has privileged debt repayment over development. International politics and economics have forced this policy choice over a Pan-African alternative. The key issue for African futures is to maintain or to change this policy structure. This is an important issue confronting Africa in the remaining 21st Century and the coming 22nd Century. The pan-African quest is to change the African situation, while the IFIs want to retain the status quo of

debt-payment as a priority under the guise of the poverty-reduction rhetoric. Debt-repayment distorts African economic policy in the direction of producing the things Africa cannot consume and to consume the things it cannot produce. It leads to the orientation by the domestic elite that revel in luxury consumption unwilling to forgo whiskies, cars and other private comforts for the production and development that service the wellbeing of ordinary people. It leads to a new political economy of the syndicate. The latter designates the symbiotic relation of the domestic elite in relation to the external donors: the international elite centred within the IMF, World Bank and the WTO. Together the syndicate (whatever the misgiving between and within) promotes export-orientation, the economic bible of comparative advantage and competitiveness to solve Africa's piling debt with yet more and more loans based on more and more stringent conditions. The advice from the international elite is to keep the capital account of African states open and unregulated. This furthers the vulnerabilities of Africa's economies to fall prey to cyclical fluctuations in the world economy. They become easy victims to fast movements of speculative finance that episodically ravish whole economies like gales. The existing 54 state monetary arrangements in Africa are too fragmented to withstand powerful movements in world finance and business cycles. Monetary Union is not new in Africa Prior to the programmatic call by Nkrumah to set up a monetary union on an African scale in May, 1963, there have been a number of attempts to set up monetary unions in different regions of Africa. The origin of the modern monetary unions is traceable to the colonial encounter between Europe and Africa. The most enduring currency union has been that managed by France. Those started by Britain and South Africa seemed to have lacked continuity from the colonial to the post-colonial periods. France planted the roots of the CFA Franc zone in 1945. This was a result

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ECONOMICS of a decision by the French colonial Government to crowd out the various local currencies and establish the 'frank' as the sole money legally tender throughout the French colonies of West and Central Africa since 1948! France retained its control over the monetary arrangement of its West and Central African ex-colonies in the ’60s by creating two regional currencies that retained cleverly the 'CFA franc' designation in both regions. The exchange rate between the 'CFA francs' of the West African Monetary Union and the Central African Monetary Area were made equal - both maintaining the same parity against the French Franc; and capital can move freely between the two regions. Both monetary areas have since comprised what France calls the 'African Financial Community,' where each currency is only legal tender in its own region, despite the currencies being jointly managed by the French Treasury as integral parts of a single monetary union. Though France was not a member of the CFA itself, its Ministry of Finance held the operational accounts and the foreign-exchange reserves of the Central Banks of West and Central Africa. France insured convertibility of 'CFA franc' at a fixed price, set and controlled rules for credit withdrawal and maintained a ratio of 50:1 between the CFA franc and the French franc for half a century. In 1994 there was a devaluation of the 'CFA franc' to the 'French franc' by a ratio of 100:1. In January 1999, the CFA was pegged to the 'Euro' rather than the 'French franc', but in all other respects the French Ministry of Finance retained substantive control over the 'CFA franc' zones. The Euro seems to have been introduced via France into West and Central Africa two years before twelve of its members began to use it as legal tender in 2007. The British also had created a less successful East African Currency Board in 1919 and issued a common currency unit, the East African Shilling, as legal tender in Kenya, Tanganyika and Uganda. After independence in the ’60s, the common currency area broke apart. Efforts to mend the break up are still continuing with the re-establishment of the East African

THE THINKER

Community. In addition during the 1920s South Africa collaborated with the colonial powers to create a common monetary area. The Common Monetary Area embraced South Africa, former British colonies Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland and the then German colony, Namibia. After decolonisation in the late ’60s, the 'Rand Monetary Area' was formed in 1974, though diamond-rich Botswana was not in it, preferring to set up the 'pula' as national money. The monetary union based on the rand has gradually loosened into an exchange rate union and appears to falter as a sustainable monetary union. The division of Africa into currency zones has eased largely through the demise of the sterling area. However, the franc zone is still active and the dollar has moved into hitherto sterling areas and even in the CFA franc zones. Both the dollar and the 'franc cum Euro' will not easily give up their control of Africa. In particular France will not easily give up its exclusive hegemony over much of West and Central Africa, comprising together some fourteen existing states. The pegging of CFA francs to the Euro has not loosened the French grip over the monetary area. Continuation of this French grip could affect the effort to create a big-bang evolution into an African monetary system It is interesting to note that more efforts were made during the colonial period to create currency unions than in the period of political independence. The fact that Africa was diverted from following Pan-African directions in the post-colonial period meant that projects for currency unions to create liquidity to finance inter-African development were abandoned. Part of the problem was continued pressure from the ex-colonial powers. The British pound in Western Africa was used to punish nationalist regimes like Ghana prompting the creation of the cedi when Britain devalued the West African pound. Some ideas for an African monetary union now Some points can be made in this regard: • A stable and unified African

currency must be built so that all those engaged in transactions can benefit without inflationary and/or deflationary pressures. • Acts of discrimination and restrictions on legitimate or lawful transactions in all markets must be forbidden. • The trade system within Africa must be open, free and fair and the African security environment should sustain this freedom of internal trade and investment. • There must be an agreement for the leading members of the AU community to guarantee and underwrite the smooth and stable functioning of an African currency. These leading members can be selected from the regions. The selection of the members has to be based on consensus and consent. • The transition from the state-based currency system to the African monetary system must be based on a lawful, evolutionary strategy which avoids dislocation. The transition must be voluntary, based on the principles of persuasion, consent and the pursuit of common objectives. The transition from the use of current state-based currency arrangements to a unified one requires that states are willing and committed to co-ordinate monetary, interest and budgetary policies amongst themselves. They must understand that currency integration adds to their sovereignty rather than subtracts from it. Both the dual currency and the currency union can help to insulate states from borrowing and falling into debt by creating Africa’s own liquidity to finance Africa's development. The African monetary union will need to resist existing African monetary arrangements that mirror the breakdown and fragmentation of African economies as they are today. The currency union must also resist the lingering domination of the ties and habits of relations with ex-colonial powers. The currency union has to deal with the impact on Africa of the contention and competition of the dollar, the Euro and the yen for global influence. The dollar has an overarching influence in

ECONOMICS the continent today in that in some countries it is freely used as a means of exchange as in the USA. This suggests that if there is no unified currency union, Africa will be a battleground between the Euro and the dollar. The yen may not be as influential as the Euro and the dollar in Africa, but it is there in the wings. These three currencies will compete in Africa and the AU must prepare the ground to found a currency union to protect Africa's developmental aspirations. A Pan-African Monetary Union? It is time to pick up monetary or currency union as part and parcel of the African Union national project. For a monetary union on an African scale, the African Union has to authorise an African Central Bank to issue a currency unit (call it, if you like an 'Afree' or something else) that can serve as a principal medium of exchange, unit of account and store of value for the whole continent. The strategy is to join together African states into a kind of monetary marriage. An African monetary union is one important way of moving closer to making the panAfrican vision a reality. The necessary conditions for making moves towards a pan-African monetary union are: • To facilitate the smooth transition of power from France and the EU to integrate the CFA franc zone into the African Union, without breaking up the common monetary area. In addition, to upgrade, adjust and persuade the states in the rand monetary area and other bilateral and multilateral efforts such as the East African common market to join the all-African monetary system. • To establish a new liquidity creating mechanism, backed by Africa's mineral resources and African Union confidence building measures, to support an African currency to circulate freely in the member states. • To make a determined effort to re-link with the IMF, countries like France or the European Union on their clear acceptance of Africa's national developmental priorities and not Africa's continued indebtedness to them; this requires

preventing them from taking a leading role in designing an allAfrican currency union. • To negotiate the par value amongst the Euro, the dollar and the African currency for the purposes of managing Africa's foreign trade in the service of African development. • To control the authority of adjustment of the African currency to the dollar and Euro in the AU. • To establish a strict control over the external flow of Africa's currency by making its sole value to assist the development of Africa. The African continent incurs losses worth $50 billion every year due to illicit financial outflows by some foreign companies in the continent. (http:// euroasianews.com/africa-losesbillions-to-illicit-financial-outflows) • To phase out gradually the existing currencies within the 53 African states. • To create and manage a dual currency system where, like the Chinese yuan, the African currency is inconvertible by becoming a unit of account and means of payment for stimulating inter-African trade and investment. There should be a build-up of foreign reserves backed by mineral wealth and the growth of Africa's labour productivity from which a foreign transaction account can be kept for the purposes of trading outside Africa. The key importance of a currency union and an inconvertible African currency is to make it possible to raise domestic financing by enlarging the domestic market and stimulating a comprehensive and an integrated development of the continent. The currency has to be legal tender across Africa, and requires an African consensus to make it work. Above all, what is needed is a political will to imagine and construct an African general will. Only this can make the compelling economic and organisational case to establish the African currency and monetary union a reality. Africa's monetary union is not conceived to join together existing currencies but to overcome the weaknesses of the existing currencies. It falls within the strategy of bringing

about a situation where Africans are able to exchange their private labours in order to consume the products of their own creation. This is in contrast to the current situation of the consumption by elites of numerous luxury products coming from outside Africa by manipulating foreign exchange. The monetary arrangement can be designed in such a way that Africans are enabled to consume the products they produce, and discouraged from consuming luxury items imported for the few who own foreign dollars and Euros. A dual currency model? The monetary and currency union is part and parcel of the realisation of the African Union project. The African Union will have to authorise an African Central Bank to issue a currency unit (call it the Afree, the AU suggests Afric) that can circulate across the continent. This currency is convertible only within Africa. The purpose is to bring about rapid inter-African integration. It should have a shadow as opposed to real foreign exchange price to the dollar, franc/euro, yuan, rupee, sterling and yen for the purposes of domestic circulation and means of payment. Exchange rate par value and convertibility should be confined for transactions between Africa and the rest of the world through a foreign exchange reserve fund. The AU should create and manage a dual currency system: the domestic currency with the currency for trade with extra-African regions. Such a dual currency system, like the Chinese yuan in the 1980s, would assist Africa to respond to the challenges of domestic mobilisation of financing as well as countering external assistance producing piles of debt. The convertible African currency would stimulate Africa to respond to the global environment positively and the same currency in its inconvertible form would stimulate raising domestic finances to make a bottom-up transformation of Africa where Africans learn to appreciate and value products, knowledge, trade and investment in Africa itself. The foreign exchange reserve account should be managed by an African Central Bank. Foreign money,

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ECONOMICS assistance, borrowing and transactions for import and export should be drawn from this reserve foreign exchange fund. This fund can be built up through a variety of sources: • international assistance; • African reserves backed by Africa's mineral wealth; • Africa's expected rise in labour productivity; • possible African Central Bank 'exnihilo' credit creation; and • the use of a variety of treasury bonds and e-commercial activities. The AU should authorise an African Central Bank to negotiate the par value amongst the Euro, the dollar and the African currency for the purposes of expanding and managing Africa's foreign trade in the service of African development with the rest of the world. Such a dual strategy for liquidity generation can, if managed well, insulate Africa from the debt trap. The peoples' inconvertible money can circulate freely amongst Africans. The convertible foreign exchange reserve funding account can be prudently managed to prevent the IMF and other private bankers from manipulating Africa's priorities into debt accumulation. Instead of loans, debt and aid, the main prop for creating liquidity to finance African development will become Africa's mineral resources, its labour productivity and African Union confidence building measures. Re-linking with the IMF, countries like France or the European Union on the basis of the dual currency system may prove difficult. African leaders may be browbeaten for not playing along the globalisation bandwagon. The challenge for African leadership is to make the dual system work by applying law to forestall black market problems and corruption. Financial governance including e-governance is very important. The stakes are high; for the choice between the dual currency system and the IMF will determine whether development or debt wins for shaping Africa's future. IMF and World Bank loans invariably have turned into debt. The challenge is whether these external actors can be persuaded by Africa's own ingenuity to help it. Need

THE THINKER

they accept without any fudge Africa's developmental priorities or not? Only when they accept the African priority for development over debt can they be said to be subscribing to a principle of solidarity with Africa rather than exploitation of our continent. In addition, the adjustment, convertibility and exchange rate policy-making authority in relation to foreign currencies must lie with the AU. The foreign exchange reserve fund is recommended to allow Africa to benefit from globalisation, while neutralising the adverse effects of it. The fund will be used to purchase technologies, draw in needed experts, train personnel and implement something like the official Africa's NEPAD initiative. There must be regulation and oversight over the external flow of Africa's currency, ensuring that the focus is always on the development of Africa. After a transition period to phase out the existing African currencies, the dual currency will enlarge both the domestic market and Africa's entry largely on its own terms to benefit from globalisation. Together the internal and external expansion of Africa's opportunities should stimulate a comprehensive and an integrated development of the continent. The key constraint is political. For the dual system to work, it requires a panAfrican general political will. This can happen if African leadership transforms from governing by force, deception and blackmail to government by permanent consensus through the ‘mid-wifing' by Africa's own organic intellectuals, making pan-African ideals work for Africa and above all the ordinary people of Africa. The key is the transformation of the quality of leadership to become and be guided by moral and intellectual power. The leadership quality and the broad framework for achieving political consensus are key prerequisites if we wish to make a compelling economic and organisational case to establish the African currency and monetary union as a reality. Government by the African Union? A monetary system for the making of free Africa requires a substantially different approach from the process of monetary integration that is

taking place within the EU. Unlike the European monetary approach to create an optimal currency area, an African monetary system is a key instrument in forging the completion of Africa's emancipation. The concept of an African currency union is to be constituted to undo and overcome, reverse and convert the history of Africa's grand oppression into an autobiography of liberation. It is thus a qualitatively different system differing in purpose, functioning, objective and intention from the pattern of monetary union of Europe where the issue is to unify fairly well functioning currencies in order to exploit the advantage of an enlarged market. Africa's currency union is thus part and parcel of the overall struggle to mobilise finance internally in the effort to inter-connect states, peoples, communities, regions, economies, households, and families, individuals and markets across Africa. It is a weapon for eradicating violence and poverty by facilitating political and economic integration. It is a weapon in the democratisation of African politics, economics and public life. It will be used to promote primarily inter-African trade, investment, infrastructure, communication and electrification, the creation of jobs without state enclosures, borders and barriers, and generally to found, build and open Africa as a dynamic, prosperous and independent national economic and social system. Once Africa has an integrated economic and political system, it will be able to create the necessary conditions for forging real and equal partnerships with all types of economies and regions of the world. Monetary union with the proposed dual currency union is one key way to unite public policy to promote the African public service. This currency union will require that the broadest, deepest and most consequential panAfrican education and consciousness is spread so that every child, every man and woman grows up with their African identity as a primary feature of citizenship. The day when each country emerges also with its own African identity and citizens will also be the day when Africa enters the fast lane to stand up and be counted in the world. 

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AFRICA

African Indigenous Knowledge, IKS and the African Primary Institution

Africa is now poised to be a continent which can generate original and fresh knowledge. By Mongane Wally Serote

THE THINKER

AFRICA

his is an experiment which I think we should explore. The experiment is inspired by an observation that, because we have emerged victorious against the apartheid system, we find ourselves faced by different needs and interests, which seek that we must locate ourselves as a people within the global context in the 21st century. As Africans who are determined to be conscious that what happened to us must never ever happen again; who want to express for other human beings on earth to know that we will use all our varied general experiences to create new circumstances for ourselves; as we already have begun by creating a new constitution, which humanity hails as progressive and forward looking. On the basis of all of that we know, and have expressed, we now act as a people, conscious of our African obligation, and committed to contribute to make the world a better place to live in now, and in the long distant future. It is against this backdrop then that I suggest that we spend some time looking at where it is that we as people began. Like all human beings our basic background is that of hunters and gatherers, a socio-economic system which enshrined roles among us from birth to death. As we progressed, we learnt, innovated and sought a higher quality of life in a place, a time and history where we could harmonise ourselves with the environment. It is against this backdrop that I suggest and put in place two very important definitions which must catapult us from that far backward flung time, to this far forward flung time, the 21st century; a time in which we have been tempered by eight struggles for freedom; a time when we have seized freedom and are using it as a political, economic and social tool, to once more find harmony with the dialectic of human development. Let us begin from the beginning: Indigenous knowledge systems (IKS), is the process of developing knowledge, to further develop more knowledge, so as to accumulate it, to organise it, to develop further knowledge to improve the quality of life and to continuously create a liveable environment and world.

African Renaissance (AR) is the regeneration, reclamation, recreation, reawakening and rebirth of Africa by Africans, together with other peoples; and it is also the furtherance of Pan Africanism within the global context. I want to suggest that these two definitions are the tools we must use as we also continuously incubate and improve them by casting our minds into the past for forward movement based on the knowledge we gather, accumulate and utilise. The historical background of IK in South Africa stems from the experiments, knowledge gathering, the work and utilisation of all of the results emanating from the minds, hands, spirits, beliefs and work of the indigenous people, our ancestors. A

African Renaissance is the regeneration, reclamation, recreation, reawakening and rebirth of Africa by Africans, together with other peoples; and it is also the furtherance of Pan Africanism within the global context. study of these processes and systems, which was conducted by the Portfolio Committee of Parliament, PCP, from 1994, eventually progressed to become a national structure to unearth this knowledge and culminated in a National Conference which was held in Mafikeng at the University of the Northwest in 1998. This laid a basis for an African discourse in our country, which otherwise was dominated by a Eurocentric and racist discourse. The Steering Committee of the conference, which comprised of IK practitioners, took a decision that seventy percent of the participants must be IK practitioners; the rest of the participants consisted of the Parliamentary Portfolio committee Secretariat, Government

Departments, Universities, the Private Sector and some international participants. The Steering Committee provided a simultaneous translation facility, so that the practitioners could speak in the language in which they are were most proficient. There were three major resolutions, among others, which were taken: â&#x20AC;˘ government must make land available for the work of practitioners; â&#x20AC;˘ IK practitioners must be mobilised and assisted to form themselves into an organisation which would promote their interests, protect their knowledge, and empower them to innovate IK; â&#x20AC;˘ there must be policy, legislation and an organisation with a Southern African regional stature, which would facilitate IK practitioners in the region to enter into a dialogue. There is a Policy on IKS; there is draft legislation on IKS; and there is dialogue in the region on IKS. However, this dialogue is mainly among conventional intellectuals, rather than among organic intellectuals and between the conventional and organic intellectuals. The most powerful organisations which engage issues of IKS are those in the control of conventional intellectuals. Usually, the organic intellectuals attend manifestations organised and run by conventional intellectuals in which they are largely observers rather than active participants. The National Indigenous Knowledge Systems Office (Nikso) is a direct result of the processes described above. It is a Directorate within the Department of Science and Technology, and has been involved in sterling work in the IK domain. The work of Nikso has the potential to broaden the participation of IK practitioners in uplifting both the social fabric and economy among practitioners. However, more could be achieved if issues of sustainability were properly addressed, and if the participation by the practitioners was well thought out and streamlined. Besides that, the certification, accreditation, remuneration and general empowerment of both the practitioners and their organisations are

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AFRICA matters which need robust discussion not by conventional intellectuals only, but the discussion must be led by the organic intellectuals themselves, in partnership with the conventional intellectuals, with strong government and private sector participation and support, together with carefully selected international participants. How do we enhance and generalise this discourse so that it becomes a national discourse? Which institutions which exist now, must be formed or transformed so that they can anchor their mandates and objectives on this possibility and discourse? Where are the institutions and individuals who were nurtured to develop this consciousness. How are they to be empowered and positioned so that they can play a strategic role in these processes? Besides the national data on IK and IKS, and confirmation that there is something called IK in our country, that study also gave us five points of reference through which we can then unpack the concepts embedded in IK. These categories are • IK social issues; • IK technologies; • IK biodiversity; • IK institutions; and • IK liberatory processes. The African Primary Institution (API), one of the IKS institutions, must have been one of the first institutions founded by our ancestors, as a basis for the harmony, promotion, protection, functionality, production and progress of the individual and collective, later the community and later still, the nation. For this institution to survive, prosper and progress other institutions which are essential to it were also founded, perhaps simultaneously, but also it may be that they were founded later emanating from needs, interests and survival. It is because of this that I shall also now and then refer to these other institutions, to further highlight the API. The API was and still is where Africans receive their very first education, as children among adults and as adults within collectives, the community, the nation and in current times, from the world. It is the nest, from where and in which the newly born are protected and raised; where children are guided

THE THINKER

to watch, hear, taste, touch and see. In other words, besides it being the first place where humans develop consciousness, it is also the place and space where they develop expressions and later will, under guidance still, engage in actions. It is here that the interactions of adults with the universe are processed, refined, processed, further refined, tested and utilised. If at times the context of the API was the system of hunting and gathering, and if, while it is true that there must have been an interchange between women and men in terms of roles regarding hunting and gathering, roles for men and women must have been defined by this engagement and occupation. That must, except where there are exceptions, also define the roles of coming generations of men and of women. It is from these interactions

As we progressed, we learnt, innovated and sought a higher quality of life in a place, a time and history where we could harmonise ourselves with the environment. and from these systems that roles must have emerged, defined and become a consciousness of men and women. It must also have been that that consciousness of men and women was passed to coming generations. When and why is it that there was a time when a woman was five in one as was the man five in one? Why was this founded and where was it nurtured? It seems likely that the institution of Bongaka (traditional healing) was founded simultaneously with the API, because it is an institution which, besides forever linking the past in terms of lineage and spirituality to the present and the future, is steeped in the continuous restructuring and nurturing of the API. This may be the reason that even as men and women consult medical doctors, or

are Christian or generally are religious, as the HSRC has pointed out, 80% of the South African population consults the institution of Bongaka at one time or the other. It is highly likely that, besides it being the sustenance of the API, it is part of its creation. Bongaka emanates from the socio economic system of hunters and gatherers. The evidence to this is, on the one hand, Ditaola (divination bones), and on the other, the depth of knowledge Dingaka (traditional medicine), elders and rural folk in general have gathered regarding flora and fauna throughout Southern Africa. Besides this, the concept of Botho, as Ezekiel Mphahlele has stated, has as its foundation, formulated beliefs. I add that this concept also emanates from spirituality, IK accumulated and organised knowledge, IK philosophy, expertise, skills, history, culture and heritage. It is often linked to the concept of Ubuntu, where human-ness depends on belief in a universal bond that connects all humanity. It is both an institution and a philosophy. Evidence of this projection is partly in the idioms and proverbs of African languages, and also resides in various IK institutions, for example Lekgotla (a meeting called to resolve disputes by reaching consensus), Bongaka, Bogosi (the responsibilities and powers of traditional leaders), Leloko (family and, by extension, community), Koma, Lebollo (initiation) and so on. The IK institutions of negotiations and conflict resolution, which are a prerogative of African men and women, emanating from Leloko and Lekgotla, have, besides playing a key role in social engineering in African communities, also transformed African men and women as institutions in their own right. A Rakgadi is an institution. A Malome is an institution. These individuals are responsible for the promotion of customs, traditions, heritage, culture and knowledge within the Leloko, but also, in communities. The roles of men or women are forever on the agenda of Bongaka, positively or negatively, as ancestors or as the living. Bonganka at all times designates roles for Bo-Rakgadi and Bo-Malome. Every woman is a Rakgadi and every man is a Malome.

AFRICA The systems of the sustenance of the API emanate from these designations and are also defined by the roles of Bo-Nkgono and Bo-Ntatemogolo, and always Nkgono is a woman and Ntatemogolo is a man. The implication here is that the primary formulation of African consciousness and values can be ring-fenced to be within this ambit, which for a while is the engine, where expressions are formulated, and some actions of both women and men are determined, formulated and executed. There is the institution of Lebollo (initiation), for both men and women, and with the development of people within different contexts, different expressions developed and were articulated, at times, articulating different attitudes and values about the same thing. Tshaka abolished Lebollo, and also organised the highly disciplined battle regiments Amabutho, which were to defeat the British at Isandlwana long after his death under the leadership of king Cetshwayo and his generals. There is Bogosi, which is overarching and giving oversight to all other institutions. However, in the institution of Bogosi, Rakgadi and Malome are there, Rakgadi with extraordinary powers in the community and within Bogosi as an institution. During very important negotiations, rituals and ceremonies, Rakgadi and Malome play very important roles, whether in the family or in the community. Besides the institution of Rakgadi and Malome, women and men are institutions in others like Mangwane, Rangwane/ Mmemogolo RreMogolo; Mme, Rra; Kgaitsadi; Ngkgono, Ntatemogolo. These five in one institutions for men and women have specific functions, and are not to be referred to the past only, because even now in the 21st century they are functional. Whether one is a President of a nation, a Community leader, a CEO, whatever career, societal responsibility one carries, or in the family, the person is a Rakgadi or a Malome and is expected to act as such. These family, cultural and community responsibilities have survived fierce and concerted attacks intended to destroy them through colonialism and the apartheid system. It is correct to revisit these responsibilities, to see in the first

instance whether they carry any value now, and whether they carry any other value for the future. Can they be one of the foundations upon which the AR can be anchored? Can they sustain the creation and processing of knowledge in the 21st century or not? The process of studying IK and IKS which is referred to above, did emphasise that engagement of this phenomena must be based on three very important principles: protection, promotion and innovation. The three are extremely important for the subject at hand. How can the API be protected, why must it be protected, and by whom? The Protection of the API is the protection of the family, the community and the nation. The philosophy of Botho was founded here, and is practiced here. Each member of this institution is expected to be well-versed in its principles and also must practice Botho. While there are hierarchies which must be observed in an API, the most protected and the most looked after are the little ones, followed by the elders. Everyone is expected, in the API, to practice this Botho, much more so, as said, in terms of the little ones and elderly. How then do members of the API learn and become conscious of this responsibility? The responsibility is taught in the institution, by the adults and the elderly. It is also an issue and subject of other institutions like those of Lebollo, Bonganka, Bogosi and the five in one institutions whose key role is to ensure the functionality of the API. The role of all the adults in Leloko is to apprentice, and to provide practical mentorship for all the new members of the Leloko or API. In a random research which iARi carried out in Malelane, Alexandra, Diepsloot and other research by individuals from other provinces like North West and Northern Cape, it became very clear and succinct that the API does plan its life, does fundraise for its activities, does manage what it intends, it does influence others in it to abide by its rules and if needs be it does also timeframe what it has to do. These five principles are developmental principles. They are also tools for the promotion of this important institution. They develop people so that they can

develop things, promoting within this institution more knowledge. As defined by its IKS status, such knowledge must be incubated so that the institution can meet the needs and interests of the members. It is against this backdrop that innovation tools must be found and used to further enrich this institution. The constitution must not be used to oppose the development of people in the institution, but must be used to develop them so that they in turn can develop the institution, its ideas and practices. How must this be done? And what must be done? The creative study and application of the constitution would enhance the results of the development of the individuals in the institution, but also importantly, it would locate the institution within the context of the gains of the liberation struggle; it would confirm non-racialism, non-sexism and democracy. In other words, it would imbue the institution with new vocabulary and new values. It would also be possible to look at other institutions, Bogosi, Lebollo, Bongaka and others, in an innovative way with the view to ensuring that they support the API; but also so that the API resonates with the political context of our time. It is extremely important at this stage to also locate South Africa, which was extricated from the African continent by colonialism and the apartheid system, within the context of Africa. How should the API function within the processes of the AR? The marriage of the AR and IK must necessarily anchor on the development of people, through the generation of knowledge. A comparison of the understanding and formulation of APIs on the continent and in the world is important. This could not only ensure that there is no re-invention of wheels, but also ensure that no matter the diversity of APIs there is resonance among them. All API have members, grow children, in some instances, have both genders, in others, same sexes, they plan, manage, timeframe, fund raise and influence each other. These developmental principles, which empower members to further develop the institution and therefore also things inside and outside of the institution provide a dynamic possibility for

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AFRICA collaboration and understanding among different communities and possibly, nations. As the former foreign minister of Botswana Mme MaChiepe put it, the innovation of the API can emanate from friendships which are progressive, which we Africanise into Leloko, but which also note that the world has shrunk. Therefore we can look beyond national boundaries and barriers, and seek commonalities within diversities, which we must perceive as instruments of the development of people within Leloko. This dynamic possibility also has within it the potential to explode racial, cultural, gender, mono knowledge and language notions and therefore shifts thinking from past prejudices and chauvinism. This notion of the API has also the potential to empower us as Africans, to deepen our understanding of Botho on the continent, to eventually deepen the destruction of the evil systems of colonialism ad apartheid, and strengthen the concept of the AR. The first step which can arise “…from friendships which are progressive…” is the understanding that whatever knowledge which exists, wherever it exists, it is human knowledge. Because it is human knowledge, human beings, wherever they are will use it. Botho can empower Africa to contribute to this notion and understanding of knowledge for the 21st world. However, we must also note that in the 21st century, which is also the century of knowledge, and also the century of Africa, knowledge will and must have a different dynamic and meaning. The six past centuries were centuries which tore Africa apart. While on the one hand, Africa was being pillaged, when both her human and natural resources were lifted to develop other nations and continents, on the other, Africans mobilised to resist, mobilised to prove that we too are human, mobilised for war and finally mobilised for survival. We did not and could not mobilise to develop ourselves. In addition, generations which could have mentored new generations of Africans were slaves in other countries. Africa is now poised to be a continent which can generate original and fresh knowledge. If our approach to knowledge is

THE THINKER

anchored on Botho, and if we have the wherewithal to protect and defend the knowledge we generate, by ensuring that the abundant resources of the continent contribute to the development of Africans and therefore contribute as a priority to things on the continent, the continent would be ready for qualitative leaps in the creation of developed things. The basis for all of this lies in our ability to enhance the potential of Leloko, so that this institution produces individuals with high and keen understanding of the potential of collectives. It seems to me that an individual coming

These family, cultural and community responsibilities have survived fierce and concerted attacks intended to destroy them through colonialism and the apartheid system. It is correct to revisit these responsibilities, to see in the first instance whether they carry any value now, and whether they carry any other value for the future. out of Leloko, who has formed an understanding of the dialectic between self-knowledge and the knowledge of a potential derived from a functional collective informed by Botho, is a wellrounded and developed human being. This individual will be valued by the whole because of what he or she does to create knowledge, and how she or he orders this knowledge, accumulates it and utilises it to create a better quality of life and the liveable environment of all forms of life, involving science and technology, creating knowledge, wealth and the sustenance of life. He

or she will also be valued for a deep sense that motho ke motho ka batho (a human being is human because of other human beings). We therefore must, if this consciousness still exists in us, nurture it to inform and motivate us to locate the API within this context. If it does no longer exist in its old form, or if it is fragile, let us believe that it is still in our DNA to devise the means to resuscitate it. How do we, as we nurture Botho, develop the protection of the systems and processes which are as a result of Botho to develop members of the API so that they can further develop and contribute to the development of things to also develop their own? The answer is in the categories of IK and IKS, and, especially in the institutions of IK. Let us go back to the knowledge and understanding that knowledge, wherever it exists, is only of value if it is utilised. It is that knowledge, and institutions then, which must enable us to navigate towards solutions if, as an example, we are faced by unknowns. An example here is the family as we know it, which has been fundamentally transformed and changed in some instances. As stated above, it can be a family consisting of men and women; men and men, women and women, with the reality that in each of those components, there are children, or there are no children. Our experiment does not end at this juncture, but begins here. Is it possible for all the mentioned clusters and categories of family to be as the conventional family, or is it so different that some of the categories remain as hybrids, or add to categories and to new contexts? The fact of the matter is that we examine the API as we do precisely because we know that what is constant to life, is change. So the question then, which must be posed, which will open an answer does not contradict the essence of change but in fact confirms the dynamism of change. That is the promise that the development of people, which will engage change as the determinant of progress, has inherent in it continuity as the essence of creation and of nature. We therefore are an integral part of this dialectic. 

ÂŠ Shutterstock.com

INTERNATIONAL

A Sovereign and Independent Palestine Deteriorating security and political relations, especially in the aftermath of the second intifada in the year 2006, and the election of the Hamas government in the same year, caused serious restrictions in movement and domestic trade due to the establishment of hundreds of check-points, not to mention the building of the Apartheid Wall. By Abdel-Hafiz Nofal

he establishment of a sovereign and independent State of Palestine on the June 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital, remains our highest national priority. This is a fundamental right of our people. It is part of an internationallysupported quest for self-determination and the ending of the occupation. It

will continue to be so as long as the two-state politically negotiated solution is realistic and practically attainable. The historical context of the quest for the establishment of a sovereign state has its roots in the UN resolution for the Partition of Palestine in 1947. This was recently referred to by US Secretary of State Kerry in the Congressional

hearings that took place in the second week of March this year. He referred to the two states, Israel and Palestine, as formulated in the text and spirit of that historical resolution. The war of 1948 ended with the creation of the State of Israel, and the disintegration of the residual parts of Mandatory Palestine into the West Bank under Jordanian

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INTERNATIONAL rule and the Gaza Strip under Egyptian rule. The war of 1967 resulted in the Israeli occupation of East Jerusalem, the West Bank, and Gaza Strip, thus ironically “re-uniting” the territories of Palestine as it had been under the British Mandate, albeit in the form of the occupying state of Israel. In the early stages of the Palestinian national movement as a consequence of the war of 1967, the national objective had been the establishment of a secular state in Mandatory Palestine, for Jews, Moslems, Christians and others alike. The various components of the national movement, within the PLO, carried out public discourses in the redefinition of the national objectives and platform to respond to changing realities and developments domestically, regionally and internationally. The year 1974 witnessed two significant developments, when the Arab summit held in Rabat, Morocco, recognised the PLO as the “sole legitimate representative” of the Palestinian people; while in the same year, the notable Palestinian scholar at Harvard Walid Khalidi published his epoch-making Thinking the unthinkable: a sovereign Palestinian state, which directed Palestinian public discourse towards the rationale behind the recognition of the partition of Palestine along the lines of 1967 and the establishment of a sovereign state within the context of the two-state solution. This development culminated in the political platform adopted in the Declaration of Independence of 1988 issued by the Palestinian National Council in Algiers. This political platform of the two-state solution paved the way for the Oslo Accords between the PLO and Israel signed in the White House in 1993. The signing of the Oslo accords allowed the PLO to enter the West Bank and Gaza in preparation for sealing the agreement on a two-state solution, while the economic protocol signed in Paris in the Spring of 1994 outlined the framework of the economic relations for the transitional period of five years, as agreed upon in the Oslo accords. However, negative political and security developments in the nineties extended the five-year transitional period into two decades, so far with

THE THINKER

no end in sight. While the economic appendices of the Declaration of Principles of Oslo, the DOP, and the framework of the Paris protocol were meant to transform the Palestinian economy from the state of comprehensive dependence to the state of equitable cooperation, the reality has been very different. The security and political set-backs throughout the past twenty years have sustained the mechanisms of economic and financial hegemony under prolonged military occupation. Since 1967, the occupying power carried out various economic practices in the occupied territories of East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza Strip, such as the levy of taxes and duties, land expropriation, control of water and national resources, and

In the months of July and August, 2014, the Israeli occupying power carried out systematic and devastating military operations in the Gaza Strip leading to the deaths of more than 2000 people including about 500 children. enforced demographic changes in contravention of international law as stipulated in The Hague and Geneva Conventions. The Paris economic protocol was in essence a transitional economic and financial arrangement from a state of complete control and dependence to a state of equitable cooperative economic relations between sovereign entities. In this framework, the occupied territories would remain within the Israeli customs envelope throughout the transitional period; the Palestinian Authority would carry out limited economic policies and measures in certain areas of villages and towns designated as areas “A” and “B” in the Occupied

territories, amounting at present to about one-third of the total area of the territories occupied in 1967. As the Occupied territories would remain within the Israeli customs envelope, the collection of custom duties and most taxes, especially the purchase and value added taxes would continue to be carried out by the Israeli authorities, subject to a process of “custom and tax clearance” carried out periodically for the benefit of the treasury of the Palestinian Authority. This process of the periodical clearance, in addition to international donor assistance, form the two main sources of revenue to the treasury of the PA. The Paris protocol to date is basically a different approach from that taken by the Southern African Customs Union (SACU). This adopted the macro approach whilst the Israeli/ Palestinian revenue clearance adopted the micro and documentary approach. This clearance procedure requires the collection of documents of individual transactions, thus creating room for seepage, estimated by certain reports of the UNCTAD (United Nations Conference for Trade and Development) to amount to the loss of 12% of GDP per annum. The financial arrangement stipulated by the Paris protocol are coupled with other economic constraints, such as the Israeli control of the water and national resources in the Occupied territories, and the continued Israeli control of over two-thirds of the area of the occupied territories. The Israeli customs envelope deprives the PA of its ability to formulate and practice its own trade policies, while the denial of the right for Palestine to have a national currency deprives the PA of seigniorage as well as its ability to carry out a meaningful fiscal policy. Deteriorating security and political relations, especially in the aftermath of the second intifada in the year 2006, and the election of the Hamas government in the same year, caused serious restrictions in movement and domestic trade due to the establishment of hundreds of check-points, not to mention the building of the Apartheid Wall. In addition, successive political and security crises resulted in Israeli withholding Palestinian clearance

INTERNATIONAL revenues collected on behalf of the PA in contravention of the Paris protocol, thus reducing further the economic policy space available to the PA, and deepening the cumulative process of de-development of the Occupied Territories. Reversing the Palestinian economic de-development requires dealing with the Israeli policy of asymmetric containment as a constraint to development in its various aspects. To summarise, these include the truncated revenue clearance, the customs envelope, the control of national resources and the need for the PA to be empowered with fiscal and monetary decision-making. It is in this context and framework that the PA, despite the serious constraints resulting from the policies and practices of prolonged occupation, strives to build the institutions of a sovereign state-in-the-making. In the aftermath of the second intifada, successive PA governments carried out and implemented various reforms and economic development and reconstruction plans, with generous financial and technical assistance from the international donor community. At present, the development plan for the period of 2014-2016 is being formulated and revised, to be issued imminently. It builds upon and extends the framework and objectives of the “Reform and Development Plan” of 2008-2010, and the “Ending Occupation, Building the State” plan of 2011-2013, that have been successfully implemented in the past years. The core national development vision of the National Development Plan, NDP, is that of independence, sovereignty and open borders that are essential ingredients for the sustainable social and economic development of Palestine. The NDP recognises that the emergence of the State of Palestine is not the end of the Palestinian quest for a better life, as the vision of the NDP extends beyond the creation of an independent state. It lays the building blocks of a national agenda of governance, social policy and an open economy. In terms of governance, the NDP promotes more openness and accountability, strict compliance

with the principle of separation of powers and the peaceful transfer of governing authority through free and fair elections. In relation to social policy, the national agenda includes commitments to maintain a high level of access to education and health services, and provides essential social protection to alleviate poverty and protect vulnerable groups, especially by creating more opportunities for women and the youth to contribute to, and benefit from development and growth. In terms of the economy: As Palestine is alongside one of the world’s strong and fast growing economies, Israel, the NDP strives to lay the foundations for an equitable and cooperative relation with its neighbouring economies. Palestine is well-positioned to build a robust economy driven by international

In addition to these constraints against progress, Palestinian citizens suffer daily humiliation and degradation from Israeli soldiers and officials, have their homes, lands, possessions confiscated and destroyed. trade. Once liberated from restrictions on movement and access of goods and people and free to develop and utilise all of Palestine’s land, water and other natural resources, it will be possible to foster growth in key sectors and provide real incentives to encourage private sector investment in the capital assets and infrastructure needed to build the base for a sustainable and growing economy. The NDP emphasises the commitment to continue legal and institutional reforms in the economic sector, strategic investments in the national infra-structure, and negotiation of international trade agreements that will, taken together, promote the

competitiveness of Palestinian products and services in the global and domestic marketplace. These ambitious efforts face significant constraints in the policies and practices of the occupying power, in addition to those mentioned above. The economy of the occupied territories is largely integrated in the Israeli economy; roughly 85% of Palestinian imports and exports are to and from Israel; the Israeli labour market, although restricted at present, remains the major life-line for any chance to diminish the very high Palestinian unemployment rate. In addition to these constraints against progress, Palestinian citizens suffer daily humiliation and degradation from Israeli soldiers and officials, have their homes, lands, possessions confiscated and destroyed. In parts of their country, residential areas are reduced to dust, and children, the sick and aged are the victims of indiscriminate brutal attacks. In the months of July and August, 2014, the Israeli occupying power carried out systematic and devastating military operations in the Gaza Strip leading to the deaths of more than 2000 people including about 500 children. The Israeli government seems set on destroying even the hopes and dreams of Palestinians. Until this violent occupation ceases, how can the NDP be implemented? Yet the Palestinian Authority continues to try. The main dichotomy is represented by the statistical fact that, due to the openness of the economy of the occupied territories to the Israeli economy, the cost of living, consumer prices, as well as the costs of production and operation in the occupied territories are on par with those of the Israeli economy, while per capita GNP in Israel exceeds US$ 35,000 as opposed to $1,500 in the West Bank and less than $1,200 in Gaza Strip. Despite these serious constraints and the distortion imposed on the economy of the occupied territories, the PA continues its efforts to build the economy and the institutions of the State of Palestine, benefiting from generous support and assistance from the donor community as it faces the challenges of building and developing under occupation. 

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DEPARTMENT OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

Funding science and technology key to unlocking Africa's development

By Department of Science and Technology

frican countries have been urged to take advantage of existing science and technology funding models, such as the EU's Horizon

THE THINKER

2020 initiative, in order to achieve the continent's development agenda. Science, technology and innovation have been identified as critical for

unlocking development on the African continent, which is battling a huge disease burden, food insecurity and climate change.

DEPARTMENT OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

This week African and European research funders met at the ERAfrica closing conference in Pretoria to discuss various funding models, like Horizon 2020, the African Union research agenda, and the Developing African-European joint collaboration for science and technology (ERAfrica). Their main task was to review the ERAfrica cooperation programme, aimed at fostering closer collaboration and funding of scientific and technological research between Europe and Africa. ERAfrica was established as a three-year funding project between Africa and Europe through calls for proposals in areas such as renewable energy, the interface between societal challenges, and ideas-driven research in any field. The partners had committed €10,8 million to support cooperation between African and European researchers responding to the call, and have invested €8,29 million in 17 successful projects. The Department of Science and Technology (DST) has committed over €1 million to fund South African researchers participating in ERAfrica projects. South African researchers are participating in 13 of the successful proposals. Funding partners include Austria, Belgium, Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire,

Egypt, Finland, France, Germany, Kenya, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, South Africa, Switzerland and Turkey. Speaking at the conference, Mr Stéphane Hogan, European Union (EU) Minister-Counsellor for Research and Innovation, said there were few initiatives in Africa that could take advantage of the ERAfrica model. "The EU is willing to commit to further funding to ERAfrica. However, it has to be sustainable and we would like to see the extension of the current model – as a streamlined process to enable rapid implementation of specific calls," said Mr Hogan. The EU considers ERAfrica a success, and a promising model which could enhance cooperation between Africa and Europe, address specific challenges and increase ownership. "This is a model with a strategic focus. It can work and promotes EU-Africa collaboration as well as collaboration among African countries. It has the potential to reduce dependency on international donors," said Mr Hogan. He emphasised that ERAfrica needed to be sustainable and flexible, foster further development and be streamlined with other development projects on the continent. DST Deputy Director-General

for International Cooperation and Resources, Daan du Toit, said ERAfrica was a good example of how Africa and Europe could join forces to put science and technology at work to fight hunger, disease, poverty and inequality. "For the first time we have a joint research programme between the two continents that has been truly co-designed and co-funded by both partners, as equals. The thematic focus of the projects funded on societal challenges is also important to highlight." Mr Du Toit said the DST was committed to ensuring that the momentum achieved by ERAfrica was not lost and that the Department was looking forward to implementing a second phase of the programme, learning from the experience of the first phase and showing even greater ambition. 

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POLITICS

The Politics of Hunger in South Africa

Food Security or Food Sovereignty?

Scholars and policy makers alike agree that increased food access cannot take place under the auspices of neo-liberal agrarian reforms. By Madalitso Phiri

outh Africa is burdened by millions of people who have inadequate food, leading to poor nutrition and thereby a proliferation of illnesses particularly affecting children in the rural areas. While agriculture was mentioned in President Zuma’s latest State of the Nation address, policy gaps exist, eroding the notion of food sovereignty. One such policy gap exists in the construction of the agricultural policy itself, which focuses on creating jobs in agriculture without specifying what kinds of jobs. Further, the policy

THE THINKER

addresses “food security” but not control over the means of production – food sovereignty – without which food security is unlikely to be achieved. Future initiatives to address hunger need to be conceptualised in light of South Africa’s agricultural historical trajectory. This article explores ways in which agriculture in South Africa can be enhanced to ensure food sovereignty for the country. The advent of democracy in South Africa in 1994 ushered in an ambitious political project that would promote

access to basic social services and redress the structural imbalances inherited from apartheid. Apartheid bequeathed legacies of blight and neglect across gender, race and class lines. South Africa has made significant strides since 1994, improving legislation and developing social policies that seek to redress health inequalities for excluded citizens on the national provincial and local levels. In 2007, South Africa adopted the National Strategic Plan (NSP) for HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted infections (STIs) for 2007–2011 (DOH 2007), which sought to reduce HIV incidence by 50% by 2009 and obtain 80% coverage of HIV/AIDS care, treatment and support for all people living with HIV/ AIDS (PLWHA) by 2011. Despite these achievements, and South Africa’s status as a middle income country, millions of households remain food insecure, thereby decreasing the chances of fighting poverty and inequality. In the 2014/15 budget, the Finance Minister Pravin Gordan announced that the Agricultural Policy Action Plan will support the National Development Plan’s (NDP) target of creating jobs in the agricultural sector. Government will spend over R7 billion on grants to provinces to support about 435 000 subsistence and 54 500 farmers. The drivers of demand and supply that are changing the known global food supply chain – structural global inequalities, land scarcity, water unavailability and demographics – are all issues that will potentially have negative or positive consequences on South Africa’s efforts to address Food Insecurity. Policy makers can therefore not ignore these issues as they pertain to Food Security. They impact on the land and agrarian question in South Africa, the global system of trade in food products, the nutrition component and related social issues which are essential to basic human needs. These must be seen from a background that is informed by the global food crisis. South Africa’s political economy has had a negative impact on food accessibility resulting in the proliferation of food insecure households. South Africa became a net importer of food in 2008. The country maintained a net exporter status of

POLITICS processed products between 1998 and 2005 and thereafter became a net importer until 2010. Despite the recovery experienced in quarter two of 2010, processed agricultural exports, in general, continue to fall short of processed imports. The gap even widened further during quarter three and four of 2010. This situation can be attributed to systemic failures to invest in R&D in agriculture and a rigorous land reform programme. The ANC government embarked on a process of economic liberalisation in 1996 (Growth, Employment & Redistribution, ASGISA), land reform and social transformation to deracialise the economy by creating social programmes for the poor and disadvantaged, who mostly consist of black citizens. Some of these policies have led to the production and reproduction of inequalities, exacerbating food insecurity. International pressures for liberalisation and deregulation resulted in the rapid dismantling of the apparatus of the state to support agriculture including subsidies and marketing boards. Scholars and policy makers alike agree that increased food access cannot take place under the auspices of neo-liberal agrarian reforms. Liberalisation policies have led to South Africa’s volatile food supply chain. On the supply side, burgeoning markets have created incentives for Multinational Companies like Shoprite, Woolworths, and Pick ’n’ Pay to maintain oligopolies in food supply. Food inflation increased between 2007 and 2009, raising doubts of food access for poor households. Although there was a slight decline in the number of children and adults that went hungry, over the same period there was an increase in the households reporting ‘seldom/sometimes’ (from 13% to 15%) and often/always (from 2% to 3%) being hungry”. External shocks have thus had an impact on the poor and vulnerable. The purchasing power of most people in the South African middle class has remained intact, as households in this category can substitute their choices for less expensive products. The food crisis has raised cost of foods and, consequently made it increasingly difficult for low-

income households to afford their pre-crisis food baskets. In the North West province, where I was invited to facilitate a roundtable discussion on the “Right to Food”, the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) is dealing with an investigation relating to the deaths of four children due to hunger and starvation. As a result of spatial distributions of poverty and inequality across South Africa, food insecurity has also followed the same pattern. Land access for most rural women is a component of household food insecurity. There is great unevenness in the patterns of household hunger across space and time, but locations with fewer

As a result of spatial distributions of poverty and inequality across South Africa, food insecurity has also followed the same pattern. Land access for most rural women is a component of household food insecurity. economic opportunities, weak social protection networks (‘social capital’) have a higher degree of food insecurity. Although men and women experience food insecurity under the same environment, most rural women bear the brunt. Poor nourishment also impacts on learners’ cognitive development, school attendance and alertness. It has been scientifically proven that underfed children are usually stunted and have poor brain development. Food insecurity is a political question and a human rights issue, and therefore can be framed in the broader tradition of social justice. As politicians and policy pundits attend international meetings on the issue, the evidence of practice has never been more convincing. In affluent cities where I have lived in South Africa, such as Cape Town and Pretoria, hundreds of

young men and women beg for food while the burgeoning fast food industry supplies an unhealthy lifestyle for those who can afford it. This is a conundrum that South Africa’s democracy has not addressed. In a 2011 special report on Food, the ‘Nine Billion Question’, The Economist noted that food insecurity is exacerbated by wastage in Western countries, as distribution networks are curtailed and food only made available to the highest bidder. If all rich countries waste food at the same rate as Britain and America, very roughly 100kg per person per year, the total waste adds up to 100m tonnes of food a year, equivalent to one-third of the entire world's supply of meat – an astonishing quantity. If Western waste could be halved and the food distributed to those who need it, the problem of feeding 9 billion people would diminish, and also contribute to feeding South Africa’s food insecure households. Statistical studies, analysing the relationship between land and economic resources, point to the fact that South Africa has the capacity to nourish its population without external aid. The African Union (AU) declared 2014 as the year of agriculture. These sentiments were further expressed in the annual speech by the AU’s Chairperson, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma: “The (African) agrarian revolution had small beginnings. Successful business persons (and local governments) with roots in the rural areas started massive irrigation schemes to harness the waters of the continent's huge river systems. The pan-African river projects - on the Congo, the Nile, Niger, Gambia, Zambezi, Kunene, Limpopo and many others - financed by PPPs that involved African and BRIC investors, as well as the African Diaspora, released the continent's untapped agricultural potential”. The AU through the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) insists that more investments in agriculture will end hunger and lift millions out of poverty. Although some African countries account for the fast growth in the world, investment in agriculture is mixed. Seven countries have fulfilled the CAADP commitment. Ironically it is

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POLITICS countries that lack lucrative extractive industries that have had to invest in agriculture, and are reaping the benefits, with a recognition that agriculture not only improves food security but creates wealth. For example, in 2007 Rwanda increased land allocated to maize production almost five-fold in three years. As a result, maize harvests rose by almost 213% – from less than 0.8 tonnes per hectare to 2.5 tons – over the same period. In the first tenure of the late Bingu wa Mutharika, Malawi defied austerity measures by subsidising smallholder farmers, increasing greater food security. Unfortunately, reduced support to agriculture when faced with a budget crisis in 2012 and subsequent political uncertainties have reversed the gains made. It is recognised that GDP growth due to agriculture has been five times more effective in reducing poverty than growth in any other sector in sub-Saharan Africa. The World Bank estimates that African agriculture and agribusiness could be worth $1 trillion by 2030. For this to be realised governments should commit themselves to investing in electricity and irrigation, coupled with smart business and trade policies. It is estimated that irrigation alone could increase agricultural output by up to 50% in Africa. Rural areas also need the right investments in infrastructure, energy, storage facilities, social and financial services and enabling policies backed by appropriate government structures to ensure inclusive growth, development and innovation. South Africa needs firstly, to prioritise agriculture as an entrepreneurial industry, by ensuring a rigorous land reform programme. Given South Africa’s structural historical legacies investments in agriculture must be focused on smallholder family farms. Before the institutionalisation of the 1913 Land Act black people were successful farmers, contributing to the entrepreneurial activity of the country. The systemic stripping of tenure rights and land ownership exacerbated poverty and led to the proletarianisation of the peasantry. The progress in the current dispensation has been slow, with a meagre land distribution of the 30% target that was to be achieved by

THE THINKER

the year 2014. Although land reform cannot be reduced to the agrarian question it is an important component towards a food secure South Africa. Small farms make up 80% of all farms in sub-Saharan Africa, and contrary to conventional wisdom, small farms are often more productive than large farms. China’s 200 million small farms cover only 10% of the world’s agricultural land but produce 20% of the world’s food. Simple technologies – such as improved seeds, irrigation and fertiliser – could triple productivity, triggering growth in the agricultural sector. Secondly, policy makers need to ensure that South Africa adopts an agricultural policy that is in tandem with regional instruments supported

Poor nourishment also impacts on learners’ cognitive development, school attendance and alertness. It has been scientifically proven that underfed children are usually stunted and have poor brain development. by the Southern African Development Community (SADC) with a particular emphasis towards sustainable agriculture and water usage. South Africa is a water scarce country, in a water abundant region, near to Malawi and Mozambique where water can be harnessed to awake the sleeping giant, agriculture. The concern is that South Africa’s mercantilist policies are viewed with suspicion across the region thereby defeating regional and panAfrican dreams as articulated earlier by the Chairperson of the AU. Lastly South African policy pundits should maintain a critical international voice where regional cooperation can help to ease unfair rules on the international scene where the global value chain disadvantages small farmers, thereby breaking agricultural oligopolies that curtail the distribution

of food. The Bali Ministerial Round which delivered a trade-facilitation agreement and (much more minor) agreements on agriculture and development issues is only a start. A future multilateral agreement on investment would have to be negotiated this way – that is, plurilaterally. For the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to consolidate and extend the gains from global value chains – the name of the game in early 21st century international trade – it needs deeper agreements in industrial goods, services and agricultural investment. South Africa should revive multilateralism at a time of stalled unilateral liberalisation, creeping protectionism in the wake of the global financial crisis, and a proliferation of discriminatory bilateral and regional trade agreements. In the long term food insecure households are corrosive to the sustenance of democracy and salvaging nascent democratic institutions. Amartya Sen has argued in Development as Freedom that food insecurity in itself can be a form of unfreedom. As individuals and communities become more food insecure, it becomes a fault line for conflict as evident in the French and Iranian Revolutions and more recently in the Arab Spring of 2010-11. However, this truism was extensively understood by the guardian and founding father of South Africa’s democracy, former president Nelson Mandela, who noted "Freedom is meaningless if people cannot put food in their stomachs, if they can have no shelter, if illiteracy and disease continue to dog them." As the Food and Agricultural Organisation noted "Mandela understood that a hungry man, woman or child could not be truly free. He understood that eliminating hunger was not so much a question of producing more food as it was a matter of making the political commitment to ensure that people had access to the resources and services they needed to buy or produce enough safe and nutritious food” (FAO 2013). The South African policy environment should frame debates on food around food sovereignty – as well as the democratisation of food security. 

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THEORY AND POLITICS

On Form and Content of Debate in Revolutionary Movements

Any revolutionary theory should be dynamic, as revolution needs a theory that can be modified as the revolution progresses. By Thando Ntlemeza

THE THINKER

THEORY AND POLITICS

either Marx nor Engels was content with theorising about the revolution in abstract because (to them) theory could only be useful in so far as it assisted people and their organisations to advance the revolution. Utility of theory in a revolution was also emphasised by Lenin when he said “without revolutionary theory there can be no revolutionary movement”.1 This statement remains as relevant today as it was when Lenin made it many years ago when he was hard at work developing ideas about a revolutionary movement that would be able to provide leadership to the masses during their collective struggles to fundamentally change economic and social relations in society. Political literature teaches us that Lenin’s ideas and views originate from the concrete conditions in which he and his party existed and operated. It was these conditions which shaped Lenin’s belief that theory should not be delinked from the specific context; and that dialectical methodology ought to be defined from the viewpoint of its relation to material reality. In his view, uneven developments in a revolutionary struggle demand that a leading movement in the revolution looks at the key links in all concrete situations. He firmly believed that it is necessary in any phase of the revolution to identify and grasp a particular link in the chain and then prepare thoroughly for the passing on to the next link2 until the full grasp and control of the whole chain is gained. Although Lenin believed that practice is superior to theory, given its universality and immediate actuality, he was a theoretician who had deeply studied marxist classics and put incredible effort into his own theoretical work. It was Lenin who skilfully integrated the political and organisational principles of revolutionary populism into classical marxism to modify marxist orthodoxy3 with a view to making it practically applicable and more responsive to concrete political reality. This revealed Lenin’s wisdom and his ability to show the interdependence between theory and practice. In what appears to be an indisputable

affirmation of Lenin’s genius, Edmund Wilson4 says: …it is the instinct for dealing with the reality of the definite political situation which attains in him the point of genius. Many in the revolutionary world of politics believe that Lenin’s genius in strategy and tactics was a pillar for his hegemony in his revolutionary party. In fact, what distinguished Lenin as an accomplished revolutionary was his scientific understanding of history and sensitivity to the mood and aspirations of the people, which gave him extreme

Any member who is properly trained on revolutionary theory and morality knows and understands that unprincipled and disrespectful attacks on fellow members in the public arena expose the organisation to enemy attacks. confidence that the path he chose was indeed the correct one. His impressive work on revolutionary movements and strategy and tactics continues to inspire many people and many political movements, including our own. Emergence and character of revolutionary movements Even though an oppressive government may (through its deliberate exclusion and suppression of some people in society) inadvertently create conducive conditions for revolutionary movements to emerge and flourish, a revolutionary movement may still fail to capitalise on the situation if its leadership is unable to isolate the government from the country’s populace. In fact, the success of any revolutionary movement depends on the ability of its leadership to deepen the conflict between the government and the majority of the people

and to internationalise the national conflict with a view to garnering the international support that is required to mobilise the global community for international criticism, diplomatic isolation and economic sanctions against the government5 – something our organisation mastered with precision. So, what are the attributes of revolutionary movements? Or, why are some social movements regarded as revolutionary? Why do we define ours as revolutionary? We define our organisation as a revolutionary movement because it is dedicated to carrying out a revolution to change society for the better. However, there are those people who use the term ‘revolutionary’ loosely. But merely referring to an organisation as ‘revolutionary’ does not bestow a revolutionary outlook. Neither does the organisation defining itself as revolutionary become revolutionary by self-proclaimed definition. Immanuel Wallerstein says that most movements of socialist and nationalist orientation proclaim themselves to be revolutionary because they stand and struggle for the transformation of political, economic and social relations in society.6 Ours is no exception in this regard. Its revolutionary orientation and outlook derive from its posture, resolve and determination to advance the struggle to resolve the dominant and fundamental contradictions that were created by the system of apartheid and colonialism, and then build a truly non-racial, non-sexist, democratic, united and prosperous society – a struggle defined as revolutionary in the progressive language of marxismleninism. Marxism-Leninism Alvaro Cunhal defines marxismleninism as: … a living, anti-dogmatic, dialectical, creative theory, which is further enriched by practice and its responses to new situations and phenomena...7 Given the significance of theory in a revolution, it is imperative that we master revolutionary theory. Mastering this theory means achieving a full understanding of the theory and its

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THEORY AND POLITICS intricacies as well as the ability to apply it in all concrete situations. It also means understanding that any revolutionary theory should be dynamic, as revolution needs a theory that can be modified as the revolution progresses. For this reason, ours must be adapted with changing conditions in society to make it sharper so as to guide the people as and when they take revolutionary action during the struggle. Execution of any revolutionary action requires appropriate tools. As Joel Netshitenzhe states, revolutionary struggle that lacks methodological tools can lead to setbacks in a revolutionary organisation.8 It is this very perspective that must guide members of a revolutionary organisation when they engage on matters of ideology, policy and direction. As advanced elements in a revolution, revolutionaries must always understand the good and bad impacts of revolutionary actions. As Netshitenzhe reminds us, revolution can ruin contending forces, and a revolutionary movement can pursue policies that may ruin people who are involved in the struggle.9 Hence, revolutionary organisations must always be alive to this reality and caution their own members against anything which has the potential to damage their own reputation. Because of the revolutionary nature of the struggle we pursue, our organisation has, over the years, embraced revolutionary theory as a tool to guide its members when they analyse society. This means that revolutionary theory has been playing and continues to play an important part in shaping conduct of our members and our approach to the struggle to fundamentally change our society; hence those members of the organisation who have internalised revolutionary theory know that they cannot engage in activities that bring the organisation into disrepute, such as attacking each other and airing their dirty linen in public. In other words, any member who is properly trained on revolutionary theory and morality knows and understands that unprincipled and disrespectful attacks on fellow members in the public arena expose

THE THINKER

the organisation to enemy attacks. However, this ill-disciplined public airing of dirty linen must not be confused with debating in public policy issues which affect the country and its people with a view to mobilising and uniting people behind the organisational position on issues. Public discussion on the policy issues that have been debated and ‘resolved’ within the organisation does not necessarily undermine that noble principle of democratic centralism10 because, properly understood, democratic centralism is a means to achieve unity in action around decisions taken after democratic debate. We should remember that Lenin argued for full freedom to discuss and even criticise party decisions both

Our own movement should permit public discussion of its decisions with a view to uniting the people behind its decisions and to achieve what Trotsky referred to as “common understanding of the events and tasks”. within his organisation and in public. However, his argument in favour of freedom to publicly criticise party decisions should be understood within its proper historical context as he made his argument at the time when his strategic and tactical approach to the revolution was not dominant in his party. The situation may be different in our case because there seems to be a common understanding on the character of the movement and its task to lead and take the revolution to its logical conclusion. Sometimes differences in our organisation concern different tactical approaches, given the challenges of the phase of a revolution. What needs to be emphasised,

however, is that, more often than not, differences in our organisation relate to support for particular personalities to lead the movement. This latter reason may even be linked to the personal gains associated with the elevation of certain individuals into positions of power within the organisation or in government, as the case may be. Our movement does not have to prevent public debate on its own decisions on matters of ideology, policy and direction because debate is the only way through which broader society can be mobilised and united behind organisational decisions. Which, in essence, means that our own movement should permit public discussion of its decisions with a view to uniting the people behind its decisions and to achieve what Trotsky referred to as “common understanding of the events and tasks”.11 This is something we must do because of a firm belief that once we are strongly united behind organisational decisions that purport to fundamentally change society, we can liberate people from social misery.12 As and when members of our revolutionary organisation engage on matters of ideology, policy and direction, they must uphold organisational values and principles. However, some among us fail to uphold these values and principles, and thus fertilise the ground for the forces of counter-revolution to pursue and accomplish their mission. As if they are not aware that counterrevolutionary forces never sleep, some members of the organisation air in public dirty linen which gets used by enemies of the revolution to demonise our own revolutionary movement and undermine its revolutionary agenda on one hand and to romanticise its ideological opposition on the other to disorganise, weaken and destroy the democratic state and to subvert the transformation agenda. Instead of pointing missiles at their ideological and political nemesis, some members have a tendency to hide behind the façade of robustness to mask their intention to politically attack and wound some of the members. At times, these personalised attacks are launched through the so-called

THEORY AND POLITICS open letters which have become fashionable. The Phenomenon of Open Letters History tells us that use of letters is not a new phenomenon in politics as letters have (over many years) been written on many political issues.13 Marx, Engels and other revolutionary thinkers of their times discussed burning political issues through the letters, contents of which formed part of their literary contributions and the political discourse. Emphasising that letters on political issues are not only meant for people to whom these letters are addressed, Roy says: Although originally the letters were written to individuals, by way of polemics on … social, economic or political topics, they are by no means private correspondence.14 Contents of some open letters are fathomable, whilst contents of other letters are somewhat unsound and problematic. This does not necessarily mean that open letters are inherently bad as they can provide a platform through which solutions and decisive action on the issues affecting the organisation and the country can be proposed. Notwithstanding this, some of us have a tendency to raise (in open letters) issues that are supposed to be raised and debated in the structures of the organisation. But, why? Is it a matter of ill-discipline on the part of the members who choose open letters as a platform to raise issues? Or, are these members prevented from raising the issues within the organisation; and, if so, why? Be that as it may, when internal discussion on issues (whether difficult or otherwise) is neither allowed nor tolerated some members and leaders of the organisation may find other platforms outside the formal structures and processes of an organisation to express their views. Perhaps, this is an angle from which a tendency to raise and discuss party political matters in open letters can be explained. There are members of our own organisation who use open letters as the platform from which to launch an avalanche of attacks on those who advocate ideas and views they do not

agree with, instead of attacking the advocated ideas and views. Some of them impose themselves as paragons of ideological knowledge while projecting those who dare hold and articulate differing ideas and views as part of an ideologically and politically deformed species that requires re-engineering and re-grooming. In most cases, a tendency to heckle, label and insult certain individuals who raise particular issues (instead of responding to the issues they raise) derives from a conscious determination to defend indefensible interests which

When internal discussion on issues (whether difficult or otherwise) is neither allowed nor tolerated some members and leaders of the organisation may find other platforms outside the formal structures and processes of an organisation to express their views. are often presented to unsuspecting members and supporters as a revolutionary cause; whereas these interests have nothing to do with the interests of ordinary masses. More often, advocates of policy propositions which purport to liberate poor and marginalised sections of the population from conditions of poverty and underdevelopment that pose threats to these interests are purged and then condemned to the political wilderness with a view to silencing the voices that dare challenge and frustrate the material interests of the most covetous in society. Revolutionary theory requires leaders and members to desist from doing things which may assist the forces of counter-revolution to

unleash lethal ammunition against the revolution and its leading movement. Only in this way will any revolutionary movement succeed in dislodging a counter revolutionary agenda. Despite this, immediate political reality clearly shows that an ill-fated practice of heckling, labelling and insulting advocates of differing ideas and views continues to characterise discourse in our movement. Ad hominem-ism In philosophy, verbally or literary attacking a person who makes an argument instead of responding to the content of his argument is regarded as the argumentum ad hominem – a fallacious way of arguing which shows inability to advance a convincing content-based counter argument. This tendency assumes various forms such as heckling, labelling and insulting a person who makes an argument. With argumentum ad hominem being part of our party discourse, internal debates can easily degenerate into a counter-productive affair in which the contents of arguments are ignored and dismissed without reflection; whereas the content of other people’s arguments, if considered, may enrich one’s perspective. This means that argumentum ad hominem cannot be ideal for generating ideas and perspectives, which are geared towards addressing both the organisational and societal challenges. Given its counter-productivity, why would revolutionaries engage in this practice? Is it because of hatred for the people who make the arguments or because the arguments are so incoherent that they do not warrant any form of level-headed response? Be that as it may, people who verbally attack advocates of ideas and views often want to influence others to adopt their own perspectives on issues and do not want to be influenced; thereby undermining that noble principle which requires people who want to influence others to be prepared to be influenced. Our members must, at all times, be prepared to be influenced15 as we cannot pose as paragons of knowledge who are too smart to learn from others.

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THEORY AND POLITICS What purpose does debate serve? Revolutionary movements regard constructive debates as the lifeblood of an organisation because they help to unpack questions thrown up by the struggle. For this reason, constructive debates should be encouraged because this is the only way to engage with the challenges which face us and devise measures to address them.16 Whilst arguments should be frank and robust, argumentative activity in any revolutionary organisation should at all times be very constructive. Before engaging further on the matter, certain things must be clarified once and for all. Firstly, an argument that mainly focuses on discrediting people who advocate differing ideas and views cannot be a mechanism for rational validation. Neither can it be a reasoned argument nor the argumentum ad logicam that was pioneered by the classical Greek philosophers. Secondly, even ardent proponents of the rhetorical art of arguing17 cannot associate themselves with an opponent-targeting approach to political discourse as this approach is not only un-dialectical, but also creates negative tensions in an organisation; thereby achieving the opposite of what debates are naturally meant to achieve – which is to create a common understanding among the members through persuasion – instead of compulsion. Thirdly, we will never become the ideologically coherent organisation envisaged by Lenin as a vehicle capable of advancing the revolution to its logical conclusion when some members and leaders preoccupy themselves with discrediting other members or leaders who happen to advocate certain ideas and views they do not agree with at a particular phase of the revolution – instead of engaging with or attacking such ideas and views. Verbally attacking the advocates of certain ideas and views instead of engaging their ideas and views may raise personalities over and above ideas and views; thereby elevating individuals instead of analysing political dynamics. Personalities may be viewed as the exclusive (or most significant) factors in making projections about the future direction of our organisation

THE THINKER

and socio-economic direction of the country. Such practices elevate individuals over and above organisations and thus entrench the personality cult something against which Lenin always warned his own comrades. While he himself was glorified, Lenin never became unprincipled by keeping quiet because he stood to benefit from the act of glorification. These are some of the lessons to be drawn from the exemplary leadership set by Lenin. Historical evidence shows that political parties and movements in many parts of the world have over the years embraced a cult of personality because [to them] it represented something good for the people. An image of a leader was associated with

In most cases, a tendency to heckle, label and insult certain individuals who raise particular issues (instead of responding to the issues they raise) derives from a conscious determination to defend indefensible interests. the set of good values, principles and goals beneficial to the wellbeing of the nation; hence all the people associated themselves with the regalia bearing the face of such a leader without any qualms and reservations. In this regard, the name of the late Nelson Mandela comes to mind. Members and leaders of our organisation have embraced and promoted a Mandela cult because their own organisation took a deliberate decision to profile Nelson Mandela as a representative personality of all the country’s political prisoners and to use his political biography to illustrate the brutal nature of the apartheid system. While some people are convinced that the cult of personality has existed

since the advent of modern civilisation, historical evidence shows that it was most pronounced with the evolution and development of monarchies/ emperors, etc. With increasing monarchical control in various parts of the world, the cult of personality was manipulated to benefit monarchical rulers and their families and friends at the expense of the masses of the population.18 Towards rejecting ad hominem-ism Political discourse premised on attacking and bashing people is an anti-thesis of the notion of constructive debate because it creates a political environment which is not conducive for the production of the diverse ideas and views required to take the revolution forward. In other words, no palatable ideas and views will ever be generated in political debates which focus more on personalities than on the solutions required to take society to new heights. This, in essence, means that argumentum ad hominem threatens the revolution and delays the advancement and development of society; hence it should have no room in any revolutionary movement. As ad hominem-ism does not contribute to consolidating the democratic gains and deepening and further advancing the revolution, it must be relegated to the dustbins of history. Canvassing ideas and views should always be guided by revolutionary values and ethics, which form the foundation of an organisation. Verbally attacking a person for raising certain ideas and views does not form part of these values because it compromises the integrity of the organisation. In particular it also undermines party political discipline and thus poses a serious threat to organisational discipline which is an important weapon in any revolution. Delegates at the Morogoro Conference19 cautioned that: a revolutionary sounding phrase does not always reflect revolutionary policy, and revolutionary sounding policy is not always the springboard for revolutionary advance. So, what is to be done? Whereas some of the political

THEORY AND POLITICS debates may start with some confrontations and hardening of attitudes, at some point debate must proceed to a stage at which participants reach a common understanding on the commonly shared starting points and rules of engagement. These rules should be institutionalised as some participants may not easily reach an agreement on the rules of the game, especially if some of them perceive the rules to be prejudicial to them. Once rules of engagement are set, members or citizens (as the case may be) must evaluate all the arguments using the agreed upon evaluation methods to determine which arguments take the revolution forward. There may be situations where an organisation does not have a model to guide its members when they participate in debates. In that case, an appropriate model will have to be conceptualised and developed taking into account the character and aims of the organisation. A model that is ultimately chosen must be underpinned by the rules, which recognise the mutually shared methods of engagement and evaluation. These rules must, in turn, acknowledge the right of each participant in the debate to put forward and defend his/her own viewpoint without being heckled or disparaged, and where necessary to analyse and criticise other viewpoints, but without attacking personalities. Therefore, we must embark on a deliberate programme aimed at inculcating into all our structures a culture which promotes focus on the content of arguments. We must ensure that political debates primarily focus on the ideas and views – instead of personalities behind those ideas and views. Our movement has a responsibility to ensure that its members and leaders refrain from relying on ad hominem-ism to out-manoeuvre their declared ideological or personal nemesis within the organisation because only through honest, robust and yet constructive debates will we promote the multiplicity of ideas and views required for growth and development. However, as we promote constructive internal debates, we must never lose sight of the fact

that robustness is part and parcel of the culture of any revolutionary organisation. The acceptance of robust debate must never be viewed as the granting of license for some members to attack and destroy others. Once robustness degenerates into illdiscipline on the part of the members, relevant provisions of the constitution of the revolutionary organisation must be invoked and applied with immediate effect. These disciplinary provisions must never be applied selectively as all the members and leaders of our organisation deserve equal and fair treatment. As a revolutionary organisation, our movement must apply disciplinary provisions without fear, favour or prejudice against all members who bring the organisation into disrepute, irrespective of the position a member might be holding in the organisation, government or any institution in society. Neither must the disciplinary provisions contained in the constitution of the ANC be invoked to stifle debates in the organisation as stifling internal discussion is not in line with the spirit and purport of the party’s constitution. In modern democracies, democratic constitutions are regarded as the foundation for an organisation because they define the nature of modern human associations and institutions. As human beings are, by their nature, capable of subverting an organisational cause in pursuit of their personal interest, constitutions have now become important instruments to prevent personal interest from overriding the organisational interest. Everything will depend on the value as well as significance leaders and members attach to their party’s constitution. In turn, success of this depends on political discipline on the part of members and leaders of an organisation when it comes to matters relating to respect for democratic and constitutional values. This is very important because it largely determines the existence or extinction of any organisation. In all phases of the revolution, a revolutionary organisation must constantly remind its members about

the importance of political discipline in a revolution. In other words, it must ensure that all its members (including the leaders) participate in political debates in a disciplined and constructive manner. Importance of political discipline should be emphasised even in the debates themselves. Success in this regard will depend on the political will and ability of the organisation to develop effective methods that are geared towards improving the manner in which debates are conducted. What remains imperative, though, is to improve the skills and abilities of members and leaders alike to be able to debate in a disciplined and credible manner and make meaningful contributions to both internal and public debates on socioeconomic issues affecting the country and its people.  Notes Lenin (1902) What is to be Done? (transcription by Tim Delaney), p.12 Strategy and Tactics of the Proletarian Revolution (1936) International Publishers, New York,p. 46 3 Mick Armstrong “How Lenin developed his theory of the revolutionary party” in History and Theory, Socialist Solidarity (http://socialistsolidarity.ca/ leninitheory.html 4 Cited in Mick Armstrong, ibid 5 Raymond Millen (March, 2008) 6 Immanuel Wallerstein “New Revolts against the system” in A Movement of Movements: Is Another World Really Possible? Edited by Tom Mertes, p. 263 7 Alvaro Cunhal in Hans-Peter Brenner “On a feature of coping with a political defeat” Marxism-Leninism Today, The Electronic Journal of Marxist-Leninist Thought 8 See Joel Netshitenzhe “The National Democratic Revolution and class struggle” The African Communist, Second Quarter 2000, p. 14. This is the address delivered by Netshitenzhe to the COSATU Executive Committee on 23 February 2000. 9 Ibid at 14 - 15 10 Murray Smith “Internal Democracy and Public Debate in Revolutionary Parties” International Viewpoint Vol. 357 – May 2005 11 Ibid. 12 Anton Pannekoek “Why Past Revolutionary Movements Failed” in Living Marxism, Vol. 5, No. 2, 1940 13 MN Roy “Introduction to Political Letters”, March 1924 at www.marxists.org.archives/roy/1924 14 Ibid. 15 Ibid. 16 Thando Ntlemeza “In pursuit of unity and cohesion”, Umrabulo 39, 2nd Quarter 2013 17 Rhetoric persuades people to believe that something is true or false, regardless of whether it actually is true or false 18 Jane F. Gardener Leadership and the Cult of the Personality, London, Dent, 1974. 19 Consultative Conference of the ANC, which was held in Morogoro, Tanzania in 1969(20) Eveline Feteris “A dialogical theory of legal discussions: Pragma-dialectical analysis and evaluation of legal argumentation”. This is also captured in Clause 25(2) (a) of the ANC Constitution (as amended in 2007) which provides that “disciplinary proceedings against a member … shall not be used as a means of stifling debate or denying members their basic democratic rights.” 1

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AFRICA

Decolonising The African Mind

â&#x20AC;&#x153;In order for the coloniser to be the complete master, it is not enough for him to be so in actual fact, he must also believe in its legitimacy. In order for that legitimacy to be complete, it is not enough for the colonised to be a slave; he must also accept his roleâ&#x20AC;?. By Senzo Nkabinde

THE THINKER

AFRICA

hen I was a child, a friend of mine was asked: What do you want to be when you grow up? He confidently responded, When I grow up I’d like to be a white person. Everybody laughed at him and thought that he was feebleminded and weak-willed. In defence of his answer, he averred that white people are rich, drive nice cars, and live in very up- market houses and rich areas. He expatiated, unlike the majority of black people; most white people are not confronted by abject poverty. His rationale for white glorification and idolisation was pragmatically actuated by his first hand encounter of the evident reality of white supremacy. As kids, at the time, we had no idea that my friend’s white adulation was not a perchance manifestation occasioned by his illogical reasoning. We did not fathom the fact that my childhood friend was not the only one indoctrinated with the dichotomy of idolising white folks and in sync perpetuating subconscious black self-hate. None of us was conscious of the fact that the genesis of white adulation was consequent upon a robust socio-political and socioeconomic strategy, crafted and engineered to foster white supremacy and black subjugation. We thought that our friend was a victim of thwarted street wisdom and lack of socio-economic prudence. We were too young to comprehend that the super rich imperialist nations were actually behind the choice made by my childhood friend. As I grew older I realised that my childhood friend was not the only victim of the effects of being indoctrinated and brainwashed through neo-colonialism. In fact there are profound scholars, intellectuals and some prominent national, regional, continental and global leaders who are also victims of neo-colonialism. Colonisation and white supremacy It is necessary to examine, monitor, evaluate and dismantle the pernicious protracted social ills and atrocities encountered by the Africans in Africa and the diaspora pursuant to the lasting legacy of colonisation and neo-colonisation. This article aims

primarily to explore how colonisation was systematised and institutionalised to colonise the African mind, which is also called “mental colonisation” by the Nigerian scholar Chinweizu (1987). It is quintessential to explore plausible options and means of preventing, reversing and eliminating the mental colonisation of African minds. The term neo-colonialism was coined by former Ghanaian president Kwame Nkrumah, to describe the socio-economic and political control that can be exercised economically, linguistically and culturally, whereby promotion of the culture of the neocolonist countries facilitate the cultural assimilation of the colonised people and thus open the national economy to the multinational corporations of the neo-

The colonial powers also conscripted the multilateral institutions as their base and instruments for advancing neo-colonialism and neo-imperialism as non-violent psychological warfare. colonial countries. In addition to the above definition, Wikipedia avers that: “In post-colonial studies, the term neo-colonialism describes the domination-praxis (social, economic, cultural) of countries from the developed world in the respective internal affairs of the countries of the developing world; that, despite the decolonisation that occurred in the aftermath of the Second World War (1939–45), the (former) colonial powers continue to apply existing and past international economic arrangements with their former colony countries, and so maintain colonial control. “A neo-colonialism critique can include de facto colonialism (imperialist or hegemonic), and

an economic critique of the disproportionate involvement of modern capitalist business in the economy of a developing country, whereby multinational corporations continue to exploit the natural resources of the former colony; that such economic control is inherently neo-colonial, and thus is akin to the imperial and hegemonic varieties of colonialism practiced by the United States and the empires of Great Britain, France, and other European countries, from the 16th to the 20th centuries.” In light of this description, this article examines the role of the United Nations and its neo-colonial agenda or influence on both the colonisation and decolonisation of the African mind. The formation of UN Special Committee on Decolonisation, with the ostensible objective of eradicating colonialism, instead gave traction to neo-colonialism. Imperialist and colonialist nations, without any qualms, used the UN Special Committee on Decolonisation, to dispense with flags and its expatriate officials (embassies), thereby masquerading as giving independence to colonised countries. The colonial powers also conscripted the multilateral institutions as their base and instruments for advancing neo-colonialism and neo-imperialism as non-violent psychological warfare. Through neo-colonialism, imperialist nations sustain, maintain, defend and promote white supremacy and African subjugation. According to Kwame Nkrumah some of the mechanisms of neo-colonialism include the employment of agents who are part of the normal ‘independent’ governing parties and structures to disrupt government’s ideologies and practices. The colonial powers rent and hire political parties and politicians as their agents, sometimes disguised as opposition parties, to advance, defend and advocate their colonial and imperial agendas. Such agendas include the tactical use of the UN Security Council to legitimise the political assassination of African Revolutionaries who are in favour of Pan Africanism, African Regional Integration and African Renaissance.

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AFRICA There are a plethora of mechanisms employed to economically rape, penetrate and exploit the African continent, which amongst others include: • monopolistic trade that favours Western multinational corporations; • foreign aid and international debt-funding to control the world market to benefit Euro-American monopolies; • high interest rates designed to economically penetrate and exploit the indigent African; • economic bilateral and multilateral inter-continental trade agreements and treaties which favour multinational corporations; and • entertainment and news industries, including Hollywood-style neocolonial fiction, which indoctrinate Africans to sub-consciously subscribe to white supremacy. This works in tandem with the colonial newspapers, media and broadcasting networks which overstate and exaggerate stories which demonise Africans whilst fuelling white supremacist mindsets. The colonial nations use the academic curricula, evangelism, religion and belief as central means and instruments for advancing, defending and maintaining psychological neocolonial warfare. The majority of African states are relying on colonial universities and education systems designed to promote white supremacy and dethrone or thwart African excellence. The colonial universities are inundated with literature which pretentiously espouses the colonial propaganda that all world renowned scientific inventions were invented by white scholars. Miseducation or dis-education is used by colonial powers to give wrong narratives of African history and heritage. This is done to divide and rule African states and Africans and to destroy their sense of self, ensuring that African people don’t know who they are. Most of our African heritage and history providing evidence of the intellectual, scholarly and scientific achievements of Africans was wiped out by colonial powers. Most profound world renowned inventions and scientific discoveries made by African scholars were conceitedly stolen by

THE THINKER

colonial powers and claimed as their own discoveries or inventions. Miseducation and dis-education is currently used in the colonial universities to: • Create a negative image of African nations as a part of a Dark Continent suffering from conflicts and black on black hate and violence. Most colonial universities also use foreign diplomacy and political science to justify the use of multilateral bodies as weapons of the colonial and imperial nations for legitimising regime change in African countries. Colonial powers use all means possible to justify their

The colonial nations use the academic curricula, evangelism, religion and belief as central means and instruments for advancing, defending and maintaining psychological neocolonial warfare. The majority of African states are relying on colonial universities and education systems designed to promote white supremacy and dethrone or thwart African excellence. use of the UN Security Council to advance their colonial agenda of regime change and to control what African governments can and cannot do in African governance and sociopolitical affairs. • Undermine African culture, languages and indigenous knowledge and science. Colonial nations continue to support the mindset which gives supremacy to colonial cultures, lifestyle, and languages through the formal education system;

• Brainwash and indoctrinate Africans spiritually by teaching them the colonial ‘truth’ through religion and education. Africans are indoctrinated to denigrate their spiritual beliefs, and give supremacy to colonial religions. Most Africans are spiritually and religiously consumed and brainwashed to worship the white created God. In 1965, Kwame Nkrumah said: In order to halt foreign interference in the affairs of developing countries it is necessary to study, understand, expose and actively combat neo-colonialism in whatever guise it may appear. For the methods of neo-colonialists are subtle and varied. They operate not only in the economic field, but also in the political, religious, ideological and cultural spheres.1 It is rather distressing that the study suggested by Kwame Nkrumah has not been commissioned. This is perhaps a grave omission by African leaders. It is not by coincidence that Africa is underrepresented in those multilateral bodies that make profound socio-political decisions. In 1945 the colonial powers began to use international economic and institutional arrangements with their former colony countries to maintain and sustain their colonial control. As part of decolonising the African mind we need to examine the institutional configuration and power relations of the multilateral institutions. There is a growing need to critique the relationship between the colonial agenda and the agenda of multilateral institutions such as the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the International Development Association (IDA), the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the United Nations Security Council, and the United Nations Special Committee on Decolonisation, etc. This will help in scoping and scaling the institutional depth, height and mileage of colonisation, which in turn will inform the development of strategies for decolonising the African mind. It is disheartening that all of the above-mentioned multilateral institutions significantly rely on the United States as their major source of financial backing. The question is

AFRICA what is the extent of influence and control the US has on these multilateral institutions? The scale and scope of multilateral institutions or bodies’ financial dependence on the US also need to be investigated. On 14 December 1960, the United Nations General Assembly passed Resolution 1514, which included the following clauses: 1 The subjection of peoples to alien subjugation, domination and exploitation constitutes a denial of fundamental human rights, is contrary to the Charter of the United Nations and is an impediment to the promotion of world peace and co-operation(...); 4 All armed action or repressive measures of all kinds directed against dependent peoples shall cease in order to enable them to exercise peacefully and freely their right to complete independence, and the integrity of their national territory shall be respected (...); 6 Any attempt aimed at the partial or total disruption of the national unity and the territorial integrity of a country is incompatible with the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations; and 7 All States shall observe faithfully and strictly the provisions of the Charter of the United Nations, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the present Declaration on the basis of equality, non-interference in the internal affairs of all States, and respect for the sovereign rights of all peoples and their territorial integrity. The General Assembly of the United Nations created the UN Special Committee on Decolonisation, which was given the responsibility of monitoring and implementing the granting of independence to colonised countries and peoples. Eighty-nine countries voted in favour of the UN Resolution 1514. Nine countries abstained from voting, namely Australia, Belgium, Dominican Republic, France, Portugal, Spain, Union of South Africa, United Kingdom, and United States. The countries that abstained were imperialist and colonialist nations who did not want to bind themselves to UN Resolution 1514.

Out of 24 member countries only 7 African countries are members of the UN Special Committee on Decolonisation. Similarly the UN Security Council has only 3 African countries as non-permanent members with no veto powers, out of 15 members, which is equivalent to 20%. There are five permanent members of the UN Security Council which have veto powers. The colonialist and imperialist nations constitute 60% of the membership of the permanent representatives. These are France, the United Kingdom and the United States. The process of decolonising the African mind should include finding answers to

It is critical to restructure the education system, and use it as means to reverse the colonised African mind, whilst also preventing the neo-colonisation of African children. This could be achieved through development of strategies and programmes aimed at decolonising the African education curricula. the following questions: • What is the relationship between the UN Security Council, the UN Special Committee on Decolonisation, the World Bank, the IMF and the imperial colonial nations? • Is the relationship and power relations of the above-mentioned structured in a manner that is proColonisation or pro-Decolonisation? • Given that the US, France, and the UK constitute 60% of the permanent membership of the UN Security Council, and they abstained from supporting Resolution 1514, how does this affect and influence

Colonisation and Decolonisation? • Is it true that the majority shareholders of the World Bank, IMF and International Donor Agencies are the instruments and agents of colonial powers, who advocate, espouse, maintain and sustain colonisation? • The UN Security Council always represents itself as an advocate of world peace, security and the democratisation process. In some instances, the UN Security Council has legitimised and imposed regime change in the developing world through military interventions (Iraq, Libya, Egypt). Is this not tantamount to depriving these countries of their sovereign powers to democratise themselves through elections? The research advocated by Kwame Nkrumah is more than ever relevant and long overdue. It requires strategic thinking, adequate intellectual capital, time, capital resources, credible political will and support. A committee of eminent experts under the aegis of the African Union should be appointed to conduct such an investigation in search of authentic and credible answers to the above questions. Decolonising the African mind The Tunisian decolonisation activist, Albert Memmi, wrote, In order for the coloniser to be the complete master, it is not enough for him to be so in actual fact, he must also believe in its legitimacy. In order for that legitimacy to be complete, it is not enough for the colonised to be a slave; he must also accept his role. The first step toward decolonisation, then, is to question the legitimacy of colonisation. Once we recognise the truth of this injustice, we can think about ways to resist and challenge colonial institutions and ideologies. Thus, decolonisation is not passive, but rather it requires something called praxis.2 It is critical to restructure the education system, and use it as means to reverse the colonised African mind, whilst also preventing the neo-colonisation of African children. This could be achieved through development of strategies and programmes aimed at decolonising

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AFRICA the African education curricula and content on three levels namely - (i) pre-school, and primary school; (ii) secondary and high school level, and (iii) tertiary institutions. The decolonisation of African education content, system and focus should be used to replace the colonial tendencies and mindset thereby re-Africanising Africans in Africa and the diaspora. It should also be used to foster, espouse and engulf Pan Africanism, African indigenous pride, identity and Afrocentric cultures and life style. This should be premised on the re-writing of African history by African scholars, from an African perspective that celebrates and promotes African excellence, pan Africanism and the Africa Renaissance. The primary object is to wipe out colonial mental tendencies, beliefs and doctrines, and replace these with consciousness, love and adoration of pan Africanism, the African Renaissance, African pride, African solidarity and unity. The African Union at the Global African Diaspora Conference, 2012, in its declaration, recalled the struggle of the founding fathers and combatants for Pan Africanism in Africa as well as in the Diaspora. In line with and in support of the African Union resolution of integrating Africans in the diaspora as an integral part of the AU, people-topeople social cohesion through social networks and media, conferences, summits and exchange programmes should be used to foster African social cohesion. However, this obliges the vertical and horizontal integration of Africans in the diaspora and in Africa with African leaders. The AU needs to invigorate its efforts to connect with the aboriginal African citizens in the diaspora and in Africa. Vertical disunity is the disconnection between the African leaders, whilst the horizontal disunity refers to the disconnection between African citizens and societies on the ground. This must be quashed. The formation of the United States of Africa through the union government of Africa will provide the long overdue full political integration. This will help Africa to use its continental sovereignty strategically to speak in one mighty

THE THINKER

political authoritative voice against any form of colonising and exploiting Africa. All Africans in the diaspora and in Africa should support and contribute towards the realisation of the establishment of the Confederated African States by 2063, as outlined on January 28, 2014 by the African Union (AU) Commission chairperson, Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma at the Opening session of the 20th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the African Union. On the day of Mandela’s funeral, December 15, 2013, a citizen from Accra, Ghana, lamented: All day long here in Ghana they

The formation of the United States of Africa through the union government of Africa will provide the long overdue full political integration. This will help Africa to use its continental sovereignty strategically to speak in one mighty political authoritative voice against any form of colonising and exploiting Africa. have been broadcasting live the Memorial Service of Nelson Mandela in South Africa. Courtesy, of course, of the BBC and Deutsche Welle? Why on earth doesn’t Africa have its own Broadcasting Network in this day and age? The news coverage on the BBC is always distorting according to their own interest, and that on Deutsche Welle a bit less, but still not African! …Why must Africans always depend on others to tell their own stories to them?! Shame! Shame! Shame! Linda Housman, in an article entitled

“Branded African Icons. Mandela and Gaddafi, “The Saint” versus “The Mad Dog”, stated that: In fact, there actually was someone working on an African broadcasting network. Someone who already connected the entire African continent by radio, television and telephone. In the early ’90s, this person funded the establishment of the Regional African Satellite Communication Organization, which eventually provided Africa with its first own communications satellite on December 26, 2007. A second African satellite was launched in July 2010 and advanced plans for a continental broadcasting network were made. The person who funded at least 70% of this revolutionary project was the revolutionary leader of the Libyan Jamahiriya, Muammar Gaddafi.3 The issues raised by Linda Housman warrant strategic consideration by African leaders, scholars and intellectuals. This may lead to finding answers to the need to develop an African owned and operated Broadcasting Network to tell, celebrate, disseminate and share African stories by Africans from an African perspective. This is also in line with the argument of former president Thabo Mbeki, that Africa must define herself, instead of being defined by others. 4 In conclusion Africa must unite and mobilise its strategic, human, capital and technical resources to develop and advance strategies to combat the psychological warfare declared on Africa by imperialists and colonialists. Africa must unite politically, geopolitically and socio-economically to expose and defeat neo-colonialism and neoimperialism.  References 1 Nkrumah, Kwame. Neo-Colonialism: the Last Stage of Imperialism, London: Nelson, 1965. 2 Waziyatawin Angela Wilson and Michael Yellow Bird, For Indigenous Eyes Only: A Decolonisation Handbook, 1st Ed. 3 “Branded African Icons. Mandela and Gaddafi, ‘The Saint’ versus ‘The Mad Dog’”, http://www. globalresearch.ca/branded-african-icons-mandelaand-gaddafi-the-saint-versus-the-mad-dog/5363898, accessed on 12 February 2014 4 Mbeki, Thabo. Africa, Define Yourself. Tafelberg, 2002. Other sources Iseke-Barnes, J. "Pedagogies for decolonizing." Canadian Journal of Native Education 31.1 (2008): 123-148. Nkrumah, Kwame. Africa Must Unite, London: Heinemann, 1963.

ÂŠ Shutterstock.com

POLITICS

Human capital investment and development for the heroes and heroines of Democracy As we honour those who have passed away, through monuments such as Freedom Park, it is mandatory that we acknowledge the living and make the necessary corrections. By Sibusiso Vil-Nkomo

he struggle to liberate South Africa from apartheid demanded that generations must give up their educational ambitions. Many of those who somehow were able to acquire an education depended financially on nations and international organsations that had conceded that apartheid was a crime against humanity. A time arrives when an emerging political economy like South Africa must accept that its veterans still remain a central force in the creation

of a unified nation â&#x20AC;&#x201C; a nation that must encourage future generations to want to commit themselves to making a contribution toward building a strong and sustainable polity. The treatment veterans receive from their country must signal appreciation and commitment to the development and utilisation of all its scarce human resources. Fundamental to this is strategic human capital investment and development. A properly conceived scheme titled

"Bursaries for Military Veterans and their Kin" must be viewed as a step in the right direction and signals that the nation is maturing. Empirical evidence in post-colonial Africa and other parts of the world has demonstrated that the failure to further invest in veterans results in discontent and instability. Thus, post-war or conflict regions need to institutionalise educational national policy alternatives that provide for the future careers of veterans and their kin. Policy initiatives of this type are

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POLITICS certainly comparable to what happens in many progressive countries that are committed to advancing their veterans’ human capital. Veterans are persons who gave up a lot for the pursuance of a democratic South Africa. A significant number of these individuals had the capability to acquire an education whilst in the service of the army or even after retirement. However, the conditions they lived under did not permit this, and neither were they created upon their return to South Africa, intentionally or unintentionally. Whilst the latter is now water under the bridge, we must begin to work harder to make sure that redress is pursued even though it is rather late for many. The sharpening of our institutional memory is essential if the country is to rise to greater heights in the future. South Africa’s liberation veterans were inspired by words like "Education for all” and “Fight against an inferior education”. They educated the world about the poor education in the then South Africa; and the demand for a high quality education became a mobilising vehicle in the fight against apartheid education injustices and for human rights. Education was a fundamental desire for a lot of the individuals who eventually became veterans. Forgetting this fact can be classified as a major reconstruction and development policy flaw in South Africa’s nation formation and its twenty years of democratic development. The political consciousness of veterans was shaped out of the needs of the struggle and the demand for, amongst other things, an appropriate education. These aspirations go back to earlier periods and were intensified with the banning of the liberation movements. Indeed, many veterans made significant sacrifices and most of these are still to be properly documented. Thus it is essential that current and future generations learn about them so as to not repeat the mistakes of the past even when formulating and implementing policies in a democratic dispensation. The matter of veterans in South Africa is getting attention at the same time as it is in other nations who are faced

THE THINKER

with the baby boomers who changed the world. This generation comprised of individuals who wanted peace, equality and democracy to be the order of the world. They were involved in numerous conflicts that afflicted the world. This is the generation that constructively challenged authority and demanded a new global order. This generation will be remembered as one of the most rebellious of all generations on a global scale. They popularised the denunciation of injustices through all means possible. This is the generation that used the citadels of higher education to define education and knowledge as a commanding height of development. There are additional historical facts that must be remembered and highlighted about the baby boomers.

Empirical evidence in postcolonial Africa and other parts of the world has demonstrated that the failure to further invest in veterans results in discontent and instability. Firstly, most of the people who were deeply involved with the liberation struggle were students who aspired to a better education because they denounced what was being offered to them and this can be traced back to the late 1800s up to the turn of the century. Secondly, veterans include many individuals who abandoned their educational ambitions with the hope of pursuing them one day in a democratic South Africa and did not anticipate that being in exile would consume a good part of their early development. Thirdly, many veterans are persons who were exposed to better educational systems in various parts of the world. Finally, some of them and their offspring had a firm introduction to a better education at different leading institutions in the world, e.g. on the African continent,

Europe, the Socialist countries, the USA and Australasia. Those who remained in South Africa were offered a purposely designed inferior education, confronted with studying in segregated institutions, had to face the realities of deprivation, had to deal with an unstable political environment and pursued their education under intimidation by the then apartheid state. At the bi-laterals and the multiparty negotiations that were the stepping stone to our current democratic dispensation, some advocated a comprehensive veterans’ pension plan; however, that was not implemented when we began to govern in 1994. Twenty years later, some of these ideas are finally being put into practice. Designing a programme that is close to addressing the needs of veterans has been a long road. Why is it urgent to come up with acomprehensive veterans’ policy strategy and plan? Some have died, others have lived in poverty, many are destitute in the country they liberated, and yet others were promised pensions that never materialised at the special pensions department. It is a known fact that some special pension applications disappeared with promises that they were being processed; there are orphans and senior citizens who never benefitted from the pensions of their sons and daughters who became veterans – and on and on goes the tragedy of veterans. A nation that neither respects nor remembers its veterans is bound to commit mistakes because a significant part of its history has been erased. This lack of acknowledgement of history can open up an opportunity for demagogues to define the nation’s future, particularly in times of great uncertainty. As we honour those who have passed away, through monuments such as Freedom Park, it is mandatory that we acknowledge the living and make the necessary corrections. It is probably true that as human beings we always want to say a lot about the dead and, perhaps, we behave in this manner out of some guilt. We also repeatedly chastise the living, under-estimate their contributions and negate what they can still offer to a fledgling nation.

POLITICS It remains a puzzle why many of our compatriots in uniform are not valued. To be in the armed forces is a commitment and it creates obligations which make one a true public servant, especially in a democratic dispensation like ours. This does not apply in a totalitarian regime or state. The underlying principles in our fledgling democracy, since 1994 are Duty! Honour! Service! Love for oneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s democratic nation! An unknown soldier further stated, "Professionalism of the soldier must be reinforced in the triad of Duty! Honour! and Country! As Vil-Nkomo wrote in The Thinker "Most of us understand duty and (maybe) country but do not always understand honour or self-commitment" (December 2012, Volume 46). Some people view individuals in uniform as mere soldiers who must march in the streets and do not understand the human capital that is imbedded in these men and women of honour. It can be convincingly stated that in pre-colonial societies and in the world there are nations that have dealt with their veterans in a progressive way. The fundamental principle has been to provide them with usable knowledge, skills and a meaningful livelihood. In modern advanced societies, their offspring are beneficiaries of bursaries or scholarships. Since veterans tend to provide their services in unusual human conditions and situations, it is therefore not an anomaly to provide them with preferential medical care and extra services. This recognition is aimed at properly integrating veterans back into their societies. The positive spill-over benefit is to stabilise the society by ensuring that the skills and expertise of warfare are converted into ploughs and shears. Men and women who become veterans have previously been trained to carry out certain specified responsibilities necessary to fighting a war and liberating people from despotic rulers, like strategy and tactics, planning, observing and responding to changing situations, providing security, going into unexplored terrains, etc. In some cases 18 year olds or even younger people committed themselves to land and country with the hope of extricating themselves, their loved ones and others out of human made poverty

and other difficult conditions. Armed forces that are progressive provide discipline and commitment to these ambitious young individuals under the leadership of mature adults who also have wisdom and tested institutional memory. Some of these young individuals use the military to advance their education and for others it is an opportunity cost to prepare for a better future. Some have become medical doctors, lawyers, professors, engineers, teachers and excellent civil servants upon retirement from the armed forces. Empirical evidence in South Africa abounds that persons previously in uniform can accomplish academically and can develop skills that advance society. This information is found in forces that served in the old order and the liberation movements of that time. Some veterans are holding leading positions in civil society and are

The third decade of democracy in South Africa must visibly show commitment to excellence in human capital development and investment. properly exercising their operational citizenship. As South Africa strives to mature as a democracy its vehicles of human capital development need to advance in tandem. It is not possible to produce operational / responsible veteran citizens with antiquated institutions. The nation urgently needs a uniquely established South African "Westpoint" or "Sandhurst". It is all about dignity, proper investment, anticipating the future and a commitment to human and national development. In other words, there are visible returns on the investment in soldiers and this becomes apparent when they become civilians. We must always remember that the liberation of South Africa was not only political; it was also economic, educational, in search for new knowledge and social development strategies. It was also

about making South Africa a global player, demonstrating to the world that multi-party negotiations can work and reconciliation is possible, as is maintaining stability. The Army College in Thaba Tshwane attempts to develop the above potential and academic abilities of soldiers. The academics that are associated with this institution can testify to this achievement. The participation of other nations in the programmes offered at this College exemplify the potential of South Africa to establish an African military training institution at the level of Westpoint or Sandhurst. Though conscription is no longer a requirement in South Africa, those who have volunteered to serve have also the right to acquire an excellent education and this is all protected in the Constitution as was intended by the Founding Mothers and Fathers of South Africaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s democracy. We must encourage those who are in the leadership of our defence forces to establish a college of the calibre identified above because South Africa is currently positioning its forces in peace-keeping missions and the nation has also major development challenges that require knowledge and skills. The concept of peace-keeping must be expanded to be all-encompassing. The definition must also mean that the forces are committed to societal development, nation formation, the provision of essential services and the betterment of human kind. This implies the institutionalisation of development knowledge, discipline and the willingness to be servant leaders. The third decade of democracy in South Africa must visibly show commitment to excellence in human capital development and investment. There is no doubt that soldiers and veterans must be made part of this critical educational movement. As South African values continue to be challenged, being a person in uniform becomes more important, underpinned by excellent education and skills development initiatives at the highest level. The competitive edge for soldiers and veterans in this millennium is attained through relevant education and skills acquisition. ď Ž

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COMMENT

Of Music and Peroration

Hamba mfana. Hamba uyobatshela bonke. Hamb’uzolitshel’ilizwe. Uthi. Silwel’inkululeko e South Afrika: ‘Cry Freedom’ soundtrack By Oyama Mabandla

adiba’s passing has triggered myriad responses in its wake. It sent me back to his autobiography, which I had last read circa December 1994, when it was first published. To read Madiba is to listen

THE THINKER

to enchanting music. This opus is an enthralling meditation on the quest for freedom, justice and dignity, with lilting delectations of sagacity and inspiration, leaping from every page. It makes you fall in love with this country, over and

over again; its rhythms, smells, colours and textures. This story belongs to the ages and, in keeping with the novelist Milan Kundera’s exhortation, “The struggle of humanity against power is the struggle of memory against

COMMENT forgetting”, it will be an antidote against amnesia down the line. The sun shall truly never set on the splendour of Madiba and the heroic example of his band of brothers and sisters. One of the nuggets I took away from this luminous narrative was Madiba’s love for long distance driving, an activity he found soothing and a font of imaginative reflection. So this past December for the holidays, I decided to drive from Johannesburg to Cape Town to visit my mother. I undertook this trip with my 14 year old son, who had just arrived from the United States the previous day and was hopelessly jet lagged. So instead of the much vaunted father/son bonding we had both been looking forward to, I found myself alone with my thoughts as he dozed away. I was not terribly bereft though, as I had Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Pharaoh Sanders and Cassandra Wilson as my other road companions. I also had Jonas Gwangwa and George Fenton’s ‘Cry Freedom’ soundtrack. I had not listened to this soundtrack in aeons. So it was like a big reunion with a long lost friend, when the soulful strains I cite in the epigraph, and the reverberating orchestral swirl enveloped the interior of my car. I was transported to stratospheric delights. Gwangwa and Fenton were nominated for an Oscar for this music, and in a powerful nod to our struggle, would be invited to perform at the Academy awards in 1988, to a positively giddy reception, that filled all of us with dizzying pride. Reconnecting with this music in the middle of the arid and desolate Karoo, as I motored towards the Mother City was a terrific boon. I found myself wistful. I mused about how it would have been, had it been Gwangwa chanting, “Mandela, Sisulu, Luthuli, Dadoo, Stephen Biko, Govan Mbeki, Robert Sobukwe, Baba Tambo, Bhasopha!” at the funeral in Qunu, instead of that gang that could neither shoot nor sing straight, doing an insipid Italian aria. In the recording, you hear George Fenton intone softly “Soweto, Langa, Sharpeville, Matola… the children sing about the great ones who Cry Freedom for South Africa”. Gwangwa

then segues in, in a soaring, plaintive crescendo, “Bayeza abamnyama. Bayeza nemikhonto”. And then the orchestra and the voices explode in a raucous cauldron of protest and celebration. This song was a salute to our heroes and martyrs. It would have been most apposite to have the gathering in Qunu and the billions who tuned in, enfolded in its cascading tempest. The world, which has begun to look increasingly askance at us, in the wake of Marikana, Guptagate, Nkandlagate, and the fiasco of the memorial service, would have seen that we have not entirely lost our Groove. My mind was then assailed by the curious absence of former president, Thabo Mbeki from the roster of speakers at both the memorial and

We would have answered Obama’s oratorical tour de force at the memorial service, with Mbeki’s poetic lyricism; a tantalising prospect, which would have electrified the country and restored our pride as a nation. funeral service. It is a recognised international norm, to allow those who succeed or precede the deceased in office, to speak at a state funeral. Thus it would be inconceivable for Bill Clinton not to speak at the ailing George H W Bush’s funeral, even though Clinton had defenestrated Bush from the White House in 1992. Barack Obama will speak as the president, but so will Clinton as Bush’s successor. This was indeed the case at Ronald Reagan’s funeral, with Bush, as Reagan’s successor giving the tribute. I could cite numerous other international examples. This is an institutionalist approach as opposed to one governed by the caprice and idiosyncrasies of the incumbent.

And we are talking about Thabo Mbeki here; the prince of Madiba’s post-apartheid Camelot; the exiled ANC’s preeminent political strategist and diplomat; and most pertinently, Madiba’s successor as President of our republic. Shut out of the podium? What was up with that? This was the man who gave, when he was barely 36 years old, a torrentially erudite speech at a seminar in Canada in 1978, which was talked about for years, in awed reverential tones, in the exiled organisation. The speech, “The Historical Injustice”, was a sublime rumination on the South African political economy, and its racist genealogy; premised on the political exclusion of the black majority and its concomitant economic immiseration. It combined a trenchant Marxist critique, with echoes of Weberian (the philosopher Max Weber) hermeneutics, in his examination of the role of the concept of Calvinist predestination in this injustice. The speech was an important breakthrough, and helped shatter the perception that we were just a bunch of malodorous Neanderthals, with no capacity for the higher arts of intellection. Back home, he would deliver his celebrated “I am an African” speech, on the occasion of the birth of our constitution. It is a speech that is still recited by many of us, as the touchstone of our South African identity. And then his rhapsodic ode to our father, Walter Sisulu, at his funeral over ten years ago. This is my favourite speech; a day when Mbeki summoned the poets, SEK Mqhayi and WB Yeats from their eternal repose and commanded them to dance, in an intoxicating tango of oratory and poetry. He’s a virtuoso at these set pieces. And to paraphrase the Vodacom advert of yore, “He’s been doing it”. Imagine if he had been allowed to serenade Madiba at his final resting place, as he had, Sisulu? We would have answered Obama’s oratorical tour de force at the memorial service, with Mbeki’s poetic lyricism; a tantalising prospect, which would have electrified the country and restored our pride as a nation. Then my son woke up; I snapped out of my reverie. 

Volume 62 / 2014

SOUTH AFRICAN BREWERIES

Sab Reintroduces Intervention Programme for Men in Local Taverns

By South African Breweries

he South African Breweries (SAB) has reintroduced its successful Tavern Intervention Programme for Men, known as TIP, which, through a series of workshops in taverns across South Africa, aims to drive attitudinal and behavioural change in men identified as perpetrators of social ills, including crime. TIP is a partnership between SAB and a local NGO, Men for Development in South Africa (MEDSA), and seeks to provide men with appropriate skills and knowledge to effectively help combat crimes closely linked to alcohol

THE THINKER

abuse. It is one of the few programmes of its kind in existence in South Africa. SAB partners with a number of community based organisations and leaders to ensure the success of the TIP and to help identify those men who require intervention as well as those who wish to be affirmed and become agents of change within their communities. These include community based organisations focused on upliftment, Community Development Workers (CDWs), Community Policing Forums (CPFs), Community Patrol Units (CPUs), tavern

owners, Provincial Liquor authorities, Liquor Traders Associations, SAPS and influential community leaders. Police databases assist in identifying perpetrators and social workers may also make referrals to the programme. Each workshop, targeting 60 men, is held in a local tavern over a period of five days, and encourages active engagement by participants on several social issues. The content of each workshop is based on issues and trends prevalent in South Africa and across the globe. It seeks to promote responsible alcohol

SOUTH AFRICAN BREWERIES

consumption; support SAB’s Alcohol Strategy; reduce the impact of HIV and Aids; promote human rights, and in particular children’s rights; minimise gender based violence and contribute to a reduction in crime. Amongst others, the men are educated on the importance of eating, and drinking water, when consuming alcohol; about HIV/Aids transmission and how to accommodate people infected and affected by the disease; the importance of circumcision in the promotion of men’s health; understanding and promoting the

rights of women and children; and about conflict resolution, family values and healthy living. “SAB understands the responsibility that comes from being a leading corporate citizen, and is constantly striving to be a force for good within society. It is for this reason that we have long taken a leadership role in promoting the health and well-being of the communities in which we operate. “Through the TIP SAB wants to be part of the solution by not only addressing the symptoms of the problem but by targeting its source. Empowering these

men with the necessary information to become ambassadors of change will mean a better life for their families and entire communities,” says Mpho Sadiki, SAB Head Sustainability and Transformation. The TIP was first introduced in 2008 as a pilot programme and officially launched in 2010, ending in 2012. During this four-year period the programme reached more than 2000 men in local communities. SAB is targeting at least 360 new intakes aged 18 and above in various parts of the country between midSeptember and early 2015. At the final day of the programme, participants are rewarded during a graduation ceremony with a certificate of participation. They are encouraged to sign a pledge of commitment to be ambassadors of change and champions within their community. A Men’s Support Group (MSG) is formed by the men and meets once a month. Here they consolidate what they have learnt during the Intervention Sessions, they are able to discuss and share problems or be referred to an expert organisation, such as SANCA, FAMSA or social Workers for further intervention. Behavioural changes in the men are tracked through the support groups. The TIP was first conceptualised when MEDSA approached SAB to support a one-day Gender-based Violence Awareness Campaign in 2008. SAB then decided to build onto the programme. Responsible Consumption of Alcohol was included in the programme and the HIV/Aids module was enhanced significantly. A pilot of the programme targeting 180 men was undertaken at three taverns in Gauteng and Mpumalanga and a post-intervention assessment indicated the TIP could have significant impact if officially implemented. 

Volume 62 / 2014

INTERNATIONAL

The formation of the BRICS Think Tanks Council

The institutions of power establish the circumstances under which scientific claims can be counted as true or false; therefore, the production of knowledge is inseparable from power. By Manusha Pillai

s the 2014 BRICS Summit hosted by Brazil drew to a close, South Africa was celebrating the realisation of the establishment of a BRICS Development Bank. The 2014 Summit concluded with an agreement that this Bank would be hosted in Shanghai; India would hold the first

THE THINKER

Presidency; and an African regional office would be hosted in Johannesburg. The Minister of International Relations and Co-operation referred to this development “as momentous as the establishment of the Bretton Woods Institutions after World War II”. The Bank is set to redefine the way

development projects are assessed and funded and will prioritise projects contributing to beneficiation and industrialisation in the country of origin as well as the broader region and continent. What did not attract much attention was the establishment of the BRICS Think Tanks Council. The Council is made up of representatives of the five BRICS nations: Observer Research Foundation (India), China Centre for Contemporary World Studies (China), National Committee for BRICS Research (Russia), Institute for Applied Economic Research (Brazil) and Human Sciences Research Council (South Africa). The work of this Council is set to contribute to the raison d’être of the bloc – the reformation of the global political and financial governance architecture and the development of the individual partner countries. How can a formation that is regarded as removed from practice and rooted in theory become pivotal in the quest to reform the global governance architecture? Think tanks, by their nature, are better poised to actively assess the shortfalls of public policy and have the potential to make a far greater contribution to the formulation of policy that addresses the real issues which confront us. In their generation of policy-oriented research, analysis and advice on domestic and international issues think tanks can assist both policymakers and the public at large to make informed decisions about public policy issues. In this regard, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) succinctly describes think tanks as a “bridge between knowledge and power”. This is true; particularly in the advocacy and policy orientated research functions. In the context of the BRICS Think Tanks Council, the nexus between power and knowledge is especially important given the particular raison d’être of the BRICS formation. The late French philosopher Michel Foucault has argued that our modern interpretation of power was formed in pre-modern communities where it was consolidated and coordinated by

INTERNATIONAL a sovereign influence that exercised total control of its subjects. In addition, power has traditionally created knowledge in two related ways. One is that institutions of power make a number of forms of knowledge historically feasible. Another is in the creation of this knowledge since the institutions of power establish the circumstances under which scientific claims can be counted as true or false; therefore, the production of knowledge is inseparable from power. Preceding Foucault, Marx asserted that the system of economic exploitation was reinforced by a dominance of ruling class ideas and values, the perpetuation of which would keep the working class from recognising and rejecting their oppression. This was also described by Engels as false consciousness. Equally insightful is the view of Gramsci who described the capitalist state as consisting of two overlapping spheres, a ‘political society’ (which rules through force) and a ‘civil society’ (which rules through consent). Although the modern interpretation of the concept of civil society has changed to reflect a sector of voluntary organisations and NGOs, Gramsci saw civil society as the public sphere where trade unions and political parties gained concessions from the bourgeois state, and the sphere in which ideas and beliefs were shaped, where bourgeois ‘hegemony’ was reproduced in cultural life through the media, universities and religious institutions to ‘manufacture consent’ and legitimacy. In other words, the two spheres reinforce the hegemonic relationship of the capitalist state. Why does this matter? And again, how will the think tanks redefine the relationship between knowledge, power and development? What to me is a key insight of these thinkers is that power enables knowledge production, knowledge which in turn reinforces this traditional power relationship. For example, in the patriarchal world we live in, it is no wonder that for many years (and still till this day to a certain extent) comparatively less money is spent on research on women’s health

issues versus those of men. The same can be said with regard to health issues affecting citizens of developed countries and those affecting citizens of developing countries. In a world where knowledge is increasingly seen as an asset and resource on its own, the role of knowledge creation and its application thus has to become fundamental in the developmental path of each country or a group of like-minded countries. Similarly to developed and developing world health issues, as long as the developing world relies on knowledge produced in the developed world, the realities of our developing world will remain unresolved or we will adopt ill-fitting solutions to our challenges. In addition the continued reliance on the developed world for

In the patriarchal world we live in, it is no wonder that for many years (and still till this day to a certain extent) comparatively less money is spent on research on women’s health issues versus those of men. knowledge creation will perpetuate traditional power relations between the centre and on the periphery. Indeed, the developing south currently typically reacts to conditions that have been created by the developed world. For instance, the global south, and Africa in particular, is predicted to bear the greatest weight of global warming and climate change although these conditions were created during the industrialisation of the north. And since their industrialisation and development, centres of production have been moved to the south – which has helped decrease the costs of production and increase the profits of the corporations. In addition, although diamonds

are not mined in the west, the profits accrued by the west from the legal global diamond trade are millions of times more than the cost of the diamonds mined in Africa. A similar example relates to the global trade in coffee. The cost of coffee exported from the developed world is insignificant to the value of the global coffee trade. The various members of the BRICS Think Tanks Council are expected to provide an alternative to the current knowledge production process to guide our responses to the developmental challenges facing the global South. The Think Tank will also enhance co-operation in research, knowledge sharing, capacity building and policy advice between think tanks in BRICS countries and will therefore offer responses to some of the following issues affecting the developing world: • trade patterns, particularly as they relate to the examples outlined above; • rates of foreign and domestic investment; • domestic and regional forces including patterns of migration; • ICT adoption; • the quality of governance; and • trends in peace and security as the foundation of sustainable development. The BRICS Think Tanks Council will have a critical role to play in developing what is referred to as home grown solutions for the bloc in terms of the reformation of the global governance and financial architecture. This will ensure that while policies are developed to address the challenges within the respective countries of the bloc and the broader developing south, there will also be a collective ownership of these policies which will contribute to their implementation. While we eagerly anticipate the implementation of decisions related to the BRICS Development Bank, we should equally anticipate the work of the BRICS Think Tanks Council. It may yet be one of the single most pivotal institutions in enabling the south to define its own developmental path while redefining the long held dominance and hegemony of ideas and values of the north. 

Volume 62 / 2014

DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

Minister Masutha

W Working towards an efficient justice system

e interviewed the Minister of Justice and Correctional Services, Tshililo Michael Masutha, MP (Advocate) about his plans to improve the justice system and the state of our countryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s prisons. Minister Masutha has been entrusted with the mammoth responsibility of administering the merger of two of the most critical departments in government, and thus improving efficiency in the criminal justice system. This new Ministry will focus on the implementation of policies and programmes aimed at accelerating the transformation of the justice sector, affirming the independence of the judiciary, enhancing service delivery and building a just, fair, prosperous and equitable society as envisaged by the constitution and mapped out in the countryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 2030 vision, the National Development Plan. Independence of the Judiciary Minister Masutha believes that the independence of all three arms of the state, Executive, Legislature and the Judiciary, is essential for the effectiveness of the countryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s constitutional democracy. The Minister appreciates the contribution of his predecessors who initiated the legislative process, which gives effect to the establishment of the Office of the Chief Justice as a separate department with its own budget. The Constitution Seventeenth Amendment Act and the Superior Courts Act position the Chief Justice correctly as the head of the judiciary, responsible for its administrative functioning. The Office of the Chief Justice will have a fullyfledged administration to ensure the independence of the judiciary and the advancement of the rule of law. The fight against corruption The fight against crime

THE THINKER

and

DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE corruption is one of the major priorities for Minister Masutha. Together with other departments in the Justice Security and Crime Prevention Cluster, the Minister intends to contribute towards a zero tolerance for fraud and corruption. “We will continue with our successful campaign to name and shame those who are convicted of corruption as a deterrent to those who want to benefit from illgotten gains. By publishing the names of the convicts we are sending a strong message that government is taking a stern action against those who help themselves to the monies that are intended to uplift our communities” he said. Case backlogs Another important priority is to deal with the challenge of case backlogs. A number of the initiatives have been implemented in this regard. Minister Masutha is encouraged by the partnership and contribution of all role players, who are making a difference in improving the case flow management. The Chief Justice established the efficiency enhancement committees in all provinces to deal with challenges and obstacles in the timeous management of cases. Gender-Based Violence Minister Masutha emphasised that this government will deal harshly with violence against vulnerable groups such as women, children and Lesbians, Gays, and the Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex Communities. “Government is dealing robustly with gender-based violence, including sexual offences and rape. In 2013 we re-introduced the Sexual Offences Courts. A total of 22 Sexual Offences Courts have been established countrywide, including some in remote rural communities.” said the Minister. According to Minister Masutha,

12 Sexual Offences Courts will be established during this financial year to provide specialised victim-support services, improve effectiveness of witnesses in the execution of their role in court, reduce turnaround time in the finalisation of sexual offences matters and improve the conviction rates in these cases. Complementing these courts are the Thuthuzela Care Centres which provide support services to victims of sexual offences and the aim is to have 50 of them up and running this current financial year. More efforts will be directed towards the Prevention and Combating of Trafficking in Persons Act of 2013 to thoroughly tackle human trafficking. This new law provides for a maximum penalty of R100 million or life imprisonment or both in cases of conviction. Access to Justice The Department of Justice and Constitutional Development under Advocate Masutha’s leadership has set access to justice to the people of South Africa as one of its priorities. The promulgation of the CourtAnnexed Mediation Rules with an aim of introducing formal mediation in courts has been identified as a catalyst in ensuring the department succeeds in this regard. “The implementation of these rules will massify access to justice and introduce an affordable and less adversarial means of settling disputes. These rules will be implemented gradually, commensurate with the administrative capacity we are building at the courts,” said the Minister. Further to this, Minister Masutha also announced that the department will start the implementation of the Court Rationalisation Programme with the aim of aligning jurisdictional boundaries of lower courts and divisions of the High Court with

municipal and provincial boundaries respectively. Its implementation will commence after the department concludes its consultation process with the Judiciary, key stakeholders and the affected communities. “Through this programme we aim to alleviate the unbearable hardship endured by communities in rural areas and historically Black townships in particular, of having to travel long distances to access courts in far flung towns and cities. They do so at great expense due to high costs of transport and litigation,” he emphasised. To assist in efforts to transform the judiciary and further ensure that there are no gender and race imbalances, government will develop a policy that will ensure that the pool from which the Judiciary Service Commission can select candidates is widened. Protection of the Children’s Rights Through the Child Justice Act the Department has created a system suited to children who are on the wrong side of the law. So far this intervention has been a success as the number of children in correctional facilities has declined sharply. In 2013, a total of 308 children were awaiting trial for serious crimes, compared to 504 in 2010. The number of children sentenced has also decreased from 717 in 2010 to 289 in 2013. Maintenance The Department has worked tirelessly to ensure that mothers who had to endure the agony of spending long hours in queues to receive maintenance is now a thing of the past. Payments are now largely processed through the Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) and the banks. There are 9.5 million of these transactions to the value of R3 billion annually. 

Volume 62 / 2014

PAN AFRICAN PARLIAMENT

One Africa, One Voice

Hon. Bethel N. Amadi – President Hon. Roger Nkodo – 1st Vice-President

THE THINKER

Hon. Suilama Hay Emhamed – 2nd Vice-President

PAN AFRICAN PARLIAMENT

Hon. Ashebir W. Gayo – 4th Vice-President

Pan African Parliament Gallagher Convention Centre Private Bag X16 Midrand 1685 Johannesburg South Africa Tel : +27 11 545 5000 www.pan-africanparliament.org

Hon. Loide Kasingo – 3rd VicePresident

Transformation The Assembly of Heads of States and Government at the recent June 2014 AU Summit in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, took an epoch making decision regarding the status of the PAP. The Assembly approved the transformation of PAP from an Advisory and Consultative Body to a continental legislative body with competence to make laws subject to the approval of the Assembly. The approval of the revised PAP protocol is, however, subject to the signing and ratification by the requisite number of states before coming into

force. The PAP will henceforth have the ability to contribute meaningfully to the economic integration process of the continent by providing the necessary legislative mechanisms and framework. 

Structure The highest decision-making organ of the PAP is in the Plenary Session. However, the main work which results in the decisions is performed by the 10 Permanent Committees, which meet to oversee the work of the AU. The Bureau of the PAP, which is responsible for the management of the Parliament, is composed of the President and four Vice-Presidents, who represent the five regions of Africa. The current President of the PAP is the Hon Bethel Nnaemeka Amadi,

from Nigeria. The First Vice President is the Hon Roger Nkodo Dang from Cameroon, the Second Vice President is the Hon Suilma Hay Emhamed Saleh from Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic, the Third Vice President is the Hon Loide Kasingo from Namibia and the Fourth Vice President is the Hon Dr Ashebir Woldegiorgis Gayo from Ethiopia. The Bureau is supported by a Secretariat comprising of permanent staff members drawn from all over Africa. The Head of the Secretariat is Adv Zwelethu Madasa from South Africa.

E AT I N G 1 0 Y

espite a restrictive mandate as an advisory and consultative body, the PAP is continuing to play a key role in promoting democracy, good governance and the harmonisation of laws on the continent. This will lead to more direct investment, development and prosperity for the peoples of Africa. The objectives of the PAP are mainly to promote the principles of human rights, democracy, good governance, peace and security. The PAP is also expected to promote collective selfreliance, strengthen continental solidarity and build a sense of common destiny among the peoples of Africa.

One Africa, One Voice

Adv Zwelethu Madasa – Clerk of PAP

Volume 62 / 2014

CREATIVE LENS

THROUGH A

CREATIVE

LENS

Neal Hall’s highly acclaimed first poetry collection Nigger for Life has won countless prizes. Interviewed at the Ubud Writers and Readers Festival in Bali, Dr Hall explained that he began writing poetry in his mid-30s after he realised that “everything I’d been taught was a lie.” After attending Cornell and Harvard and becoming an ophthalmic surgeon, he discovered that “I would always be judged by the color of my skin. Everything I did would be diminished because of that.” The poem reproduced below expresses Dr Hall’s belief that black Americans have not truly emerged from slavery and racial oppression; a viewpoint which has been reaffirmed by recent events in Ferguson, where outrage followed the unprovoked killing of yet another unarmed Afro-American by police in August, bringing the total to five within a month – in the context of statistics showing that between 2005 and 2012 two such killings happened every week.

By Neal Hall

THE THINKER

CREATIVE LENS

9-11, 24-7 For black Americans, 9-11 is 24-7, a labyrinth of terror buried beneath shallow words on revised pages of America’s iniquities dating back four hundred years, when blacks were snatched and kidnaped, ship jacked and hijacked to America’s labor and concentration camps to be bought and sold into unspeakable servitude on land we would come to lose ground to some lesser place and foreign cause.

ripped from the breasts of slave mothers sold into tortuous misery by those first families hooded in democracy.

For black Americans, 9-11 is 24-7,

Four hundred years and more of no reprieves, no parity, no sign of mercy, no justice, no relief in sight for us… … no world coalitions proffering UN resolutions for economic restitution…

… an endless cycle of America’s weapons of black destruction crashing and imploding, 24-7, into towering black hopes and aspirations… … a viciousness finding continuous momentum in prescribed brutality, administered 24-7, to infuse in us enough terror to keep us in a lesser place for economic gain. For black Americans, 9-11 is 24-7 Four hundred years and more of democratic sleight of hands, jiving and conniving, slipping and sliding across smoke and mirrors… … Jeffersonian poker face democracy bluffing its hand of freedom, always with the ace of tyranny concealed up its white sleeve to place race-based road blocks strategically on unpaved roads to nowhere to ensure that blacks get there… … discriminating mercenary legislative, judicial homicide beheading black men from the souls of black homes and families; cutting short the lives of one out of twenty black men imprisoned ten times the rate of white men’s crimes1 as a means of genteel genocide to keep us from finding from among us a deliverer to lead us from this lesser place… … a good old boy network of murder, rape and intimidation, torture, beatings and mutilation, social isolation and economic decimation to keep us enslaved children of slave children

For black Americans, 9-11 is four hundred years and more of America crashing and imploding, 24-7, into our towering black hopes and aspirations.

… no international peace keepers amassing at these plantation shores to destroy America’s weapons of mass black destruction… … no search and rescue teams to search and rescue us from the ruins of America’s racial injustice and exploitation… … no gathering dignitaries to raise our tattered black flag half-mast, found buried deep beneath the shallow hypocrisy on revising white pages of America’s history. … no 9-11 commission to investigate the disposition of 36 million2 holocaust victims swept quietly and anonymously under white stars and stripes forever. … no day and time set aside to memorialize four hundred 9-11s, each with nine thousand black men, women and children stacked black side up, black high to make easy America’s economic climb… … no marked graves black with names to fare - thee - well to distant sounds of tolling bells… … no heaven or hell to turn back or put back towering black hopes and aspirations snatched and kidnaped, ship jacked and hijacked. For black Americans, 9-11 is 24-7 Human Rights Watch - United States, Punishment and Prejudice: Racial disparities in the War on Drugs; www.hrw.org/campaigns/drugs/war/key-facts.htm African American History, Melba J. Duncan, Ch. 3, p. 31

Volume 62 / 2014

ÂŠ Shutterstock.com

READERS' FORUM

On minding your mind and language

By Mokubung Nkomo

THE THINKER

READERS' FORUM

few weeks ago I took a flight from OR Tambo International airport to Cape Town. Upon arrival I took a taxi to my destination, a journey that took approximately forty minutes. The taxi driver was a friendly, chatty forty-something fellow who seemed to enjoy his job. Throughout the trip he spoke without pause and my feeble efforts to interject were ineffectual. He spoke about the beauty of Cape Town and the hectic but fulfilling nature of his job. He regretted that he had not travelled widely in South Africa, had actually never ventured outside of the Western Cape and, sadly, had not experienced the beauty and variety of the country in its totality. Towards the end of the trip he shared his political views which seemed reasonable and perceptive until he talked about ‘tribal factions’ that, in his view, defined post-apartheid South Africa. I must confess this last part about the ‘tribal’ character of South African politics disturbed me immensely for several reasons, including the fact that no scientific study has been done to factually establish the claim – so it is a perception and anecdotal. This is not to deny that there is no ethnic chauvinism, ethnic entrepreneurship and ethnocentrism, but rather to remonstrate against the use of selfdenigrating language which suggests an underdeveloped political consciousness or mindset. What I wish to do is briefly comment on the designation, ‘tribe’. It is simply astounding that after two decades of democracy, emancipation from “mental slavery”, as Bob Marley would put it, has not been fully realised as evidenced by the sometimes use of offensive and selfdemeaning language. I have strong reason to believe that my otherwise astute taxi driver had picked up the word ‘tribe’ as it is used uncritically by some eminent statesmen, selfassured politicians, erudite academics, and astute commentators; individuals one would expect to have disciplined minds, sophisticated and discerning in the use of language. The use of ‘tribe’ gained currency during the colonial era and, in the case

of South Africa, was deepened by the apartheid system. Colonialism and apartheid in particular were systems with virulent totalitarian qualities; that is, they did not only impose themselves through coercive expropriation of land and general ownership of key sectors of the political economy, but also through other social and cultural devices to elicit acquiescence. A few quick examples should make the point. With the establishment of colonial empires it became imperative for the ‘mother country’ to differentiate itself from the colony. A raciallydifferentiated social architecture became necessary so as to assert the authority of the mother country. The superiority of the metropole had to be established if not by coercion then by persuasion. Thus, in general, kings and queens in the colonies had to be demoted to the status of chiefs because there could be only one king or queen who reigned supreme. Where the designations king or queen were allowed in the colonies it was with the understanding that they were subordinate and subject to the King and Queen in Belgium or England, for example. In the case of South Africa the nomenclature was cluttered including such derogatory words as Kaffirs, Natives, Bantus, Boesman, Koelies (and to be even-handed, but for a different reason, Boere, in contemporary South Africa). All of these were designed to demean and distort the identity of the oppressed. Thankfully these offensive terms have been decommissioned; but not so with ‘tribe’ which is as noxious as the aforementioned. Briefly then, emancipated people should not indulge in self-denigration. The social architecture of colonialism and apartheid required that a whole battalion of actors be enlisted in the implementation of the colonial or apartheid project. These came in the form of an administrative corps, missionaries, anthropologists, etc.; each playing a special role in a wholesome colonial/apartheid apparatus. It is the colonial anthropologists who are famed to have popularised the ‘tribal’ identity assigning it exclusively to communities in the colony with the ascribed attributes of backwardness, primitivity and underdevelopment. Notably,

they refrained from applying the same terminology when referring to social/ cultural groups in their own countries even though they may have had similar characteristics. It is in this regard that P T Zeleza, distilling the critique of postcolonial scholars about anthropology and other disciplines, refers to it as the “premier colonial science”. Of course you would once in a while encounter the use of ‘tribe’ to refer to white people. But such usage, as in ‘white tribe’, was a wily construction to give legitimacy to those so described; a construction that affords them exclusive proprietary rights to the African identity. Or, it is sometimes used as in a recent blog by Robert Reich titled, ‘The New Tribalism’, in which he states, “We are witnessing a reversion to tribalism around the world, away from nation states.” The point he makes is specifically to portray the current state of American politics as medieval. The use of ‘tribalism’ in this instance is intended to convey the nature of tribe as a backward condition that predates the modern democratic state that the United States is supposed to be. Freedom and democracy are not words exclusively confined to politics but, crucially, are fundamental concepts that require a comprehensive consciousness. One consequence of such a consciousness would be the conditioning of the mind to regulate itself in concert with values embedded in a democratic constitution. The right to dignity and unsoiled identity are the most relevant values in this instance. The mind and language then, should be instruments for the promotion of self-respect and dignity not only to oneself but to others as well. In short, minding our minds and language in our interaction within the public space would contribute immensely to a broader social consciousness so badly needed in our national development; including the taxi driver and those who pay attention to national conversations. Our state of mind and articulation need serious therapy.  Mokubung Nkomo is an unaffiliated retired professor and author of several papers and books on South African education.

Volume 62 / 2014

READERS' FORUM

A Living Wage and Class Struggle in South Africa

By Thabile Wonci

t is reported that the General Secretary of the ANC, Gwede Mantashe once said that South Africa is an ‘Irish-coffee society’ and went on to say that, “the black is at the bottom and white on top with a sprinkling of chocolate”. It is no exaggeration that black people are

THE THINKER

sadly still severely marginalised in our country, 20 years post-democracy. This helps us to understand the ongoing strikes in the mining sector and the protests and demonstrations in major cities of our country, infighting within the biggest trade union movement and apathy amongst trade unions, to

mention but a few areas of discontent. Conflicts between workers, regardless of their affiliation, typically reduce their collective bargaining strength as a class in the fight for better wages, improved living and working conditions. This therefore makes one wonder if class unity among workers

READERS' FORUM will ever be achieved in practice. At the same time, greater mobilisation of workers in their common economic conflict against employers is also often considered an effective barricade against ethnic conflict within the working class. I am raising all of this in the light of the ongoing public spat between COSATU and its biggest affiliate, NUMSA. Who benefits from a divided labour force? Employers! For the trade unions to effectively address the plight of the workers, they should be united and smoke from the same pipe. Yet, currently in our country we are witnessing attacks on one section of workers by another. These often seek to legitimise claims by dissident unions that the interests of the working class are not being advanced at all. Again, who benefits from all of this? Capital! We all know ‘capital’ for what it really is. As the General Secretary of NUMSA, Irvin Jim once said “capital knows no friend or relative; we know that the only thing it knows is profit maximisation”. I certainly believe that one of the primary objectives of the working class and trade unions in the economic conflict against employers or capital must be to ensure a greater surplus for workers. In South Africa, black workers under the apartheid regime proved to be a classic example of a segment in society that was systematically denied access to residential neighbourhoods and valuable public facilities, including security, that were available to other segments of the working class. Interestingly, a similar trend has become apparent in the postdemocratic era. This shameful trend is further supported by the ongoing strikes in the mining sector as well as the recent strikes by NUMSA workers. Why do companies opt to lose millions and/ or even billions of rands instead of giving workers ‘what is rightfully owed to them’, better living wages and working conditions? This can always be explained by the fact that owners of these companies want nothing but a hefty return on their investments. Shareholder wealth is the appropriate goal of a business firm in a capitalist society. In a capitalist society like South Africa, there is private ownership of goods and services by

individuals. Those individuals own the means of production to make money. This, in other words, means that the owners of the means of production care less about the real welfare of their workers than they do about maximising profits at all costs. While unions seek to enforce and expand the scope of the social wage, employers attempt to restrict or evade it, whether illegally or by utilising loopholes and ambiguities in legislation. Much of the day-to-day conflict between employers and unions takes the form of such contestation. With that said, it is clear that within the current existing structure of economic participation in our country, the poor will remain poorest, the less fortunate will get poorer and the uneducated will be hit hard too. Take Marikana for example, the living conditions

Why do companies opt to lose millions and/ or even billions of rands instead of giving workers ‘what is rightfully owed to them’, better living wages and working conditions? of the people in that area are utterly unbearable. Many families live so much on the knife edge that any slight increase in the price of food and other basic goods pushes them down to much deeper levels of poverty. This poverty that the working class faces can be successfully eradicated only by a united labour force. I strongly believe that if corporates could objectively and consciously strive towards improving the living conditions of their workforce, pay them humane wages, provide quality education and healthcare facilities for their families and better working conditions, then I have no doubt that these newly empowered citizens would display immeasurable levels of commitment. This state of affairs would make it possible for companies to maximise profits at the same time as taking good

care of the workforce. Today, in the trade union movement you see a lot of shady characters, political clowns, position seekers who masquerade as vanguards of the working class but in actual fact are bitter enemies of the struggle towards liberating the working class in our land. Their opulent lifestyles and appearance do not inspire any confidence that they still have the interest of the working class at heart. Similarly, these demagogues are detected by the strides that they take in their quest to weaken and undermine the political programme of their respective organisations. The real vanguards of the working class rally behind their movements, its decisions and policies in a disciplined manner. It is quite interesting to note that these political demagogues enjoy the support of the weak-willed and politically bankrupt elements. Sadly the presence of such elements in the trade union arena constitutes a serious threat to the struggle towards emancipating the working class in this country and weakens and undermines the political programme of their unions. It is the desire of each worker to earn a decent salary, enjoy humane working and living conditions and thoroughly provide for his/ her family and see his/ her children through higher education. Any elements that have made it their mission to undermine this noble desire are automatically positioning themselves outside their trade union structures and must be removed from office before they do further harm. The poor and the working class in our land longs for a strong and united trade union front which can effectively represent them and speak with one voice when facing capital or employers. I would like to encourage the working class to keep up the spirit of defiance against what they deem to be unacceptable compensation from their employers. With that said, I wish to plead with them to remain in the spirit of non-violence whilst making all their demands known. Everyone agrees that miners and their families live in abject poverty whilst their employers are raking in money. How do we therefore bridge this gap? Again, it requires a sound and solid, united trade movement front and that is what South Africa is longing for. 

Volume 62 / 2014

READERS' FORUM

EBOLA

A Threat to International Peace and Security

By D. Elwood Dunn

THE THINKER

READERS' FORUM

he people of Liberia and the West African region face an existential threat. The threat has implications beyond the sub-region and the African continent. The Ebola crisis constitutes a threat to international peace and security. It is far past time for the world community to step up its engagement from a “public health emergency of international concern” to a Chapter Seven Mandate to “Deliver as One.” The evidence of the threat is abundant since the Ebola outbreak began making headlines worldwide a few months ago – the unfolding drama in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea with the decimation of large population segments, destruction of cherished human values, human insecurity on an unprecedented scale, including the absence of medical attention to non-Ebola ailments. Add to this the potential that if unchecked in time the virus could mutate, become transmissible and present a clearer and more present danger. Already some have begun to speak of a shift from linear growth to exponential, citing possibilities of 20,000 to 100,000 casualties in the months immediately ahead. Led by the international scientific community, notably Médecins Sans Frontières, the U.S. Centres for Disease Control and the National Institutes of Health, among others, the nature of the disease has been focused and treatment requirements made clear. Even more, a host of private and governmental personnel is in the fields battling the disease and its devastating consequences for the affected populations now bearing the brunt. If one can speak of a measure of progress registered in the fight by national, regional and global actors, it is equally clear that the opportunities of this challenge loom large. The small battles won (cases of recovery and the continuing efforts being deployed) have yet to add up, to make a significant dent in this devastating war. There are encouraging headlines such as “Obama Commits ‘Military Assets’ for Ebola Health Care Surge,” “Italy Aids Ebola Fight – Sends Mobile Lab Team, Food, Drugs,” “EU announces 140 million Euros Ebola Response Package.” All of

this in addition to reported plane loads of supplies arriving from China, from the U.S. and elsewhere in the world. A few weeks ago the UN Secretary General named Dr David Navarro, a British Physician, as his Special Envoy to West Africa with a mandate to stop the spread of the disease. No doubt serious work is underway to which we are not privy. What seems clear, however, is that the impact of that work has yet to be felt on the ground if one judges from the alarming reports pouring in daily, including a warning from the WHO that thousands of new cases will come to light in the coming weeks. While Liberians and West Africans appreciate the “international public health emergency” measure that Dr Navarro’s mandate is addressing, developments in the fields, among the populations in the affected West African countries require a ratcheting up of efforts [to obtain] a Chapter 7 Mandate with a UN Security Council Resolution declaring the Ebola situation a threat to international peace and security and calling forth the requisite measures to contain the threat. Here is what this would mean: 1. That the national and regional efforts would benefit from a more robust global effort underpinned by political commitment at the highest level, including the possible re-activation of the civil war-era International Contact Group on Liberia (ICGL) to lead and monitor implementation of the Security Council Resolution; 2. Robust command and control infrastructure replete with an epidemic response force comparable to UNMIL at the height of its operations in the country, as opposed to its current drawdown posture; 3. The “Deliver as One” doctrine would enable decision-making and implementation mechanisms that would gather all of the pieces of the international effort and direct them to the goal of reversing the current trend of spread of the disease; 4. Envisage a division of labour where appropriate assets could be brought to bear in particular circumstance. For example, given the historic

role of the US in Liberia, it would play certain central roles, as would Britain in the case of Sierra Leone. 5. Such highly coordinated actions by governments and governmental organisations could lead to change in behaviour of the international private sector such as the airlines industry, the shipping industry, even expert workers engaged in foreign direct investment activities in the affected countries. The thrust of what I am suggesting is that the global community would – in a more supportive role, backstopping governments and regional organisations – be delivering as one. We appeal to African leaders of conscience, African leaders of earned credibility to step forward and make this happen. I have in mind nongovernment leaders taking the lead in exciting action on part of global leaders through the instrumentality of the United Nations. These include, but are not limited to, former Nigerian Presidents Abdulsalam Alhaji Abubakar and Olusegun Obasanjo, former South African President Thabo Mbeki, former Mozambique President Joaquim Chissano, former U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, Philanthropist Mo Ibrahim, Nelson Mandela’s widow, Graca Machel, Bishop Desmond Tutu, and our own Nobel Laureate Leymah Gbowee. What this means is nothing short of a coordinated effort at national, regional and global levels driven by the need to “deliver as one.” This is not “outsourcing” of national responsibility. This is the nation and the region availing themselves of critical international collaborative crisis leadership. For after all, when the crisis subsides, it will be national governments and their peoples who will remain to pick up the pieces as they learn lessons from this horrific experience. And the world community would have contributed to saving the lives of many West Africans while averting the prospect of the Ebola virus mutating, becoming transmissible, and therefore posing even greater threats to international peace and security.  D. Elwood Dunn is a former Foreign Minister of Liberia

Volume 62 / 2014

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2014/09/11

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