This is an unedited version of an article that was published on Wednesday, May 29, 2013, by the Times of Swaziland under the ''As I See It'' column.
By Vusi Sibisi
Last weekend African leaders descended on
Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, to celebrate 50 years of the founding of
the Organisation of African Unity, which played a significant role in the
continent’s struggle for liberation from colonialism.
The Organisation of African Unity (OAU) was
replaced by the African Union (AU) at the dawn of the 21st century,
a significant milestone that also should have heralded a new era of renewal
and, by progression, an era of hope and actualization. But ultimately, was the
OAU as successful as it is made out to be and was therefore befitting to be
celebrated in the manner and scale it was in Addis Ababa over the weekend?
Better still, has liberation from colonialism transformed into real political
freedom for the rank and file of the people of Africa?
Paradoxically Africa, under the watch of
the OAU, became synonymous with coups d’état, tyrants and tyranny, dictators
and dictatorships, poverty and disease.
As I see it, yes, the OAU did deliver uhuru
on the continent but that is as far as liberating the continent from
colonialism is concerned. But for millions of Africans political independence
remained, and still remains, a mirage. Liberation from colonialism merely signaled
the changing of the guard wherein the departing colonial masters were replaced
by indigenous regimes that were by far oppressive relative to the former
colonizers. Attesting to this fact is that many of the institutions - including
oppressive laws - that were exclusively created by the colonial masters to keep
the natives in their place largely remained intact in post-colonial Africa and
were routinely used and abused by the new indigenous leaderships to oppress
their people.
To this day this continent is punctuated by
pockets of countries where a host of colonial laws exclusively created to
oppress the indigenous peoples remain in force. A typical example of these is,
of course, the Kingdom of eSwatini, which still has remnants of offensive
colonial laws in its statutes such as the notorious Public Order Act of 1963
that was recently unleashed during workers May Day celebrations. The import of
this law was and is to deny civil liberties to the indigenous population and,
as can be expected, it is still used exactly for that purpose to this day
notwithstanding that this country now has a constitution that contains a
comprehensive Bill of Rights guaranteeing all civil liberties.
For many millions of Africans across the
continent liberation from colonialism has meant very little because they remain
under bondage of a new kind from their own leaderships. The promise of a new
dawn in which everyone would be equal before the law and to pursue a life of
happiness and fulfillment has remained just that, a promise that has never been
fulfilled. The shortcoming of the OAU was its inadequacy in correcting or
vilifying errant post-colonial African leaders who became worse dictators than
their departed colonial predecessors.
Civil wars and mass butchering of people perceived
to be opposed to the leadership of the day became the order of the day. Post
colonial African leaders controlled their economies as their exclusive private
domains such that they, and their cronies, became wealthier while their nations
were ravaged by a vicious cycle of poverty and disease. Unfortunately this
remains the case to date in some of those countries that have become islands of
dictatorship in a sea of democracy.
Seemingly the OAU was impotent to do
anything about the rot visited by degenerate leaders. But then again who was
the OAU but the very leaders who so much cherished political power to the
extent of making themselves indispensable on the grounds that their nations
owed them a debt for having led them to liberation from colonial power.
Sovereignty was the simple defence they would use to defend their excesses,
abuse of political power and persecution of their own in the event anyone
enquired of their actions.
Is it not ironic that the seat of the OAU
remained in Ethiopia even under one of Africa’s worst dictatorships under
Emperor Haile Selassie and long after his deposition by yet another tin-pot
dictator in Mengistu Haile Mirriam, last known to be holed in Zimbabwe under
the protection of that country’s president Robert Gabriel Mugabe?
Significantly, while leaders of dictatorial regimes amassed and shipped untold
wealth abroad, the continent transformed into the world’s worst basket case
irrespective of its massive resources, surviving on handouts from erstwhile
colonial masters and the rest of the world. Not surprisingly, not much has
changed even under the new order of the AU. The culture of democracy has
remained rather elusive to this day with no cogent turn-about on the part of
the renewed continental body to isolate and bring to order errant leaders that
are cancerous to Africa’s collective conscience.
While sovereignty remains a licence for
errant leaders to rule their countries as their private fiefdoms, these leaders
often defend themselves and their legacies by pointing fingers elsewhere,
particularly on former colonial powers, for their failures. Talk is always
about the need to develop strong intra-African trade, including the processing
of the continent’s vast raw and natural resources, especially minerals, to add
value. However, there is little happening practically on the ground to suggest
any seriousness and commitment on the part of our leaders. In the meantime they
are in the forefront in facilitating ship-loads of natural resources being
exported elsewhere often for their own benefit while the majority of their
people are left to scavenge.
As I see it, the economic development of
the continent can only materialize through real political independence of the
people from the common enemy, which is dictatorship. This is the challenge
facing the AU in the next 50 years, liberating Africa from African dictatorships
instead of playing the blame game on former colonial powers. The power is
within Africa to make it happen for Africans but this would require a resolute and
selfless leadership and active participation of the people who have largely
remained voiceless and insignificant stowaways in their own affairs.
No comments:
Post a Comment