Opinion / Columnist
Africa must take on West over Mugabe
22 Aug 2013 at 08:43hrs | Views
PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe's landslide victory in Zimbabwe's July 31 elections might have put the West in a spot, but it is Africa that has a hotter potato to handle. The US refuses to accept the result while the European Union (EU) remarked that the elections were "broadly peaceful" but did not go the full distance and accept them.
A number of western countries, former British colonies Australia and Canada, took a harder line and denounced the elections. The African Union (AU) and the Southern African Development Community (Sadc) have endorsed the poll. Fortunately for the continent, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), which ran against Mugabe and challenged the outcome, has withdrawn the objection it had lodged with the Zimbabwean high court.
The West must be wringing its hands as it now has nothing to hang on to.
We now have a situation in which the West is against the outcome while Africa endorses it. Thus at the weekend Sadc rightfully demanded that the West lift sanctions against Zimbabwe so that the country can start on the road to national reconstruction. This is another test for Africa ' if it fails to get Europe to lift the sanctions, it will once more have egg on its face. Thus the AU and Sadc should not just be asking the West to lift sanctions ' it should say what it will do if the sanctions are not lifted. Until Africa shows its mettle regarding its economies and the integrity of its decisions, very few Africans will have faith in the continent's leadership.
Africa has signed a number of economic accords, the latest being the New Partnership for Africa's Development (Nepad). These included the Lagos Plan of Action (1980), the Final Act of Lagos (1980), Africa's Priority Programme for Economic Recovery (1986-90), the African Alternative Framework to Structural Adjustment Programme (1989), the African Charter for Popular Participation in Development and Transformation (1990), the Abuja Treaty (1991) and the Cairo Agenda (1994) among others. Nepad admits Africa is littered with the failures of these accords, the ills of the structural adjustment programmes of modernisation and fluctuating economies when other regions, such as Asia and parts of South America are on the up. It argues that "a new breed of African leaders had entered the 21st century with proclamations of a rebirth for Africa".
In fact, Nepad is the result of three parallel initiatives. The first, the Millennium Africa Recovery Plan (MAP), led by president Thabo Mbeki, was unveiled at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January 2001. The second initiative was the Omega Plan, crafted by the former president of Senegal, Abdoulaye Wade, and presented to the summit of Francophone African leaders in Cameroon in January 2001. MAP and the Omega Plan were combined to give birth to a third plan, the New African Initiative that led to Nepad in 2001.
Unfortunately, Africa wants Europe to come to the party ' but Europe has let Africa down time and again. After all, what Africa has in mind does not correlate with what Europe wants. The situation in Zimbabwe, with Africa on the moral high ground now that the MDC's Morgan Tsvangirai has accepted defeat, provides the continent with an opportunity to assert its authority. However, as the West wants results and policies that suit it, it is likely to continue to refuse to recognise the Zimbabwe poll. This happened in the Palestinian elections when Hamas won. To this day most western countries simply do not recognise that government.
Even their development aid to Africa has strings attached ' it is more about the interests of the giver than those of the recipient. Bilateral relations are also structured in such a way that the interests of the western countries are protected rather than those of the developing world. This has resulted in numerous formations of countries in the developing world to stem this trend: Brazil, Russia, India, China and SA (Brics) being the latest.
Africa must show what it is made of if the EU and US refuse to recognise the new Mugabe government. I desperately hope that our leaders will rise up to the occasion; just as some did when they refused to arrest Sudan's Omar al-Bashir for war crimes as demanded by the International Court of Justice, when he visited their countries. Let us stand our ground.
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Mazwai is resident executive at the Wits Business School and is a consultant on small business development.
A number of western countries, former British colonies Australia and Canada, took a harder line and denounced the elections. The African Union (AU) and the Southern African Development Community (Sadc) have endorsed the poll. Fortunately for the continent, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), which ran against Mugabe and challenged the outcome, has withdrawn the objection it had lodged with the Zimbabwean high court.
The West must be wringing its hands as it now has nothing to hang on to.
We now have a situation in which the West is against the outcome while Africa endorses it. Thus at the weekend Sadc rightfully demanded that the West lift sanctions against Zimbabwe so that the country can start on the road to national reconstruction. This is another test for Africa ' if it fails to get Europe to lift the sanctions, it will once more have egg on its face. Thus the AU and Sadc should not just be asking the West to lift sanctions ' it should say what it will do if the sanctions are not lifted. Until Africa shows its mettle regarding its economies and the integrity of its decisions, very few Africans will have faith in the continent's leadership.
Africa has signed a number of economic accords, the latest being the New Partnership for Africa's Development (Nepad). These included the Lagos Plan of Action (1980), the Final Act of Lagos (1980), Africa's Priority Programme for Economic Recovery (1986-90), the African Alternative Framework to Structural Adjustment Programme (1989), the African Charter for Popular Participation in Development and Transformation (1990), the Abuja Treaty (1991) and the Cairo Agenda (1994) among others. Nepad admits Africa is littered with the failures of these accords, the ills of the structural adjustment programmes of modernisation and fluctuating economies when other regions, such as Asia and parts of South America are on the up. It argues that "a new breed of African leaders had entered the 21st century with proclamations of a rebirth for Africa".
In fact, Nepad is the result of three parallel initiatives. The first, the Millennium Africa Recovery Plan (MAP), led by president Thabo Mbeki, was unveiled at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January 2001. The second initiative was the Omega Plan, crafted by the former president of Senegal, Abdoulaye Wade, and presented to the summit of Francophone African leaders in Cameroon in January 2001. MAP and the Omega Plan were combined to give birth to a third plan, the New African Initiative that led to Nepad in 2001.
Unfortunately, Africa wants Europe to come to the party ' but Europe has let Africa down time and again. After all, what Africa has in mind does not correlate with what Europe wants. The situation in Zimbabwe, with Africa on the moral high ground now that the MDC's Morgan Tsvangirai has accepted defeat, provides the continent with an opportunity to assert its authority. However, as the West wants results and policies that suit it, it is likely to continue to refuse to recognise the Zimbabwe poll. This happened in the Palestinian elections when Hamas won. To this day most western countries simply do not recognise that government.
Even their development aid to Africa has strings attached ' it is more about the interests of the giver than those of the recipient. Bilateral relations are also structured in such a way that the interests of the western countries are protected rather than those of the developing world. This has resulted in numerous formations of countries in the developing world to stem this trend: Brazil, Russia, India, China and SA (Brics) being the latest.
Africa must show what it is made of if the EU and US refuse to recognise the new Mugabe government. I desperately hope that our leaders will rise up to the occasion; just as some did when they refused to arrest Sudan's Omar al-Bashir for war crimes as demanded by the International Court of Justice, when he visited their countries. Let us stand our ground.
---------
Mazwai is resident executive at the Wits Business School and is a consultant on small business development.
Source - www.bdlive.co.za
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