South Africans Must Re-Define Themselves As Africans: Bapela
By Amukelani Chauke - SA News
South Africans need to re-define themselves as part of the continent to promote unity and root out xenophobia.
In an interview with SAnews on Saturday, Obed Bapela, the Deputy
Minister in the Presidency: Performance, Monitoring and Evaluation, also
said that while a lot of progress has been made in bringing about
development in Africa, there are still challenges and bottlenecks that
deprive the continent of peace and prosperity for its people.
Bapela said this as the continent celebrated the annual Africa Day,
which also marked the 50th anniversary of the Organisation of African
Union (OAU), now known as the African Union (AU).
Speaking after attending Africa Day celebrations in Mpumalanga,
Bapela said the days of South Africans defining themselves as
non-Africans should be a thing of the past.
“I think it is very important really for South Africans to start re-defining ourselves to as to who we are.
“We are first Africans and then South Africans. It cannot be the
other way round. South Africa is a country within the continent of
Africa.
“It is here, we are connected and we are part of the continent
because you here when a person goes to visit either Kenya or Uganda, you
hear them saying ‘I’m going to Africa’ as if he or she is not staying
in African soil.
“We are part of the continent, we are part of the 54 nations of the
African Union and we will forever be part of it because history, plus
geography and nature [makes us part] of this continent,” he said.
Root out xenophobic attacks
Bapela said South Africans should play a central role to boot xenophobia out of the continent.
In May 2008, disturbing visuals of a Mozambican national Ernisto
Nhamuave being burnt to death at the height of xenophobic attacks at the
Ramaphosa informal settlement in Ekurhuleni shocked the world.
Several others also lost their lives in the attacks, that spread
throuhgout the country after they reportedly started in the Alexandra
township in northern Johannesburg.
Bapela said South Africans should work towards promoting solidarity.
“Let’s also talk about xenophobic attacks in our situations, what’s
sparking them. What are the issues that make us not to talk as Africans
because we are all Africans.
“Because the victims are only African foreign nationals, other
foreign nationals from other continents such as Asia and Europe are not
being affected by these xenophobic attacks.
“So let’s then begin to reflect in that redefinition of ourselves of
Africans of South African origin. I think the sooner that consciousness
and awareness grows amongst us, I think the environment will also be
better.”
Vision 2063: Africa to develop after civil wars
Despite Africa being the second-most growing economy in the World
after Asia, boasting mineral-rich soil that has attracted foreign
investment, the continent challenges related to poverty and unemployment
continue to strangle its people.
With South Africa emerging as a global economic player having
affirmed its position within the BRICS countries, education and
unemployment remains a primary concern in the country.
Other African states struggle to grow their economies due to civil
wars brought about by rebellious acts from armed forces gunning to
overthrow their governments.
Heads of states from 54 AU member countries are currently meeting in
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to hold the 21st Ordinary Session of the Assembly
of the African Union.
The meeting coincides with Africa Day celebrations under the theme: 2013, Year of Pan-Africanism and African Renaissance.
The AU is chaired by former Home Affairs minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma.
Dlamini-Zuma told a meeting of African foreign minister in Addis
Ababa that while progress has been made to bring prosperity in Africa in
the past decade, this had not translated into rapid social
transfortaion.
Bapela said he agreed with Dlamini-Zuma’s views.
“Definitely there are successes but still we have a lot of
challenges. We are in a continent that was colonised for over 300 years.
“While the continent has now found freedom for every nation except
Western Sahara, the issue of development now is the biggest challenge
that is facing the continent.
“For example there is no peace as yet achieved in quite a number of
African countries. We talk of Somali, we talk of the Democratic Republic
of Congo, we talk of Guinea-Bissau where there was a coup d’état. So
stability and peace have really been the issues that we have had to
grapple with.”
Bapela said the vision of the AU Commission for the next 50 years was
to rid the continent of all this problems and invest in education to
deal with youth unemployment, and to invest in the continent’s
infrastructure to promote inter-connectivity between African countries.
“The connectivity we are talking about will be in a form of telecommunications that includes broadband.
“It is also rail connectivity because when you look at the rail
system in Africa, from the North there is rail, from the South there is
rail but somewhere in the middle towards Central Africa Republic and
others, those rails are not connected at all.
“Roads also are not fully connected and as a result, trade amongst
states is still limited because of the infrastructure connectivity that
is not there.
“The airport airlines are not yet fully connected, and we still have
to travel to another country in Europe in order to connect to an African
country.
