Madam Speaker, hon members, distinguished guests, friends and comrades, it is hot here. You can feel that.
Yebo, kuyashisa. Kushisiswa yini. [Yes, it is hot. But, what makes it hot?]
The debate on its own is proving to us that it is the other way round. The topic says "Acting in Unity in Pursuit of Peace, Development and Social Justice", and it is what we have been seeing and not in this House only. I am saying that to talk about our own continent while we are inside its boundaries is something which not everybody is lucky enough to be able to do.
I would like to thank the Office of the Chief Whip that informed me yesterday afternoon that I will be participating in this event. Celebrating Africa Day to me means celebrating the whole package of good, as well as bad happenings of the past, present and those we will be faced with in the future.
This opportunity for today is opening my eyes to the following things: Within 10 minutes, you cannot define Africa Day; within 10 minutes you cannot give your colleagues the history of Africa; someone will have to do it on another day, when we really celebrate Africa Day as a parliament in Africa. As for what is happening now in some parts of Africa, particularly in the SADC region, we cannot be celebrating it. Somebody will have to talk and analyse this sudden burst of thunder.
We finally have to live up to each of the tasks of identifying those issues, if they do exist - those that unite in pursuit of peace, development and social justice - from this speech that I will be delivering. Identify it on your own at home, here with your family.
In doing so, I have decided to make use of the fallen hero of our soil, Steven Bantu Biko as my shield and my blanket to cover all of our African brothers, African sisters, our parents, our grandparents, Africa's rivers, Africa's valleys, Africa's mountains, fountains, rains, the forest, the crocodiles and the dangerous as well as friendly animals, hiding in the rocks and hillocks of our continent to name but a few.
I am using Steven Bantu Biko to cover all of them. To dedicate this celebration, I will allow his own words to directly celebrate with us. I am going to request you to keep quiet. You can talk with your mouth, but to yourself. You should keep quiet and pretend as if Steve Biko is here with us and he is talking. If you love nature and you have been to a waterfall, just imagine you are at that water fall but there is no waterfalling, only Steve Biko's voice flowing saying:
One of the most difficult things to do these days is to talk with authority on anything to do with African culture. Somehow Africans are not expected to have any deep understanding of their own culture or even themselves. Other people have become authorities on all aspects of the African life or, to be more accurate, on Bantu life. Thus we have the thickest of volumes on some of the strangest subjects - even the feeding habits of the urban Africans, a publication by a fairly ``liberal'' group, the Institute of Race Relations.
He continues to say:
In my opinion it is not necessary to talk with Africans about African culture. However, in the light of the above statements, one realises that there is so much confusion sown, not only amongst casual non-African readers, but even amongst Africans themselves, that perhaps a sincere attempt should be made at emphasising the authentic cultural aspects of the African people by Africans themselves.
He continues again to say:
Since that unfortunate date - 1652 - we have been experiencing a process of acculturation. It is perhaps presumptuous to call it ``acculturation'' because this term implies a fusion of different cultures. In our case this fusion has been extremely one-sided. The two major cultures that met and "fused" were the African culture and the Anglo-Boer culture. Whereas the African culture was unsophisticated and simple, the Anglo-Boer culture had all the trappings of a colonialist culture and therefore was heavily equipped for conquest. Where they could, they conquered by persuasion, using a highly exclusive religion that denounced all other Gods and demanded a strict code of behaviour with respect to clothing, education, ritual and custom. Where it was impossible to convert, firearms where readily available and used to advantage. Hence the Anglo- Boer culture was the more powerful culture in almost all facets. This is where the African began to lose a grip on himself and his surroundings.
You can come back now from your valley where you have been listening to the water called Steve Biko talking to us about Africa Day. This is the book he called I Write What I Like. This is not him now; it is me. When we celebrate Africa Day, we should be able to successfully monitor how far we have shifted as Africans from what the late Steve Biko said before he died at the age of 30. We should be able to see and plan carefully as to how best we can add more value towards him and others whom he worked and finally died for.
This topic, its content and its implementation ... iyasetshenzelwa. Lolu xolo esikhuluma ngalo awulutholi uhlezi lapha emabhentshini futhi ubanga umsindo. Uyithola ngokuthi uye kubantu base-Afrika ... [... are worked for. This peace that we are talking about is not achieved by merely sitting there on the benches and making noise. You get it by going out to the people of Africa ...]
Who are both black and white. Hence we call them Afrikaners because they are Africans.
Uyaluthola ngokuthi uhambe uyosebenza; ungakhulumi ngalo lapha. [You get it by going out to work and not just by talking about it whilst you are sitting here.]
We should be able to see and plan carefully as to how best we can add more value to it. We are in Africa. Therefore, the celebration of Africa Day annually has to have its own committee that will ensure that the whole gallery of a parliament in Africa in Cape Town depicts the practical reality of Africa in its totality. Even the food from our restaurants in Parliament should also celebrate Africa Day on that day. I was eating there; there was nothing African about the food. When we want to create jobs in an African Parliament that is situated at the tip of Africa that is regarded to have resources, we should create jobs for people who are going to cook African food for us on Africa Day - potjiekos and breyani - and then we can talk on this good topic of "Acting in Unity in Pursuit of Peace, Development and Social Justice.
We really thank everyone for coming today. I hope the Africans that are sleeping peacefully are hearing us as we try to celebrate Africa Day.
Mayibuye i-Afrika! [Let Africa come back! [Applause.]
Chairperson, this year's Africa Day on Sunday is the 45th anniversary of the inauguration of the Organisation of African Unity, OAU, in 1963, representing the institutionalization of Pan-African ideals. Nearly a half a century later, there are reasons to celebrate as Africans but there is also a need to be realistic about the enormous challenges facing our continent.
First, the fact of Africa Day is itself a cause for celebration. The OAU's successor organisation, the African Union, AU, was born nearly six years ago on South African soil and this is a timely reminder that all South Africans and indeed all Africans have a lot to be proud of.
Firstly we have made great strides towards Pan-Africanism through the establishment of the Pan-African Parliament, again an establishment which resides on South African soil. While there are problems with resourcing and this is still just a consultative body it is a step forward.
Secondly, the fact that the AU has adopted a much more interventionist stance through its legal framework and institutions is a sign of growing maturity. For example, the AU's Peace and Security Council established in 2004 has facilitated the AU's ability to manage and resolve conflicts on the continent and there is certainly a plethora of those - but that belongs to the bad news that I will get to later on. Peace-building interventions include Burundi and Dafur and Somalia.
That the AU has introduced a mechanism for Africa to set standards of governance for itself through the African Peer Review Mechanism is a further sign of our increasing maturity. More and more African states are embracing the notion that accountability and transparency are essential features of democratic government. It is still early days to declare these achievements as a watershed for Africa's ability to adhere to good governance but these are good signs. We can only hope that there will be growing support and participation for the ARPM.
On the economic front there is much to celebrate in terms of a number of economic and political developments of importance to the economic wellbeing of Africa. For example, last year, the World Bank committed US$34,3 billion to 620 projects in African countries designed to overcome poverty and enhance growth. On average, African countries experienced a growth rate of 5,4% last year. According to the World Bank, this will have a significant impact on poverty reduction on the continent.
The growth is likely to extend for the next two years and the African Development Bank notes that "the rate of GDP growth is expected to strengthen to about 6% during this year. However African countries still need massively more investment to improve the lot of the 40% of the sub- Saharan population who still lives on US$ 1 a day. President Thabo Mbeki's positive role in trying to persuade the G2O countries to make the policies of the International Monetary Fund, IMF, and World Bank more pro-poor and Africa-friendly should not go unnoticed.
In central Africa, the relaunched Burundi/Rwanda/DRC economic bloc should be a key step in restoring peace and stability to this region. This spirit of economic unity must be sustained to help Africa overcome the economic and social hardships that are still prominent in so many African countries.
With the first ever Fifa Soccer World Cup to be hosted on African soil within reach, it is expected that the continent will register greater levels of economic prosperity in the years to come. We all have a duty to ensure that the image of our country and our continent improves and, unfortunately, this is where the bad news comes in.
This debate is being held against a backdrop of an international media- feeding frenzy over the xenophobic attacks which started in Alexandra township and are now taking place around the country, though mostly in Gauteng. To see our own country erupt into the bloodiest violence against humanity that was last seen during apartheid is a shaming experience. It is embarrassing that, as we celebrate Africa Day, there are people out there killing our brothers and sisters from neighbouring countries.
From the start, the DA advocated that the SA National Defence Force, SANDF, be called in to assist the police to quell the violence and distribute humanitarian aid to victims, and we are glad that the President has at last listened. We can only hope that the violence can be smothered in a security blanket to give us time to return to normality and introduce much-needed measures to combat xenophobia.
Despite economic progress, on the political front in Africa things are not well. Within the past five months, the continent has had two elections which have resulted in bloodshed and violence and torture for those who voted against the government in power. In Kenya, more than 1 000 people were killed in post-election violence. In Zimbabwe, up to 300 people are believed to have been killed while hundreds have been injured in violent attacks for voting for the party of their choice.
The Mugabe government's shenanigans around both the election and the release of the results has done nothing for Africa's image, let alone our own as we have been seen to have failed to take a tough line against a rogue regime. At last, however, the Zuma faction in the ANC seems to have found its voice with Dr Pallo Jordan saying:
If Zanu-PF has lost the confidence of a substantial number of the citizens of that country, such that the only means by which it can win elections is either by intimidating the people or otherwise rigging them, it has only itself to blame.
And no one should sympathise or support its mischievous tricks.
The problems that destabilize the continent are entrenched by the failure of fellow African countries to take a strong stance against the injustices of autocratic regimes like Mugabe's government. SADC did not act in "Unity in Pursuit of Peace, Development and Social Justice" as the title of today's debate suggests, and particularly in the case of Zimbabwe.
We must combat the disillusionment that has long been associated with our continent and show by example that there is more to Africa than internecine wars, high child mortality rates, high rape and HIV rates, low longevity and high unemployment. Allowing violent xenophobic attacks and tolerating violent despotic regimes like Mugabe's are certainly not helpful in this connection. Thank you.
Chairperson, when the land is in turmoil, nations gripped with fear and hostilities, where confusion threatens to reign supreme and the pangs of poverty wreak havoc throughout the African nations, then in what form do you celebrate Africa Day? What is your message to the people?
Speaking in this House against xenophobic and criminal violence affecting parts of our county, the hon Bapela, among other things, said, "We want to assure our African brothers and sisters that our resolve for Africa's prosperity remains solid." Noble as that may be - which I believe is noble - we now need to pause for a moment to reflect on this resolution and our African agenda. Is it finding place in the African soul and identity? Is it finding resonance with the African dream championed by Nkrumah, Azikiwe, Padmore, Du Bois, Lumumba, Luthuli and Sobukwe? They dreamt and struggled for an independent, sovereign Africa, liberated from ethnic wars, poverty ignorance, disease, underdevelopment and disunity.
If our African agenda is right as it should be, our dreams noble, then why the neverending sobs and tears of the African child in South Africa, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Darfur and almost the rest of the continent?
African historians and writers argue that the African predicament is largely the result of leaders of the independent Africa emulating colonial administrators and governors, pursuing similar autocratic and corrupt practices, encouraging divisiveness and ethnic conflicts and supporting arms and drug trafficking.
It is therefore right and proper for Africans today to want to celebrate the African quest for peace, for self-discovery, self-love and acceptance, self-reliance and self-healing from the painful convulsions of the African soul. While celebrating Africa Day, the continent may want to heed the words of Kofi Awunoor when he wrote:
Our continent, the beggar continent of the new millennium, has become a plague unto itself. The cure of our ailments lies with us, and no one else.
We have pleaded alibis for too long. Our plight is our responsibility and ours alone. No one, other than Africa, can cure or feed Africa. No one, other than Africa, can educate Africa. No one, other than Africa, can develop Africa. That stark fact must be the first proposal upon which all of us, Africans at home and abroad, agree; we must draw up a new agenda, taking into account our present predicament.
Thank you.
Chairperson, Africa Day should be an occasion to celebrate our glorious continent, to take stock of what we have achieved and what we still need to do to make Africa a better place for all our people. As we emerge from histories of oppression and colonialism, we clearly have many challenges to deal with. The crisis in Zimbabwe and the wave of xenophobia that has surged through South Africa is obviously high on our agenda right now.
As African leaders, we need to ask what we can do, not just about the current problems but also about the challenges we face more broadly. The ID believes that part of our problem is due to our lack of unity. What are we as leaders therefore doing to promote respect, understanding and tolerance amongst the people of Africa?
Ten years ago, I had the privilege of travelling the length and breadth of Africa and I visited more than half the countries on this continent. During my travels I was struck by the enormous humanity of people, many of whom are being forced to find ways for surviving under the turmoil of natural disasters, conflicts and parasitic governments.
This is quite literally a continent on the move where survival often requires people to travel thousands of kilometres from their homes. We need to recognise this and, in the spirit of ubuntu, embrace each other with solidarity and humanity. Through greater unity I am certain we will be able to overcome all our present challenges and see Africa rise again. Thank you.
Chairperson, the ACDP acknowledges Africa Day, on 25 May, as a day inspired by the popular struggle of African people throughout the world to free themselves from oppression and exploitation with a focus on the plight of continental Africa today. This is a day when we as African people can unite in contemplation of our united history, heritage, cultures and challenges.
How sad that Africa Day in South Africa this year is celebrated against a backdrop of violent attacks against fellow Africans who find themselves in South Africa, hoping to escape difficult and even tragic circumstances in their own countries. People with dreams, feelings, families; people who simply want the same thing we want.
The first democratic elections in South Africa, in 1994, introduced a new democracy that has been heralded internationally as a miracle transition. The multiracial dispensation that replaced apartheid has done much to address the legacy of a racially divided past, yet discriminatory attitudes and practices continue to manifest themselves not only in historically familiar divisions but also in new forms of identity-based violence like xenophobia.
Xenophobia is not a new phenomenon in South Africa, writes David Mwanambuyu from Cape Town:
As a Zambian national, whose country not only sheltered ANC leaders but committed enormous resources to help liberate our "brothers and sisters" in South Africa, I am shattered by the current wave of xenophobia among impoverished communities.
On my part, I have decided to do something about it.
Peace, development and social justice must begin in our own back yards and every one of us is individually responsible.
Sadly, South Africa, SADC and tha African Union, AU, all stand as very poor examples of a caring Africa. Their rejection of the people of Zimbabwe has cast yet another shadow over this day. Thank you.
Chairperson, on Africa Day we must celebrate the achievements of Africa and its people. Last week I attended a conference in Brussels at the European Parliament. I had just finished my speech there and had just told them how proud an African I was and how we were busy solving our problems when the first terrible pictures of people being killed in South Africa were broadcasted. I had to try and explain what is happening in my country because they did not understand. What a sad time to celebrate Africa Day.
Sir, white racism is condemned by the FF Plus. But we also condemn black racism and xenophobia. As long as articles are written, like the one recently in the City Press, for example, that African people cannot be racist but only white people can be, then we are not realistic about South Africa and Africa's problems. What we see presently is blatant black racism and xenophobia in Africa and South Africa. Mr Mandela spoke to this Parliament on 10 May 2004 and said that a guiding principle for him in his life has been that there are good men and women to be found in all groups and from all sectors of society, and that in an open and free society, those South Africans will come together to jointly and co-operatively realise the common good.
Wat is die werklikheid van Afrika en Suid-Afrika? In enige groep in Afrika is goeie en slegte mense. Mnr die Voorsitter, daar is goeie Afrikaners en slegte Afrikaners. Daar is goeie Sjonas in Zimbabwe en daar is slegte Sjonas in Zimbabwe - en ek noem nie name nie. As die goeie mense van elke groep kan saamwerk, kan ons hierdie probleme wat deur die slegtes veroorsaak word, oplos. Maar solank as daar witmense is wat s alle swartmense is sleg, vorder ons nrens heen nie. Solank daar swartmense is wat s alle witmense is sleg en hulle is sleg vir Afrika, vorder ons ook nrens heen nie. Laat ons kom by "n punt waar ons hierdie werklikheid aanvaar en saam van hierdie kontinent 'n suksesvolle kontinent maak. Dankie. (Translation of Afrikaans paragraph follows.)
[What is the reality of Africa and South Africa? In any group in Africa there are good and bad people. Mr Chairperson, there are good Afrikaners and bad Afrikaners. There are good Shonas in Zimbabwe and there are bad Shonas in Zimbabwe - and I am not mentioning names. If the good people in every group could work together, we would solve these problems caused by the bad ones. But as long as there are white people who are saying that all black people are bad, we are not making any progress at all. As long as there are black people who are saying that all white people are bad and that they are bad for Africa, we are also not making any progress. Let us reach a point where we accept this reality and co-operate to make this continent a successful continent. Thank you.]
Chairperson, I shall begin with a short quote from Pixley ka Isaka Seme's essay, The Regeneration of Africa. He says:
Oh, for that historian who, with the open pen of truth, will bring to Africa's claim the strength of written proof. He will tell of a race whose onward tide was often swelled with tears, but in whose heart bondage has not quenched the fire of former years. He will write that in these later days when Earth's noble ones are named, she has a roll of honour too, of whom she is not ashamed.
The giant is awakening! From the four corners of the earth Africa's sons, who have been proved through fire and sword, are marching to the future's golden door bearing the records of deeds of valour done.
This was written in 1906. Africa has come a long way since then, making its way through great trauma, suffering and deprivation to a brave new world. We see the emerging, promoting and upholding of principles of human rights and democracy, encouraging of good governance, transparency and accountability, as well as facilitating integration, unity, co-operation and development on our continent, Africa.
It is interesting to note that, a mere seven years ago, in May 2000, The Economist magazine published an article that declared Africa "the hopeless continent", and therefore a place to be ignored. The very same The Economist asked a rhetorical question in 2006: "Is Africa, often dubbed the hopeless continent, finally taking off?" If The Economist is to be believed, then Africa remains one of the few continents which, in a very short space of time, would have traversed from "hopeless" to "recovery". However, the fact of the matter is that Africa has never been a hopeless continent. If this was the case, it would have not been colonised and its resources would have been squandered by the developed world. If it was ever a hopeless continent, Africa would not have been today a theatre of activities and competition between different global actors bent on exerting their influence and domination.
In 2007, Africa saw the hosting of the African Union Summit and played host to different global leaders from China to the United States of America. All these are clear indications that Africa has a lot more to offer to the rest of the world at an economic level besides other levels. It is this interest in Africa's resources that the African political leadership must understand and be able to exploit for the betterment of the lives of the people of Africa in pursuit of peace, development and social justice. Whether it is the European Union trying to immerse itself in Africa's economic potential through economic partnership agreements or China's increasing support and involvement in Africa, the message is simple and clear: The world's interest towards Africa is growing. Thus, Africa needs to be able to respond collectively and proactively, taking advantage of this situation in order to ensure that, unlike in the past, nothing happens on the continent without the expressed and collective acknowledgement from the African leadership through the various organs of the African Union which needs to be strengthened in every manner, enabling it to carry out its mandate.
Africa is confronted by various challenges in the quest for peace, security and social justice. Peace and security is closely linked with development, including human development. One of the most critical challenges is regional unity and cohesion. In pursuit of this objective, the African Union has undertaken the process of harmonising and rationalising regional economic communities, RECs. Research shows that most RECs are still nowhere near achieving their stated objectives.
Conflict resolution and peace-building form important pillars of peace and security initiatives. The two are related and are interlinked. While conflict resolution may focus on addressing the root causes of conflict as well as the various processes that lead towards restoring peace, peace- building goes several steps further to address mediation, facilitating processes of negotiation and the creation of mutual understanding and reconciliation. In this regard, women should play a bigger role in peace negotiations and other processes. The invisibility of women in these processes has therefore had the effect of undermining the value that women can contribute to conflict prevention, peace-enforcement, post-conflict reconstruction and peace-building.
When will the suffering of the people in Darfur stop? When will the suffering of people in Chad and the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia, Ethiopia and Eritrea, Kenya, Zimbabwe, etc - the list goes on - stop? Africa must find solutions for its problems. But, more importantly, an early warning system must identify possible problems and ward off conflict. The fragility of the African state is an important variable in the analysis of why conflict situations arise. As one scholar noted: "Present conflicts in Africa and elsewhere underline the reality that security threats often arise not from outside aggression, but from the unconsolidated nature of the African state ...." In mature and functional political systems, the coercive monopoly of the state provides protection to all citizens as a basic right. The failure of a state to provide such protection to its citizens in weak African states gives rise to a more complex security dilemma.
In conclusion, there is general consensus that development cannot occur in situations of conflict and instability. Experience has also shown that development will not be sustained in the absence of oversight, accountability and transparency. In the absence of the above, the society will be unable to produce and distribute resources efficiently.
Lastly, the African Peer Review Mechanism, as outlined in the New Partnership for Africa's Development, is an important instrument that promotes accountability, transparency and gives definition to an African democracy. Let all governments accept and open up their countries for peer review that can only strengthen democracies and promote social justice. Let us celebrate and rejoice that Africa is on the move and will carve its own destiny. Viva Africa, Viva!
Chairperson, the security of a nation, state or a community is intricately bound to the security of its neighbours. This being said, understanding and tackling the root causes of conflict on the African continent is a long-term process that requires the commitment of leadership at the national and regional levels together with the support from the international community.
The major obstacles in making substantial progress on the African continent is the lack of implementation owing to a lack of resources and at times a lack of political will by the states.
The African Union, AU, has the right and the responsibility to protect. Article 4(h) of the AU Constitutive Act affirms the right of the union to intervene in a member state in respect of grave circumstances. The AU's responsibility to build the continent is currently being pursued through its post-conflict and reconstructive framework.
Much pain and suffering such as that experienced in Zimbabwe would be prevented if the AU enhanced and strengthened its mechanisms for preventive diplomacy and early response to potential conflicts before they escalate. African states and their institutions need to move away from the rhetoric and clichs and take genuine action to develop their own solutions for Africa's security and development.
Relying on the support of external patterns and donors only perpetuates dependency. It is important to remember that the donors themselves have their own political agendas. Thus, the solution to African security challenges lies in reducing both technical and financial dependence on external patterns. Thank you. [Time expired.]
Chairperson, with my two minutes allow me to remark that Africa Liberation Day is the fruit of a long African struggle for freedom. Through the trans-Atlantic slave trade, Africans were sold like animals. In 1885, the imperialist Berlin Conference turned Africa into British Africa, French Africa, Portuguese Africa, German Africa, Italian Africa and Spanish Africa. There was no African Africa left for Africans. Africa's richest were looted and used to develop and enrich western countries.
Africa Liberation Day was given birth by a resilient political philosophy which has refused to die even when a super power built on a competing ideological school of thought crumbled under Mikhail Gorbachev. Henry Sylvester Williams coined this stubborn African political philosophy "Pan- Africanism" in 1900. Pan-Africanist giants such as George Padmore, CLR James, Du Bois, Nkrumah, Sobukwe, Lumumba, Lembede, Sekou Toure and Modibo Keita took the Pan-African vision to what it is today.
The African Union, the Pan-African Parliament and the present struggle for the economic liberation, social emancipation and technological advancement of the African continent are some of the achievements of Pan-Africanism.
On this 45th anniversary of Africa Liberation Day, let it be reiterated that Pan-Africanism demands that the riches of Africa must be used for the benefit, uplifting, development and enjoyment of the African people. Pan- Africanism is a system of equitably sharing food, clothing, homes, education, health care, wealth, land, work, security of life and happiness. Pan-Africanism is the privilege of the African people to love and give themselves their way of life, respect and preference.
Attacks on Africans by other Africans from the same Mother Africa manifests the extent to which colonialism has poisoned the minds of Africa's people. The message of Africa Liberation Day today is that African nations will not progress rapidly unless they act in unity, pursue peace, development and social justice. [Time expired.]
Chairperson, how can we celebrate Africa Day with a clear conscience this year, if the world must in horror watch images on TV of an African being burnt alive by another African in our own beloved country? Where is the respect for human life? The last time we saw images of a man being necklaced was in 1989, when there was an orchestrated agenda to make the country ungovernable. But, 18 years later, we do have a democratically elected government. We must be obeyed. Why this lawlessness?
What is currently happening in South Africa with the reference to the attacks on foreigners is not to be seen as an isolated incident. South Africa forms part of a collective of states in Africa and the rest of the world, which must account for its actions and policies. There is a growing disillusionment amongst our people with government and the political institutions in general. A recent survey by the Human Science Research Council, HSRC, has shown that trust in our political institutions is weak, which suggests that people are not impressed with the way political parties are governing their affairs. It might be that the recent attacks on foreigners reflect a symptom of this distrust in leadership. It would appear that, instead of relying on the political officials to address their grievances and problems, our communities seem to be taking matters into their own hands with dire consequence.
There is a leadership crisis in our nation and due to the fragmentation within the ruling party and government, our state is under siege because of a void of purpose, direction and constraint.
We ought to have brought hope and peace to Zimbabwe through mediation, but instead we brought the crisis to our land. We ought to have expunged corrupt officials from government, but instead, from the top echelons of government to the average person in our communities, there is a disregard for our justice system.
In conclusion, if we wish to be respected among our peers in other countries, then we have to go back to the ideals we had or believed in when we fought, and many died, for a free and democratic nation led by a respected leadership. I thank you.
Chairperson, I'd like to start on a personal note, mainly because of the Afro-pessimism that has come from some of our speakers here. I am quite surprised that, on a day when we are celebrating the unity of Africa, what comes across so strongly in some of the presentations is Afro- pessimism, which is really not about the Africa I know.
On a personal note, I've spent 10 years of my life in countries north to us. I've spent 10 years in countries such as Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Zambia and Kenya. I know those countries very well, and what is being described by some of our people here is not the Africa I know; it is the Africa that is imaged in the newspapers and in media and so on.
Two weeks ago I was at a conference in Rwanda. Rwanda is a country that experienced enormous genocide not long ago. But, in Kigali, I was in a conference with 130 people from Africa, with some from Europe. I travelled all over Kigali, and the Africa I saw in Kigali is not the one that is being described by some of the colleagues here.
I regard myself as very much a part of Africa. I've lectured in universities in Ethiopia, in Cameroon, Senegal, Ghana, Nigeria, in Uganda and Kenya - right across Africa - and what I experienced in those universities is not what some people are describing here today. Africa is a wonderful continent. When I phone my children in the United Kingdom, we speak Swahili - it is the language of our family.
So, I'm not a foreigner in Africa, and no African should be a foreigner in South Africa - that is the lesson we must get here today. We belong to Africa, which is a wonderful continent. Surely, we see distortions here and there - the monstrous leaders that emerge here and there, where Africa has seen Idi Amin, Mobutu, and other butchers in other parts of Africa. We have a problem with our neighbour here, who I won't name. So there are problems, but let us a get a good picture and a balance of where we are located. It is a continent so rich and powerful that we must celebrate what is really there, and not the stuff that the media foists upon us, even if they would sometimes reflect reality.
What I have to say today is that, even in Europe, and globally, there is a new concern about Africa or a new interest. Partly, this is because of the poverty in Africa, the Millennium Development Goals of the UN, and immigration into Europe. Many Africans are fleeing to places like Paris, which is now a predominantly black city. London is now also a black city. There is this problem now that Europe is experiencing of immigration by people who flee poverty in their own countries. Partly the concern in Europe is about climate change, because it is now realised that what happens in the continent of Africa affects the people of Europe and the United States of America. Partly it is because of Aids, a disease that travels across continents and partly also - let us admit - it is a problem of terrorism, which has a place in certain African countries, and which of course becomes a base for the whole world.
So there is a concern that is manifesting itself in a rather interesting phenomenon. That is that the world, the Organisation for Economic Co- operation and Development, the G8, and other forces like the European Union are now saying: "We must increase aid to Africa so that there is more money on the ground," because - as the hon Pheko was clearly correct - they said, Africa has been robbed and looted of its resources, and indeed continues to be so. The G8 and other countries are saying: "Let us re-examine the way the rest of the world supports Africa, but let us re-examine the way that aid flows."
Now I personally have been to a number of conferences in Europe and in Rwanda and elsewhere around this question of aid effectiveness, and what the North is saying to Africa is: "We will increase aid, but let us do it in a way that the aid is effective". So something rather interesting is happening as there is a dialogue between the G8, between Europe in particular and people in Africa, of which I have been a part. And, by the way, to indicate and confirm my not being a foreigner in Africa, I am the chairperson of a network of Members of Parliament across the whole of Africa, and our network is within Nepad, and now it is concerned primarily with the question of aid flowing from Europe to Africa.
What we are saying is this: We want increased aid from the rest of the world to Africa, but we want it to be monitored so that even when it is on budget - as is the case in South Africa, and by the way, we are the recipients of R10 billion for over six years from the European Union - it is going to our Treasury. We, as Members of Parliament, including ANC MPs in the Finance committee are saying: "We want to monitor that aid so that it does not only belong to the Minister of Finance and the Treasury, but to the nation."
We are saying the same thing across the whole continent. Let us monitor aid, and ensure that, where it is on budget, namely budget support, it is used for the poor, because that money does not belong to the Minister of finance in Sweden, Norway or the Netherlands, but to the taxpayers of those countries. So aid is a transfer from the people of Europe to the people of Africa, and not from the executive of Europe to the executive of Africa, because that is where things go wrong. So, colleagues, let us celebrate what is becoming a new partnership between Members of Parliament in Europe and Africa in which I am involved quite heavily. We must ensure in this House that aid is properly monitored and accounted for in this Parliament, and not merely treated as a transfer between some Minister somewhere and the one here. We want to monitor this process, and we also want that that aid which comes to Africa should also come to the parliaments of Africa, because they are not as empowered as we are, although we are not as empowered as we would like to be. We are saying that the proportion of aid which goes to Africa must also go to support the parliaments of Africa so that they can become democratic, so that some of the complaints that members have articulated here today about the lack of democracy and so on can be addressed. You cannot have a democracy if a parliament has no finance, and if all the money is controlled by the Minister or the treasury.
So we are saying to the donors in Europe, who are operating on the basis of goodwill, because the taxpayer in Sweden is motivated by the very best motives when he or she says a portion of my salary can go to the poor people of Africa, "Ensure that that transfer also empowers the parliaments of Africa so we can have genuinely multiparty parliamentary democracy on the continent of Africa." I also want to - by the way - say that this idea of a partnership between Europe and Africa around the question of aid transfers has now been accepted by influential sectors of the European Parliament, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, the IPU, which met in Cape Town and passed an excellent resolution on this, and by a number of other people who are now coming on board and saying yes, it is a very good idea that this transfer of funds from taxpayers in Europe to poor countries in Africa should go through the parliamentary process and the principle should be approved by all of us. This is a way of cementing perhaps a new opening for Africa in Europe and a new understanding about our role, and so, please, colleagues let us not be Afro-pessimistic. It is a wonderful continent, and it is so rich. I love it, and I even speak Swahili. I thank you. [Applause.]
Debate concluded.