Chairperson, hon members of the NCOP, it is indeed a privilege for me to participate in this discussion this afternoon.
It is a privilege indeed because I think we live in a very interesting period in which very important history is being made on our continent. It all started with those brave Africans who gathered in London in 1900 for the historic Pan-African Congress to discuss the question of racism and racial discrimination. Among other issues considered by the conference was the need for unity and solidarity amongst the African people.
As history would have it, the Europeans decided at the Berlin Conference to slice Africa amongst themselves in order to meet their insatiable lust for economic expansion. The African people, in pursuit of their right to determine their destiny, successfully resisted this, and indeed we saw struggles for decolonisation in Africa.
When Kwame Nkrumah, one of the finest sons of this continent, convened the All-Africa People's Congress in Ghana, the foundation laid in London began to take root. The yearning of the African people for unity and for the economic integration of the continent resonated in the Monrovia Conference in the late 1960s, which eventually led to the epoch-making Extraordinary Summit of the Organisation of African Unity in 1980 that adopted the Lagos Plan of Action, which articulated the concept of an African economic community.
Of course the African continent could not move much further in this regard until the whole continent was liberated. Therefore, until southern Africa, and South Africa in particular, was liberated, progress was not very great because a lot of energy and resources were used and sacrifices made to support our struggle. Of course, central to all these struggles, the people of Africa were determined to forge the unity, solidarity and economic integration of the continent. Indeed, that is what the Abuja Treaty is about. African leaders had recognised that co-operation and integration among African countries in the economic, social and cultural fields are indispensable to the accelerated transformation and sustainable development of the African continent.
In this connection, regional integration has long been regarded by African policy-makers as being a highly desirable objective. Their appeal for regional integration derives from the understanding that in a globalised world no country can succeed on its own. In fact, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, speaking at the Millennium Summit, said that the train of globalisation does not stop at all stations, it only stops at those stations with high platforms. The high platform is determined by the infrastructure, by the skilled human resources and by the technology of that country. Therefore those countries that do not have the necessary platform for globalisation will be left behind. The African continent does not want to be left behind and should not be left behind.
As we indicated above, the adoption of the Lagos Plan of Action is a major step towards the goal of integration. The commitments in the plan and in the Final Act of Lagos are translated into concrete form in the Abuja Treaty.
The aim of the Abuja Treaty is to establish an African economic community to promote economic, social and cultural development as well as African economic integration in order to increase self-sufficiency and indigenous development and to create a framework for the development and mobilisation of human resources on the continent.
In giving expression to integration, the continent was cut up into different regional economic blocs. These regions are the Arab Maghreb Union, which covers North Africa; the Economic Community of Central African States, which covers, as its name says, Central Africa; Comesa, the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa; the Southern African Development Community, or SADC, to which we belong; and Ecowas, which is the Economic Community of West African States. These are seen as building-blocks towards the integration of the continent.
The Abuja Treaty had six different stages for implementation and it was envisaged that this would take 34 years. I will not go into the stages. I am sure hon members all studied them as they were looking at the Abuja Treaty itself. However, what has happened is that as Africa itself was looking at gearing the African continent both for the renaissance and for the 21st century, it decided that these stages should be shortened as this was going to take too long and therefore the Constitutive Act, which I am sure this House will be debating, for the formation of the African Union is a way of trying to shorten the stages of the Abuja Treaty.
It is also combining the Organisation of African Unity with the Abuja Treaty so that they can be one organisation that deals with all the economic and political matters of the continent. Therefore the Abuja Treaty, in my view, is a very important treaty if we are to succeed in making the 21st century the African century.
However, there are those among us South Africans who think South Africa can remain an island of prosperity and are willing to ignore the rest of our continent. Those Afro-sceptics are making a very big mistake. Unfortunately some of them live amongst us in our country. They declare with a lot of arrogance that Africa is a continent full of conflicts and therefore they want to go it alone. I would like to say that South Africa cannot succeed in reaching its full potential if the continent itself does not reach its full potential.
I think hon members have a very big responsibility as we are all willing midwives of this new and exciting process in the history of the continent. To quote President Mbeki, ``I would like to make bold to say that the African Renaissance is not just a dream whose realisation lies in some dim and distant future.'' Let those who have eyes see, for the rebirth of the continent is beckoning. Despite some minor setbacks, the continent is on the march. If there is any need for evidence of the renewal of the continent, it is amply demonstrated in these gallant acts.
In conclusion, it is my fervent hope that hon members will take with both hands this opportunity to accelerate the process of reclaiming our history, our culture and our heritage so as to challenge stereotypes and distortions of Africa as a hapless and dark continent from which nothing great comes. I wish to urge the NCOP to finalise the ratification process of the treaty by voting in favour. [Applause.]