AT a recent meeting of Liberation Movements of Southern Africa in Victoria Falls, African National Congress (ANC) secretary-general Gwede Mantashe buttressed President Robert Mugabe’s long-held lamentations that the West’s regime change agenda in Zimbabwe is spreading to other countries in Africa.
He was right.
Zimbabwe is suffering from a marauding West hell-bent on effecting regime change.
Africa is suffering from the menace of pliant regimes.
Which way Africa, is the question confronting progressive minds as the continent celebrates its 53rd anniversary.
In the beginning was the vision to steer Africa from the murky depths of colonialism and to an empowering state of unity among African nations.
This was a vision driven by the likes of the great Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana, the inspirational Modibo Keita of Mali, the mercurial Gamal Abdul Nasser of Egypt, Sekou Touré of Guinea, Julius Nyerere of Tanzania, Ben Bella of Algeria, Emperor Haile Selasse of Ethiopia, William Tubman of Liberia, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa of Nigeria, Nnamdi Azikiwe of Nigeria, Jomo Kenyatta of Kenya and many others who were inspired by the pan-African Movement. Our own President Mugabe was among those who witnessed the birth of the African dream when he attended the Organisation of African Unity (OAU)’s first Summit on May 25 1963. There he interacted with legends who helped shape the African dream.
But today’s leaders seem to have deviated from the founding objectives of the OAU.
One of the major objectives of the OAU was to promote understanding and co-operation among African states. The formation of the OAU was in response to the aspirations of brotherhood, solidarity and unity transcending ethnic and national differences.
Their main objectives were to rid the continent of vestiges of colonialism and apartheid, to promote unity and solidarity among African states, to co-ordinate and intensify co-operation for development, to promote internal co-operation and to safeguard the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Africa.
In his inauguration speech after the historic July 31 2013 elections, President Mugabe gave a synopsis of the principles espoused by the founding fathers.
“They were anti-colonialists,” he said.
“You do not get anything that helps you from the former colonialists.
“That was their stance and (Kwame) Nkrumah used to say, ‘A good imperialist is only a dead one’.
“When now we look at what is happening in Africa, our people easily lend themselves to control by Western powers.
“We lament what has gone by.
“We begin to wish that the past should come back.
“We are no longer strong.
“We sit with Westerners in their fora to decide on action against other African countries.
“We should never ever do that. But that happened.
“When we had an attack on Libya, we had three countries in the (United Nations) Security Council which agreed with Western countries that there should be action taken against Libya under Chapter 7 of the United Nations Charter which allowed NATO to come in and we know what has happened.
“The situation there is in turmoil.”
So where is Africa getting it wrong?
In Zimbabwe, we have MDC formations sponsored by Western powers to dismantle the aspirations of the liberation struggle.
MDC formations want to negate the heroic and historic Land Reform and Resettlement and the ongoing Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Programmes.
But they are not alone in this battle of delivering neo-colonialism.
There are several other entities of a similar nature across Africa.
These are paid to do the bidding on behalf of their masters from both sides of the Atlantic Ocean.
Nkrumah taught us in one of his autobiographies that: “I have never regarded the struggles for the independence of the Gold Coast as an isolated objective but always as a part of a general world historical pattern.”
In his memoirs he said: “Ghana’s independence is meaningless, unless it is linked with every inch of African territory.”
In his address at the founding of the OAU, Nkrumah said: “For us, it is a simple matter of grasping with certainty our heritage by using the political might of unity.
“All we need to do is develop with our united strength the enormous resources of our continent.
“Working individually we can never successfully attain the fullest development.
“Only a united Africa functioning under a union government can forcefully mobilise the material and moral resources of our separate countries and apply them efficiently and energetically to bring a rapid change in the conditions of our people.
“Unite we must.”
Are we united as a continent, as one people of Africa?
Are we living the dream of our founding fathers?
Amilcar Cabral, one of Africa’s finest thinkers, said in his famous speech ‘Destroy the economy of the enemy and build our own economy’ in 1965: “Keep always in mind that the people are not fighting for ideas, for the things in anyone’s head.
“They are fighting for material benefits, to live better and in peace, to see their lives go forward, to guarantee the future of their children.
“National liberation, war on colonialism, building of peace and progress – independence – all that will remain meaningless for the people unless it brings a real improvement in the conditions of life.”
As we celebrate Africa’s 53rd birthday, the question that should burden our minds is: Are we living the dream of our founding fathers?