Continent needs sound values, peace to thrive

WE WERE at some point full of joy and happiness. Our joy and happiness came from the community we had, a community without barriers, a community full of love and joy, a community that had self-respect, a community that recognised all the African languages.

Our community had a rich culture, customs and roots that were watered daily.

Today the African community seems to be a community that loses its morals every sunrise. The African children are scattering, and our African community is tearing itself apart.

For the fact that we were once colonised and we all had a long walk to our freedom, we should appreciate every sunrise.

The African boundaries that are manmade have torn the fabric of the African community, and it has mounted animosity in African children towards each other.

The competitive markets that we Africans have entered has made us do away with our African culture, and our communities are concerned about economic power, which is regarded as a tool that will better the lives of Africans.

We have found joy in the gold and silver coins that we value so much and we embrace the different currencies scattered in our African community, yet we have forgotten our morals and roots.

We respect the African communities that compete better in the international market, we respect those African communities that have powerful currencies and we look down on those African communities that do not have economic power.

The man-made boundaries have made us hate each other and the introduction of silver and gold coins and notes have made us selfish and immoral and go to war over resources.

Humanity has died in us and our communities are rife with egotism. The sharing of resources is perceived as adversarial, because we were taught to keep for ourselves by the system we were left with after decolonisation – the system that made us dependent and made us sell our souls for economic empowerment.

An African man is a slave of another African man. The boundaries in Africa did not only divide Africa, they also divided the humanity of Africans.

An African man who has lost his culture has also lost his morals.

We need to do introspection and regain our values. The man-made boundaries should not make us enemies, rather they should make us seek better relations with each other and be competitive as Africa, not as single communities in Africa. I am an African child who has been to Algeria, Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cape Verde, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Djibouti, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, São Tomé and Príncipe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe with my visions and my soul…

I am an African child who was born in the community once led by an international icon, Nelson Mandela, who was succeeded by an African leader, Thabo Mbeki, who said: “I owe my being to the hills and the valleys, the mountains and the glades, the rivers, the deserts, the trees, the flowers, the seas and the everchanging seasons that define the face of our native land.”

I am an African child who possesses noble skills influenced by the great minds of Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, Samora Machel, Jomo Kenyatta,Thomas Sankara, Patrice Lumumba, Haile Selassie, Alpha Oumar Konaré and Kwame Nkrumah.

I owe my being to the small mountains of Phokeng village and the Kotoko River. I owe my being to Table Mountain in Cape Town, and to the hot sun of Limpopo and Mahikeng.

I owe my being to all the nine provinces in South Africa and the towns in Africa.

I am an African child who is not appalled by my African brother from another African community which is outside my man-made border.

I am an African child who acknowledges all the African languages, dishes and cultures.

I am an African child who was part of all the struggles that African states went through, and I am an African child who understands the abject poverty experienced by my African community.

I belong to all the states in Africa, therefore I do not discriminate against my African brothers.

Peace be in Africa

Man-made borders should not erode our community