West undermines Africa to thwart Chinese influence, says Thabo Mbeki
THE West has a fear of China and that explains why it continues to undermine Africa’s independence, former South African president Thabo Mbeki said during a panel discussion on the challenges facing Africa.
The event, on Thursday night, was part of the Thabo Mbeki Foundation’s commemoration of Africa Day.
Mr Mbeki repeated his criticism of the West’s involvement in Libya, which led to the death of Muammar Gaddafi.
His concern was that the West was worried China would secure Africa’s resources for its own use and throw its weight around on the continent.
The intervention in the Libyan conflict was seen to have increased the West’s capacity to block China’s influence.
Mr Mbeki said: “The West consulted the Arab League, but did not consult the African Union. I believe the problems in Libya could have been solved without the death of Africans. There was a determined offensive by western countries to undermine African independence. It seems to be driven by a phobia about China.”
The panel, at the University of SA (Unisa), also consisted of the former heads of state of Nigeria, Mozambique and Cape Verde: respectively Olusegun Obasanjo, Joaquim Chissano and Pedro Pires. Mr Obasanjo warned that the problem of youth unemployment could result in an African winter after the Arab Spring of last year. “We are sitting on a powder keg if we do not handle youth unemployment,” he said.
One of the ways of addressing this issue was for the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (Nepad) to be re-energised as it seemed to have lost momentum since it was adopted in Lusaka, Zambia, in 2001, Mr Obasanjo suggested.
Mr Chissano said the youth and economy defined what Africa’s destiny would be.
“Your task is to exercise your citizenship, as we have participation in elections that is 30% or less. Your role as students is to transform our resources to bring development to the continent,” he said.
Mr Pires said liberation was a process that took place step by step. He questioned why most African countries remained exporters of raw materials such as cocoa, instead of transforming it into chocolate.
“Have we achieved freedom? Not if we continue to have deficits in knowledge, technology or productivity,” he said.
Former Unisa vice-chancellor Barney Pityana, in his introductory speech, pleaded for an Africa that would never abandon its appreciation and understanding of quality in leadership that strove for nothing short of excellence. “It is perhaps going too far to suggest that we are in a quagmire because we have managed to substitute reason and people consciousness for self-interest; public service for personal aggrandisement; ethics for absence of integrity and opportunism; honest dealing in public life and being trustworthy for corruption and entrenching a getrich-quick culture,” he said.