Why celebrating Africa Day matters
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THE man at the Gautrain station stumped me with a simple question: If Americans do not celebrate America Day and Europeans do not have Europe Day, why do you Africans do back-flips and handstands over Africa Day?
He made me wish Thebe Ikalafeng had been there to answer, having just been on a panel discussion at the launch of his sixth annual Brand Africa 100.
This is Ikalafeng’s contribution to the discourse about being African. Instead of pontificating over who is African or the essence of Africanness, he conducts a survey to determine Africa’s most admired.
His survey holds the key to why Africans need Africa Day.
Of the respondents 18 years and older in more than 23 African countries, African brands still only account for 17% of the most admired; and that is supposed to be an improvement.
Nike tops the admired list, followed by Samsung, adidas, Cocacola, Apple with MTN, Tecno, Toyota, Gucci and LG completing the top 10.
The Dassler brothers out of Germany, Rudolf and Adolf (“Adi”), must be proud with both their sports apparel labels in the top 20.
They are the founders of Puma and adidas, respectively; Puma is in the 11th spot on the chart.
Brands are personalities. Consumers buy them for what they personify. If Africans idolise 83 foreign brands out of 100, our psyche needs fixing. Commemorating Africa Day annually is not all it will take; but it’s a start if our minds can be refocused even for one day.
May 25 is the birthday of the
AU. When the founders of the Organisation of African Unity gathered in Addis Ababa to marshal pan-african support for the liberation of countries such as Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Namibia and South Africa in 1963, their host, Emperor Haile Selassie, pronounced: “May this convention of union last 1 000 years!”
The emperor did not mean
1 000 years of inconsequential commemorations and flaunting of colourful outfits. After all, 1963 had not been the first time Africa Day was mooted.
It had been recognised since
April 1958, at the First Congress of Independent African States in Accra, Ghana. The host, Kwame Nkrumah, was alert to the hollowness of his country’s independence while the rest of Africa remained in bondage.
Even more than that, Nkrumah appreciated the centrality of economic independence of African states in attaining intra-african self-sufficiency.
With a vision like that, he had to be removed; and he was – along with his fellow visionaries like Patrice Lumumba of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Thomas Sankara of Burkina Faso, and Ahmed Ben Bella of Algeria.
Africa remains the “coulda shoulda woulda” of human civilisation and industrialisation: minerals, oil, agriculture, tourism, and industry.
All these are examples of economic sectors that could turn Africa into a world giant economically, socially and politically.
We are the poorer cousins of the West, and now our fellow BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, China) mates.
We complain that our resources get exported cheaply only to be sold to us as expensive jewellery, electronic or automotive products.
Do we buy the few locally produced alternatives? Not if Nike and Coca-cola are around.
Our neuro-linguistic inferiority can be cured only by ourselves. Initiatives like Ikalafeng’s Brand Africa 100 are a start, if only to expose our low self-esteem.
The Human Sciences Research Council held an Africa Day celebration at Ditsong Cultural Museum “to present citizens with an opportunity to interact with various African embassies, sharing of information about the continent and entertainment from African artists and cultural groups”. Like Ikalafeng, Africans are taking charge of opening lines of communication.
A young man called
“Bra Willy” Seyama started #Africanlanguagesday, to get Africans to tweet in their mother tongue. Someone tagged me in Xitsonga. My response was: “Ka hari kule la hi yaka kona” (We have a long way to go).
Twitter labelled our conversation Indonesian, in need of translation.
No one can teach Twitter, Facebook and company about Africa, but ourselves; starting, not ending, with intensive Africa Day campaigns – sustained throughout the year.
Otherwise, woe unto us.
Kgomoeswana is the author of Africa is Open for Business; a media commentator and public speaker on African business affairs, and a columnist for Destiny Man – Twitter Handle: @Victorafrica