Africa belongs to its people

THE African continent, since the dawn of life, has been one of the continents richest with natural resources – it is full of gold, platinum, gas and other natural resources.

The cradle of humankind began right here in our own backyard.

The first generation, or our forefathers, before colonisation, used to do things on their own, without any assistance. We (Africans) owned cattle.

The Western countries came into Africa knowing how they would capture our beautiful motherland.

Elders were given mirrors in exchange for cattle.

Africa’s older generation never went to school, but they knew how to plough and to take care of their cattle.

The indigenous people of this continent had the strength to face anything and to face any obstacle coming their way. Look at how Shaka Zulu rose to power. The man never went to school, but was capable of leading his people.

Just recently, the Zulu tribe celebrated 200 years of existence.

The Western countries saw the strength our people had. Africans were taken off their own land. They were taken to other countries. When they got there, they were made slaves and the slave masters took advantage of everything.

Not only were our people deported, our land was taken. African people were left with nothing. How do we bounce back from colonisation? What needs to be done to restore the dignity of our continent?

What have we learnt from the process of colonisation and slavery?

How will Africa rise from the injustice of the past?

The Western countries created a system of independence.

Today, our continent depends on the very same people who took away our land. They are making money, while we are suffering.

African leaders often go to them (Western states) for foreign aid.

Should we continue depending on foreign aid? How will we get back our land? One of the things I admire about Africans is that we liberated ourselves from all the chains of oppression, be it from the apartheid regime or colonisation in the rest of the continent.

In the case of South Africa, we have our very own gigantic revolutionary movement, the ANC, that was formed in February 1912.

The most important factor for forming the movement was to liberate South Africans from the chains of apartheid.

The movement couldn’t have done it on its own, it needed ground mobilisation.

Africans liberated themselves and they had the strength to do just that.

There are many similar cases in the rest of the continent. I have a problem with “leaders” who claim to be the ones who liberated their countries.

In such cases, these leaders tend to be power-driven. For example, in Zimbabwe, President Robert Mugabe, claims that Zimbabwe is his.

Libya had Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, the military president who was in power for almost 41 years and claimed to be a liberator. My concern is these liberators tend to be oppressors.

The questions could be: what has led to liberation movements becoming oppressors, what were the factors that led revolutionary movements to turn against their own people and can we still regard revolutionary movements as relevant forces in the struggle against white monopoly capital?

I have listened to people defining the term “Africanism”.

From my own understanding, we are all Africans before we become citizens of our own countries.

To be an African, you need a sense of belonging, be it in your own country or in another African state.

My South African citizenship doesn’t make me superior to someone from Ghana, Nigeria, Somalia, Egypt, Congo, Angola, Ethiopia or from any other neighbouring country.

In this continent, we are so fortunate to have different cultures and ethnic groups. One of the most important factors of being an African is one gets to learn about how other indigenous African people live.

Happy Africa Day.

Zamuxolo Nduna, NMMU department of political and conflict studies