The ManicaPost
Freedom Mutanda
Post Correspondent
Covid-19 is upon us and the African Union is hell bent on reversing the tide.
With all leaders having their eyes on the ball, the pandemic’s effects have been felt everywhere.
This kind of solidarity was envisaged by the African leaders who met in Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital, on May 25, 1963 and since that time, African countries celebrate that.
May is Africa month.
Fifty-eight years ago, the founding fathers of the African Union were very vocal about African independence such that a special Liberation Committee was established for the total emancipation of Africa.
However current priorities dictate that efforts should be channeled towards fighting the new enemy, Covid-19, and in the process, forge ahead with silencing the guns that threaten to bloody the resource rich continent of Africa.
It is therefore befitting that this year’s theme is ‘Arts, Culture and Heritage: Levers for Building the Africa we want’.
Back in 1963, colonialism and underdevelopment were key drivers in the formation of the then Organisation of African Unity (now African Union) and the future looked bright for Africa as more countries gained independence.
With the Cold War pitting the East and West, Africa became a playground for the global powers to test their weapons and expand their ideology and tactics such that guns kept on blurring, much to the impoverishment of the continent.
Child soldiers became the norm in war torn African countries and the African people were united in turning their swords into plowshares as President Thabo Mbeki came up with the NEPAD (New Partnership for African Development), which incentivised good governance in Africa.
However, to many Africans, the real issue which spawned these civil wars and internecine strife was to control the resources of these countries.
A transformation of the old OAU in 1992 which ended with the formation of the African Union seemed to usher in a break from the past as more time was devoted towards economically empowering Africans and letting the dogs of war disappear from the continent.
But even then, there were destabilisation efforts from the so-called democratic Tsar, the United States of America, which passed legislation to impose sanctions on perceived enemies of the USA; thus the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act (ZIDERA) came into force in 2001 targeting Zimbabwean leadership in an effort to effect regime change.
The guns’ curse has pervaded Africa with insurgents in Mozambique’s Cabo Delgado being the latest grouping to unleash unreasonable violence on the civilian population.
lt appears like the violence has to do with the resource curse.
Total, a French oil company had to leave the area in a huff with a US$20 billion investment left to the vagaries of the war and Mozambicans are poorer as a result of that.
The Democratic Republic of Congo, formerly Zaire, at one time Africa’s third largest country, suffers from the effects of blazing guns and that inhibits her from fulfilling her potential of being the continent’s richest country.
Bickering in that country since the dawn of independence in 1962 has paralysed her with the late strong man, Mobutu SeseSeko, being accused of being richer than his country itself.
Thus, when the Banyamulenge, led by the mercurial and now late Laurent Kabila, stormed the presidential palace in 1997, they were greeted with much enthusiasm by the local people and even African leaders came onto the bandwagon.
It did not take long before the newly installed DRC President died at the hands of an assassin’s bullet, thereby ushering in a new era of civil war in the DRC and a deluge of refugees to neighbouring countries.
The unceasing stutter of guns created a human crisis which is still haunting the region up to now, although there has been a smooth transfer of power from President Joseph Kabila to incumbent President Felix Tshisekedi.
Smoking the peace pipe in this era of Covid-19 is the way to go.
Gone are the days when issues to do with boundaries were solved by fighting.
Of late, the African Union came in to be the mediator in the Tigray war in Ethiopia and the African voice should be heard loud and clear.
While the imperial powers always circle above conflict regions like vultures ready to feast on the aftermaths of the war, at the end of the day it is the people of Africa who have to use the mechanisms at their disposal to silence the guns and use the huge economic potential at their disposal to fight the Covid-19.
Moreover, Africa should never be a poor continent when every economic indicator points to a massive economic renaissance for the continent.
Whoever comes in to assist economically does so with a clear mindset and as a collaborator.
Zimbabwe is a member of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and it is from this vantage point that she discussed with fellow SADC members on how to end the Cabo Delgado crisis.
Mozambique and its erstwhile insurgents in the Cabo Delgado Province should sit down and forge the way forward in the interest of the people and see an upsurge of economic activity in the affected areas.
A professor of Religious Studies and Philosophy at the Great Zimbabwe University, Professor Fortune Sibanda said Africa Day will forever be celebrated in the African continent, for the African people know where they come from.
“Liberating Africa was the first thing OAU did. Now, it is silencing the guns that have soiled the reputation of Africa and with the advent of Covid-19, the Africa Disease Control Directorate has left no stone unturned in its efforts to contain the pandemic, although economies have been hard hit,’’ he said.
In the new normal, African leaders meet virtually and by so doing, they have set the pace for fellow citizens to observe physical distancing, wearing of face masks and hand washing as the continent works on curbing the spread of Covid-19.
The African Union has resultantly left a huge imprint on the world map.
