The ManicaPost
Samuel Kadungure
Senior Reporter
ZIMBABWE will on Tuesday join the rest of the African continent in commemorating the 58th Africa Day — which gives the continent a chance to reflect on the progress it has made and proffer solutions to challenges facing the continent.
The celebrations will be held virtually under the theme ‘Arts, Culture and Heritage: Levers for building the Africa we want’.
Traditionalist, Ishe Donald Kamba Makoni said Africa should disregard artificial boundaries created by colonisers and forge ahead as a continent premised on oneness, unity, peace, prosperity and African pride.
“Africans are on their own and may only survive under conditions of a unified Africa defined by one voice in political and economic terms. Africans have no other home except Africa, and must reconstruct and rebuild the continent on energies derived from their ancestral genes known for being the first to offer civilisation and education to the entire world.
“It is a time to self-introspect and re-discover the giant that the African has always been. It’s time for Africa to seize her rightful place in shaping global affairs and utilise both our human and material resources to stamp her authority as self-reliant in her growth and development trajectory,” said Mr Kamba Makoni.
Makoni North legislator, Cde James Munetsi, said Africa should unite, lest it perishes.
He said only a united Africa will enjoy regional integration and continental cooperation.
“The world will witness less, if any, of the foreign instigated insurrections of Africans against fellow Africans if we are united. Africa needs to wake up, unite and fight an African fight. Africa needs to stop the mess that makes it black generals in a white man’s war. If united, Africa will overcome any hurdle. If divided, Africa will fail even when there is no hurdle,’ said Cde Munetsi.
The Organization of African Unity (OAU), now African Union (AU), was founded on May 25, 1963 as more African countries gained independence.
Its purpose was to eliminate colonialism and promote solidarity among African nations.
According to a statement on the AU website, an initiative named “African Tales” organised through the support of youth and Diaspora from all walks of life will be formally launched.
This is a Diaspora led effort intended to instil pride and a strong sense of identity among Africans by promoting African cultural heritage and history in tandem with Aspiration 5 of Agenda 2063, which envisions an “Africa with a strong cultural identity, common heritage, shared values and ethics”.
“This calls for an African cultural renaissance which is pre-eminent and that inculcates the spirit of Pan Africanism; tapping Africa’s rich heritage and culture to ensure that the creative arts are major contributors to Africa’s growth and transformation; and restoring and preserving Africa’s cultural heritage, including its languages.
“Globally, the Cultural and Creative Industries (CCIs) play a key role in contributing to GDP.
“Culture incorporates social behaviour and norms of a society as well as the language, knowledge, beliefs, traditions, arts, customs, capacities and habits of a certain community and the 2021 Theme is a declaration at a continental level for member states to invest more resources in promoting national and regional cohesion by investing in African culture and heritage as a vehicle for promoting and achieving the national economic and social development goals outlined in Africa’s Agenda 2063,” reads the statement.
This year’s celebrations come at a time when Africa is grappling with the effects of Covid-19, which imposed heavy human, financial and economic costs on the continent.
CCIs in Africa have played a key role in the prevention of Covid-19.
