Admin
25 May, 2020
Africa Day 2020
We celebrate Africa Day this year, amid the Coronavirus pandemic, which has certainly forced our focuses away from the African agenda and has indeed exposed the need for its acceleration. The United Democratic Movement (UDM) believes that some progress has been made with Organisation of African Unity (OAU) and the formation of the Africa Union (AU). The OAU constantly had to put out fires across the continent and it saw military regimes toppling corrupt governments. Under the OAU’s watch many democracies had been formed in sub-Saharan countries like Namibia, South Africa, Mozambique and Zimbabwe. Salim Ahmed Salim, former OAU Secretary General, did good work and managed the transition to the AU very well. We also remember the work of people like Chester Crocker, Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs in the Reagan Administration (from 1981 to 1989) who was the architect of the United States’ policy of “constructive engagement” towards Southern Africa. He oversaw the implementation of the United Nation’s Security Council’s Resolution 435 which delivered Namibian independence in 1990. We are slowly reaching the goals of healthy democracies, enshrining civil liberties and human rights, amongst others, but the continent still has a long way to go, especially where fighting corruption is concerned. Unfortunately, conflicts and war, human rights abuses, food shortages, exploitation of mineral resources and poaching of rhinos and other animals are still at the order of the day. African countries also need to focus on infrastructure development and creating manufacturing industries in order to secure our riches for the benefit of our peoples, thus stopping our shores from being a dumping ground for imported goods. The UDM celebrates Africa Day 2020 with the rest of the continent and wishes all countries the best in managing the Covid-19 pandemic. Issued by: Mr Bantu Holomisa UDM President
Admin
08 Oct, 2013
Africa Day
Address by Mr Ntopile Kganyago, MP (UDM Deputy-President) in the Parliamentary Debate: Africa Day (6 June 2013) Mister Speaker and Honourable Members, We owe a big debt of gratitude for the freedoms we now enjoy to the leaders and African Heads of States, who met in Addis Ababa in May 1963 to develop a Master Plan to liberate the peoples of Africa from the brutal rule of the colonial regime. This 50th anniversary of the African Union (AU) provides us an opportunity to reflect on the progress made thus far. There are today a growing number of stable democracies in Africa. African people in many parts of the Continent are able to elect governments of their choice. Economic performance and regional integration in many parts of the Continent are progressing, albeit at a slow space. These two are important if we are to untangle the peoples of Africa from the yoke of poverty and underdevelopment. Despite these achievements, more than a quarter of the African population is poor, uneducated, while thousands die every day from curable diseases. After many years of independence Africa remains plagued with civil wars, coups and countercoups. Africa has more dictators than any Continent in the world. We need bold leadership to rid the Continent of these problems, as they make the task of renewing Africa impossible to accomplish. Mister Speaker, South Africa has lost the influence it once had on the African continent and its leaders. Nowhere is this more evident than in the fact that the South African government no longer plays a leading role on continental issues. The Central African Republic (CAR) fiasco and South Africa’s embarrassing retreat from that country recently have made matters worse. This leadership void has created a breeding ground for the re-colonisation of Africa. The time has come for South Africa to recapture the lost ground as the continental leader. I thank you.
