Are African Leaders letting their people down?

Freeafrica (January 10, 2005)
Editorial By Samuel Mungadze, Johannesburg

Photo: Bob Marley –– the legend of reggae music once asked the question “How many more will have to die?”…

What is the truth about Africa and what is really going on in this troubled continent? Stories leak out from behind ‘the golden curtains’-stories of corruption, violence and inhumanity so terrifying as to be incredible. Are they the truth? More important is it the whole truth?

Africa, a pariah continent that has been appearing as the demon king on television nightly all over the world. It is about people under great and increasing pressure: social, political and economic.

“I left my country after a wave of extreme violence in run up to the 2002 presidential election. I was a teacher but our duties had taken a new twist especially for us who were in rural areas, we were being forced to go out campaign rallies of Zanu Pf. If you didn’t go you had to go through hell at the hands of the militias. I sensed that I could not build a life on the premise that the state knew best I should live so I left”, said Livington Moyo a Zimbabwean teacher now a refugee in South Africa.

Zimbabwe is facing political forces of a variety of hues, from the far left to extreme right seeking their own solutions to the problems that have bedeviled the country for 5 years.
So far, many stories have leaked out either have the odour of sectional propaganda or the more objectional effluvia given off by the government whitewash. Behind all this the truth must reside.

President Mugabe and his ministers have been blaming the country’s woes on the unknown but what of himself and his cabinet? Mugabe and some African leaders like Sam Nujoma of Namibia even blame homosexuality for their problems.

“There is a sense of economic and political powerlessness, and when you feel powerless about your economy and your country’s politics there is a tendency to turn to culture as the one thing you can exert control over”, said Scott Long Director of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Rights Project at Human Rights Watch, in an interview with Kansas City News.

The ‘African-woe’ syndrome has not spared South Africa, which to many is the model of democracy in Africa. From the presidency to legislature accusations of corruption have been leaking into the public domain.

Vice-President Jacob Zuma was exonerated after series of enquiries and investigations. 23 members of parliament are being investigated in embarrassing traveling scam in house. The scam is estimated to have run into millions of rands.

“It is really unfair to ordinary suffering people we have people living in squatter camps, with no water, lights and proper sanitation and these are the people who are suppose to better our lives but rob from us” said Xolani Mtembu a third year economic student at a University in Johannesburg.

With revelations coming about obscene love for luxury cars- such as Mercedes, BMWs and Prado 4x4s – they hired and hotels they stayed at illegally at the taxpayers’ expenses, the outrage grows.

South Africa led by President Thabo Mbeki has been spearheading for the rejuvenated Africa through African Union. Johannesburg is now home to the first AU parliament but the treatment of ordinary African immigrants has been disturbing.

Refugees in South Africa do not get assistance from government; despite running away from ruthless leaders they are continuously detained and deported. Some refugees came with only the clothes on their backs, others with few possessions it’s not easy to be recognised in South Africa.

At the Lindela detention center in South Africa, attempts to escape are so common; some are even succeeded by the corrupt officials through continuous bribes from detainees. Most painful is the evident truth that most of these detainees, who in most cases are legitimate refugees by all means, are further subjected to xenophobia attitudes motivated by leaders in local leaders within communities. These refugees are in most cases people who have forfeited everything that hold pride for their roots and culture and instead have embraced the uncertain status of Refugee.

Africa as a nation has been unfortunate; dictators have graced the continent and have caused untold suffering.

In Sudan a 10-month civil war was officially declared over in July 2003, but there has been zero progress implementing a French brokered peace deal and the world’s top cocoa producing country remains split north and south.
The humanitarian crisis in Darfur has grabbed world headlines, 30 000 people mostly blacks have been killed and 2.2 million are in urgent need of food or medical attention.

“How many more will have to die?” Bob Marley asked the question in his song Natural Mystic, Africans world-over should ask their leaders the same question.