TOWARDS THE AFRICAN RENAISSANCE THE SMART PARTNERSHIP APPROACH

Maputo - 21 August 2000

Input by Deputy President Jacob Zuma

As my counterpart, Mr Mosisili has indicated, our governments are already involved in various joint projects that seek to pool resources and maximise benefit for our people. Already we are seeing the principles of Smart Partnership "Prospering They Neighbour" at work. There are however many issues that remain a constant threat to the successful attainment of our goals. These issues form the focus of my input this morning.

The first question we need to ask is, what is it that needs to be done to achieve the African Renaissance (thus economic growth and a better life for our citizens) through the Smart Partnership Approach?

Essential ingredients for the above:

• Stability in the region and content (end to the wars). We need to engage our counterparts in dialogue, to be better informed and thus better able to influence the direction of events.
• End of conflict (constant dialogue necessary to achieve this) We all know that all the projects that my counterpart from Lesotho has mentioned cannot bring prosperity to our people if they do not happen in tandem with lasting stability.

Role/responsibility of Smart Partners:

• Encourage democratic political systems & political stability for economic stability
• engage in constant dialogue amongst Smart Partners necessary to establish and maintain a culture of democracy
• re-define or correct our perceptions of ourselves as Africans, as opposed to the traditional definition of our people by our former colonial masters.

  - redefine our value systems - revive a sense of pride in thing s African, encourage a love of our continent and employ a brotherly approach in our dealings with each other. Develop together as countries rather than focus solely on our own development, leaving neighbouring countries behind. This ultimately leads to many problems for us.

We need to recapture our value systems

- respect for human life - patriotism

• Africans in various sectors to identify their role in achieving the African renaissance (e.g. journalists, writers, teachers, business people etc.).
• we need to ensure that the dialogue agenda of Smart Partners during meetings such as this one addresses issues pertinent to the African continent. We need to take advantage of the informal nature of these discussions to push the agenda of the reconstruction of the African Continent and the attainment Renaissance
• We need to ensure that the commitment of Smart Partners translates into implementation of identified programmes so that the discussions that we hold here do not become an end unto themselves.

Outcome:

• The outcome that we desire from the Smart Partnership dialogue is a movement towards greater integration and cohesion in our efforts to build a better life for our people. I believe that this forum provides a perfect forum, for us as African leaders in particular, to engage each other in a relaxed atmosphere and discuss the issues that impede progress on our region and continent.

Issued by: Office of the Presidency