20 August 2002
Any current discussion about African economic development must have as its starting-point the New Partnership for Africa's Development (Nepad), and also a clear grasp of the context in which it was developed.
The fact that Nepad already plays such a central role is a remarkable tribute to the wide acceptance that it has achieved in its short life.
This is an excellent augury for the future of Africa, despite the obvious difficulties that lie ahead.
Nepad is an ambitious but realizable programme based on Africa's urgent needs. These, most notably, include conflict prevention and management; market access; boosted overseas development funding; debt reduction; and resolving constraints to the continent's international competitiveness.
The primary objectives of Nepad are to eradicate poverty and underdevelopment, to put African countries on a path of sustainable growth and development, to halt the marginalisation of Africa in the globalisation process; and to accelerate the empowerment of women.
Nepad is a strategy, in the final analysis, to rid the world of Afro-pessimism, and to permit this remarkable continent to take its rightful place in the world.
It is a programme that has captured the imagination not only of Africa's leadership, but of increasing numbers of influential leaders abroad. The Nepad document is not a body of abstract theory, but essentially an action plan. It is not something for the distant future. Nepad is now. It is the sort of plan that business executives and workers will instinctively understand. They are involved in operations that require action, based on sound strategic thinking. Nepad's heavy emphasis on poverty reduction marks it out as a programme totally in tune with the Millenium objectives that the United Nations, acting for all humanity, has set itself. Nepad, in this sense, lies at the root of the attempts to secure the future of the planet on which we live.
The fact that Nepad will, without doubt, be a critical influence for the good as the world comes to Johannesburg for the WSSD this coming weekend, shows that it is an initiative to learn from and emulate in other regions of the world.
Today President Thabo Mbeki is expected to officially open the Ubuntu Village which will serve as the service and recreational area of the Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development.
And the fact that the President of South Africa is acknowledged as a - if not the - prime mover in the Nepad campaign is a special tribute but also a special responsibility. It places a responsibility on South Africans, and notably the business sector, to comprehend fully what Nepad is about, and to help to make it work.
Nepad's starting point is the fact that the poverty and backwardness of Africa stand in stark contrast to the prosperity of the developed world.
If Africa's marginalisation continues, this will contribute to global instability, and could even harm the national interests of the developed countries whose partnership we seek, through Nepad, to avert that situation. Developed countries increasingly appear to be getting the message.
Let us look at just some of the disturbing statistics that should spur us to action. Half of Africa's population live on less than US $1 a day. The mortality rate of children under five is 140 per 1000, and life expectancy at birth is barely 50 years. Only 16 doctors are available per 100 000 inhabitants as against 253 in industrialized countries. The average daily intake of calories varies from 2 384 in low-income countries to 2 846 in middle-income countries, and 3 390 in OECD countries. Only 58 percent of Africa's population have access to safe water. The rate of illiteracy for people over 15 is 41 percent. There are only 18 mainline telephones per 1 000 people in Africa, compared with 146 for the world as a whole and 567 for high-income countries. HIV/Aids is a scourge and has to be fought resolutely.
Nepad is based on the conviction that a historic opportunity, in the circumstances of a much-changed world, has presented itself to end this disturbing situation. It is not a question of whether the global resources to launch a successful war on poverty and underdevelopment exist. They do.
What is needed is the mobilization of these resources, based on a new global deal of shared responsibility and mutual interest. If ever there was a "win-win" answer to a crushing continental problem, it is this. And the responses of the developed countries, though still a bit tentative, have encouraged Africa to pursue the partnership idea inherent in Nepad.
Increasingly, these countries are seeing the benefits of investing in African renewal.
At root, Nepad shows that Africans will no longer allow themselves to be conditioned by circumstances beyond their control. They are determined to seize the future, themselves, and to make it work. In the history of human endeavour, this resolve could rank in significance with the great watershed events forged from adverse circumstances by determined people - such as the Renaissance that arose from the Dark Ages and the Black Death, the moves towards world social justice that emerged from the Industrial Revolution, and the Atlantic Charter and Marshall Plan following the war against Hitler. Nepad can be the way forward after colonialism and racism in Africa.
Is this over-optimistic? Some will say yes. But let us just glance at the resources that Africa has placed at the service of humanity down the ages, and offers, in equal partnership with others, today:
Its treasure-chest of mineral, oil and gas deposits; its flora and fauna; and its relatively unspoiled habitat, so beckoning to those who would mine, farm, visit or industrialise ... Its global ecological lung provided by the rain forests and the relative absence of harmful emissions and effluents ... Its confirmed role as the cradle of humankind, with its palaeontological and archaeological sites ranking among the wonders of the world ... Its rich culture and traditions.
When these assets are mobilized and pitted against the debit balance of colonial exploitation, racism and historic neglect, there is ground for optimism that Africa shall arise in strength and renew itself.
So, what strategic role can black business play in this great revival? In short: help to make Africa strong.
Black business has a crucial advocacy role to play in regard to good political and economic governance in Africa, both at government and corporate levels. It is not just the role of political parties to ensure good governance. It is the responsibility of all institutions in society to pitch in with serious contributions to this end, and black business is a most powerful emergent force that carries heavy responsibility in this regard. Public and private sector should be seen as partners in the cause of growth and good governance, and we should not allow a dichotomy to develop between the two. They are two sides of the same coin.
The economic recovery of the continent will have to be built, painstakingly, on the comparative advantages of Africa and how this situation can be turned into a sharp competitive edge, particularly, in the first instance, in the resource- based sectors (minerals, mining and agriculture). In order to exploit these sectors, infrastructure investments will be crucial. The importance of public-private partnerships is well accepted and understood. Black business needs to work out its role in the provision of infrastructure. A key challenge is critically to examine the role being played by the South African parastatals (eg Eskom, Transnet, Telkom) and to see how both black entrepreneurs from SA and the continent are being drawn in, and how the process can be speeded up. South African interests, enriched by black empowerment, can be inspanned to offer Africa real progress in a whole range of activities, eg in mutual trade and commerce, air traffic control, stock exchanges, telecommunications, etc.
Tourism is also a crucial area that needs to be focused on. Here the strategy being developed by Environmental Affairs and Tourism in regard to procurement is important. Tourism from Africa is a very substantial part of our annual intake of visitors, and this should be developed.
A major reason for the lack of economic vibrancy on the continent is the slow emergence of a SMME sector. We need to redouble our efforts to generate, nurture and assist such a sector. Clearly the state/government has a key role to play in this regard, but in close partnership with business. We need to see what new things can be done.
Agriculture is crucial for the re-generation of the continent. We need to unleash the entrepreneurial energies of the people and to get SMMEs going.
To secure a vibrant, productive African agriculture scene is not easy. For one thing, developed countries should get rid of their protective agricultural subsidies, and at the same time Africa needs to examine what tenure reforms are necessary. A key to the way forward is the effective empowerment of women. There is a need also to examine what other incentives are necessary to support peasant farmers and keep them on the land.
In all, black business should be doing everything it can to boost intra-African trade and commerce. We must trade more with ourselves as Africans if we are to trade more effectively with the world.
The Nepad plan is there. The resolve is there. And there is work to be done.