SANF 05 no 89
A new leadership is emerging in Africa that will stand together to recover the dignity of the continent, and will not be pushed around by northern countries, says the outgoing President of the United Republic of Tanzania, Benjamin William Mkapa.
“For too long, Africa has endured lectures on practically everything from politics to economics to human rights, but the time has come for Africa to reassert itself and recover its dignity.
“The continent should take charge of its own destiny,” Mkapa said, “and make mistakes of its own if need be because it should not be touted and chaperoned much further.
Speaking during farewell visits to countries in southern Africa, Mkapa predicted that, “A new leadership is emerging in Africa that cannot accept a tutelary relationship with our erstwhile colonisers.
“A new leadership which would rather listen to its elders such as Cde Mugabe, thus being faithful to the counsel of the African saying, ‘The one who listens to the voice of the elderly is strong like a tree, the one who turns a deaf ear is like a twig in the wind.”
Africa can successfully reassert its right to take charge of its affairs if it stands together, Mkapa said. He was elected the third president of Tanzania in 1995 and has served for two terms. He will stand down in early November following elections on 30 October.
His most significant achievement is the economic turnaround in Tanzania, with growth indicators on the increase and inflation contained to single digits.
Bidding farewell in Zimbabwe, he said Africa wants to do more for itself but also demands the right to ownership of political programmes.
“How come for instance, that the opinion of the SADC [Southern African Development Community] or African electoral observers is ignored if it conflicts with that of observers from rich countries?
“Does it mean that only observers from rich countries can objectively see what is happening during our elections? That only their opinion counts? That attitude is too condescending for us to bear.”
A former chairperson of SADC, Mkapa also used the opportunity to speak firmly in support of Zimbabwe, its land reform programme, and President Robert Mugabe who has been under siege by many northern governments and the international news media.
“There are governments – some of them very good friends and development partners of ours – which are upset with me because of my steadfast refusal to censure the Zimbabwean government for what they claim are human rights abuses and democratic deficits in this country.
“ I think we have reached a point where, like good friends, we have agreed to disagree on Zimbabwe. I am glad they have not insisted on choosing friends for us.”
For Tanzania, he said, Zimbabwe is more than a friend but rather a brother and comrade in the struggle for justice and freedom, for human rights and democracy. Where solidarity with Zimbabwe is concerned, “we embrace the Shona proverb: ‘If you are at peace, so am I, but if you are in trouble, so am I’.”
Mkapa said that this may come as a surprise to those who have fallen gullible to the international media, which has been running stories and editorials demonising President Mugabe.
“But there is no gainsaying Cde Mugabe’s outstanding record of struggle against colonialism and minority settler rule. No amount of mudslinging can erase that record of sacrifice and struggle for the right to have a vote; years in prison to demand the most fundamental political and social rights while previous governments of those who censure him today were socialising with the people who put him in incarceration.”
Such people have conveniently forgotten “that the best land in Zimbabwe and in a few other African countries was forcibly taken away from black people who were then killed or chased away like dogs from their ancestral homes to make way for white people.
He said “such people” may have forgotten that the liberation war was not only about political power and independence, but was very much a demand for land restitution.
“How then could one expect Cde Mugabe to leave office before resolving this unfinished business?”
Such people may have forgotten the proceedings and decisions made at the Lancaster House conference on independence in 1979, but Tanzania has not, Mkapa said, “because we had to plead with Cde Mugabe to hold back for a while on the conditionality of immediate land redistribution.
“As I said in an SABC interview in Pretoria last month on this issue, Zimbabwe is more sinned against than sinning.”
Mkapa said that when Tanzania gained independence, it abolished the freehold land tenure system, putting all land in the public domain so that no one should ever fail to get land for productive use. Secure and longterm leases of up to 99 years were guaranteed for those who were ready and able to use the land productively.
“To us that makes sense and is more in keeping with human rights than allowing absentee landlords to speculative hold on to land while people do not have land to grow food.
“I am also convinced that there are many people in other southern African countries watching closely the land redistribution programme in this country.” (SARDC)
