CONTINENTAL CONCERNS
ONKGOPOTSE JJ TABANE: Conspiracy of silence blunts Africa Month celebrations
Until we get a handle on the quality of Africa’s leaders, the continent shall only rise in our hopeful imaginations
Arts and Culture Minister Nathi Mthethwa is quite a passionate fellow and in May, it was great to see him crisscrossing SA, getting people to reflect on the fortunes of the continent. I am responding to his invitation to so reflect. As we round off Africa Month I asked myself, is it really a happy birthday to Africa? And can a focus on our continent on May 25 do enough to promote Africa out of the dark clouds that often hover above it? One of my biggest bugbears is the fact that despite Africa’s well-documented wealth, so many of its children go to bed hungry. This is only half the story of our well-endowed continent. It is, however, hard to tell a story of Africa’s development when this needless hunger is a reality in many countries. Sitting at the heart of this reality is poor leadership and their conspiracy of silence. Ironically, on Africa Day, a glaring example of this conspiracy reared its ugly head once again when the DA’s Mmusi Maimane was chucked out of Zambia for daring to...
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