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African Liberation Day needs to be liberated

by Muthwa Ncube (25/05/2002)

Africa Freedom Day, was created by the Conference of African States convened under the auspices of the Kwame Nkrumah government in Accra, Ghana. April 15, 1957. Africa Freedom Day was originaly designated for April 15. The eight heads of states at that meeting intended Africa Freedom Day to be a day marking their renewed commitment to the liberation/decolonization of the whole African continent and all it's people.

When the Organization of African Unity (OAU) was created in May of 1963 in Addis Ababa, the founding delegates proclaimed May 25, 1963 African Liberation Day (ALD), as the successor commemoration day to Africa Freedom Day. Since then African peoples have observed ALD all over the world.

Kwame Nkrumah's dream of a free, united and prosperous Africa made him an icon of the post-colonial era. Although Nkrumah triumphantly led Ghana to independence in 1957, by February 1966 he had been overthrown in a coup and spent the remaining six years of his life languishing in exile. During the course of his rule, Nkrumah had increasingly been regarded as an authoritarian and remote leader. In 1964 he declared himself president for life and banned opposition parties. Justifying his actions he wrote:

'Even a system based on a democratic constitution may need backing up in the period following independence by emergency measures of a totalitarian kind.'

Some will argue that external forces such as the CIA were involved in plotting the downfall of the former President of Ghana but one thing remains certain for sure. The independence of the former Gold Coast from the British colonialists with the promise of a Pan-Africanist leader, the banning of political parties in Ghana and then the coup d'etat followed by the unrelenting grip of neo-colonialism were landmark events which set a tone that was to become all too familiar in African post-independence political arena up to the present day. The events which emulated those of the first independent African nation will not be covered in detail in this publication, but it is well known that these events in African politics have mapped the destiny of Africa.

On this day, the 44th Anniversay of African Liberation Day, Africa is in many ways still characterised by famine, poverty, strife and military coups. Yet another new player, AIDS, has become a major foe to the continent's development. Yet, Julius Nyerere, himself one of the 32 leaders at the founding of the OAU, remarked that at the time that "it appeared that Africa was setting out along the road to its great destiny". Four decades have passed, the Cold War has come and gone and now the world, particularly the western world talks of the threat of "international terrorism". The revolution in information and other technology has delivered minimal success to Africa even though very few African countries such as Botswana have managed little per capita growth, all in the region of 5%. There are signs of hope on the economic horizon too for Mauritius , Benin, Guinea, Lesotho, Mozambique, and Uganda. Lesotho's economy, for example, has been growing at more than a 10 percent rate since 1994.
 
  Today Africa is blessed with yet more revolutionary leaders such as Thabo Mbeki, the President of South Africa who, together with the President of Nigeria Olesegun Obesanjo and President of Senegal Abdoulaye Wade, have engineered yet another initiative aimed at reversing Africa's ills. Undoubtedly, these three leaders have looked into the success behind countries such as Botswana and decided partnerships are the way forward. Their initiative is called NEPAD (The New Partnership for African Development), and aims to propel Africa from the margins of the global economy through massive investments from richer countries, in return for commitments on democracy and good governance. Consequently, yet another promise and declaration was been made by an African President as Olesegun Obesanjo told the delegates of a conference , "anything that affects an African's life will be included in NEPAD."  But does this spell liberation for Africa?

After all this promise and and all the different initiatives, it has become all too apparent that liberation from colonial rule alone is not enough to rebuild Africa. Unity of the kind represented by the OAU has not been enough either. Why has Africa failed to take advantage of the indispensable condition for nation building known as independence despite efforts such as the OAU and Nepad and world-wide Pan-Africanism? Proper re-building of Africa should have really began on this day 44 years ago. The formation of the OAU sought supply support, material or otherwise, to the rest of Africa's countries which still remained under colonial rule. The Organisation was also seeking to ratify Nkrumah's vision with a front for Continental Unity. But all that seemsto have been achieved was attaining independence from colonialisation of thise countries.

It was a step in the right direction to identify UNITY as the next step. Africa needs UNITY. The kind of unity which accepts the ethnic factor in most African nations. It is that only by dealing with the reality of ethnicity imaginatively will the forces of division arising from that quarter be kept in check. More widely, it is a question of managing pluralism, making a virtue, so to speak, of Africa's many diversities. I am writing this as a member of the Ndebele "tribe" of South-western Zimbabwe who experienced post-independence ethnic cleansing in the hands of President Robert Gabriel Mugabe's regime in the 1980's. Yet Zimbabwe was a member of the OAU. Since African politicians have failed to realise this true unity, African liberation needs to liberate itself from politics, African Unity needs to liberate itself from politics and politicians. Politics in Africa has failed to liberate itself from neo-colonialism and neither has it failed to detract itself from dictactorship.

There will undoubtedly be some modern day dictators such as Robert Mugabe, the President of Zimbabwe, who will be seeking to hijack the liberation of Africans to further their own political agendas. Through Mugabe, we have seen the abuse of the fruits of the war of liberation in order to entrench dictatorship. Pan-Africanist ideals have become corrupted and the war against neo-colonialism has become misguided. African Liberation Day needs to be liberated from the claws of dictatorial governments who claim to have the monopoly the citizen's freedom because they took part in the war of liberation.

Speaking at an OAU summit, Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie had this to say about Zimbabwe before independence, then known as Rhodesia:

"The United Nations Anti-Colonial Committee of which Ethiopia is a member, is presently visiting Africa to follow closely the dangerous situation in Southern Rhodesia. In South Africa and in South-West Africa, the policies of apartheid and oppression are becoming increasingly unbearable. The South African Government is accelerating its ruthless campaign: a methodical campaign of arresting daily, detaining without trial and torturing the Africans and their leaders who are struggling for the their fundamental human rights and freedom. All the peace-loving countries of the world must act together to force the colonial governments of South Africa and Portugal to desist from these policies - policies which are inhuman, policies which deny basic human rights, policies which are detrimental to the peace and security of the entire world and grant independence and freedom to these oppressed people.

It goes without saying that the same can be said of Robert Mugabe's regime today. People who seek real liberation from British and western neo-colonialism will liberate their ideals from those of Robert Mugabe. Nkrumah's vision will be revisited and the unity sought by the OAU, now known as the African Union, will be redefined.

I therefore call upon all Pan Africanist to liberate African Liberation day.