Happy Africa Day?

Today we celebrate African Unity, Africa - our future. This day was birthed many years ago when a now dyfunct organisation was formed in Addis Abbaba in 1963. This was a fulfilment of Kwame Nkrumah's vision - an advocate for pan africanism which essentially means the creation of an African community by those with African heritage. Elements of this can be seen in his native Ghana where people from West Africa have a special passport that they can use to travel in and out of the different countries. Briefly taking a look at the last 2 years in Southern Africa, not much progress can be seen with regards to this. Yes we as Zimbabweans may not need a passport to travel to South Africa, but the xenophobic attacks that i watched unfold online, speak of something else.


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Anyway, here is a quick history lesson from an article i found online, its a worthy ready. Wishing you all a brilliant Africa Day.

When the African Union was established to replace the defunct Organization of African Unity, many Africans were relieved that now that the OAU was gone, Africa could breathe a sigh of fresh air. Every African knew that the OAU was one of the most ineffective and disastrous organization in Africa. In its three decades of existence, the OAU registered more failures than successes.

If any success of the OAU, it was finishing the ground works laid by the Pan Africanism to free Africa from the yoke of colonial rule and perhaps, bring about equality, justice and progress on the continent. Perhaps, after three decades of existence, one can easily say that one of the greatest achievements of the OAU was its struggle to end apartheid in South Africa. Another milestone is that the OAU has survived for more than three decades.

However beyond these so-called accomplishments, the OAU appears to be failing, creating disunity and chaos on the African continent. For example, the OAU was the most corrupt organization in Africa. In the last three decades, there were conflicts, starvation, deceases and internal conflicts on the continent while African leaders wasted the meager resources of member countries.

While countries struggled with many problems, including the Sub-Saharan, Arab differences; poor decision-making and distrust of the organization; human rights abuses and financial constraints; African leaders indulged in their lavish spending and buying villas in foreign countries at the same time surrounding themselves by private armies whose budgets surpassed that of their respective countries.

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