Keynote address by H.E. David Mabuza, Deputy President of the Republic of South Africa at the African Leadership Magazine’s Person of the Year Award Ceremony

Theme: “Africa for Africans: Exploring the Gains of a Connected Continent”

Programme Director, 
Former First Lady, Mama Bongi Ngema-Zuma, 
Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, President of the African Development Bank,
Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma,
Minister Lindiwe Zulu, 
Your Excellencies, Ambassadors and Members of the Diplomatic Corps, 
Fellow Africans in the Continent and the Diaspora, 
Distinguished Guests, and 
Ladies and Gentlemen:

It is my honour to be invited to this African Leadership Magazine’s 2020 Award Ceremony, more so, given this magazine’s focus to reshape positively, the dominant narratives about the African continent.

It is my privilege to be recognised by the African Leadership Magazine, for the work we have done with the collective towards the pursuit of peace-building and democracy in South Sudan.     

On behalf of the President and the people of South Africa, We stand before you, humbled by your gesture and encouraged that in your wisdom, you have acknowledged the efforts of all those who have worked alongside ourselves to put peace and development of South Sudan and her people at the centre. 

Equally importantly, I graciously accept this Award on behalf of South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir Mayardit and his First Vice President, Dr Riek Machar Teny, for demonstrating selfless leadership by making real the formation of the transitional government of national unity in South Sudan. 

Their exemplary purposeful leadership, along with that of other political parties in South Sudan, is commended as it contributes to ending the untold suffering of ordinary South Sudanese who have experienced pain for a long time, instead of peace; destruction instead of development; and poverty instead of progress. 

Surely, South Sudan stands as a testament to what can be achieved and gained when dialogue replaces the force of conflict and violence. 

This principle has been proven many times over in the course of Africa’s development from the era of one party states and unconstitutional changes of government in the continent , to democratisation era of the 1990s and beyond. 

Diplomacy is always the most sensible pathway after conflict and war. 

Conflict stunts growth and development. It breeds discontent and it is a recipe for disaster. 

At the receiving end of conflict, is always the ordinary people, mostly women and children that bear the most brunt of pain and disruption of their life. 

The task at hand is neither to stand before you and pontificate about our past as a continent, nor the current state of affairs that is influenced by contemporary geopolitics. 

It is rather about us meeting to exchange views on the direction that Africa should take to claim its place under the sun.

African challenges are well-documented. They range from poor infrastructure; small and fragmented markets; instability linked to armed conflicts and insecurity, and poor political and economic governance; and inadequate human capital and ‘brain drain’. 

For our part as a country, our destiny and aspirations are inseparable from those of our brothers and sisters on the continent. We yearn for the same economic and social progress.  Shoulder to shoulder, we will stand together and continue to build an Africa that is free and independent. 

The struggles of our people and their development aspirations remain fundamentally intertwined with those of fellow Africans elsewhere on the Continent. 
  
These are the values that President Oliver Tambo and President Nelson Mandela taught us. 

Our commitment to the cause of a prosperous and better Africa is unwavering.

It is in that spirit that as a country, we have placed our resources both human and financial, to the resolutions of conflicts in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, Central African Republic, Madagascar, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Sudan, South Sudan and many other places. 

Our resolve remains firmly that as Africans we must find ‘African solutions to Africa’s problems’. 

We are committed to playing our role with diligence within the African family of nations, driven by the desire achieve peace, development, social justice and economic progress for all on the Continent.
 
Since the dawn of democracy in 1994, the democratic government under the African National Congress, has sought to ensure that South Africa is a trusted ally and partner in the development and advancement of our own continent.

It is in pursuit of this ideal, that we strive to always contribute with our limited resources to peace, security, stability and development on the rest of the continent. 

It is in this regard that we have worked with the rest of Africa at bilateral, multilateral and regional levels to achieve the goal of a united Africa that is characterised by integrated regional economies, regional networks and people-to-people integration. 

We have consistently done this, as a conscious agenda of ensuring that extra-continental relations and Africa’s global integration are leveraged to serve the developmental priorities as defined by African countries themselves.

Ladies and Gentlemen 

Africa is blessed with variables that demonstrates a continent moving in a positive trajectory. 

We have the highest number of countries with a high GDP growth. 

Our markets are expanding with a sizeable consumer middle class, and the youthful population augurs well for investment in innovations in telecommunications, agriculture, manufacturing, and industrialisation.
 
We have in the short period of our democratisation agenda, made possible for instance, the tangible realisation of the African Continental Free Trade Area. 

This major development, will make feasible integration of African economies, promote free trade and movement of goods, services and people within our motherland without the constraints on imposed colonial borders and fragmented markets. 

Quite clearly, as Africa we are making significant inroads towards connecting as a continent. There is notable progress in establishing hard infrastructure of network industries like roads, rails, airports, ports, water and power grids. 

It is also encouraging that some advances are made to take advantage to entrench soft infrastructure of data and information networks. 

However, we cannot begin to imagine an Africa that is connected, if we neglect the conscious agenda of institution building, infrastructure entrenchment, investment invitation, and innovation prioritisation.   

This demands that investment and growth should be balanced with capacitating our young people with requisite skills and training that is basic and advanced. 

It makes no sense to be described as a resource-rich continent but being unable to take advantage of our abundant arable land, hydro-electric power, and alternative energy supply like sun and wind sources. 

It remains inexcusable that whilst we have abundant oil and gas reserves, we still lack on reliable energy supply to spur our growth. 

It should blot all of our conscience, that local beneficiation remains a policy intent than practical implementation to drive our development. 

If we are genuinely sincere about exploring and exploiting the gains of a connected continent, then charity should begin at home.

If we are to convert the 21st century into an African Century, then it is imperative that we reframe our thinking and practice to be anchored on self-reliance, self-reference, self-dependence, and self-development. 

Therefore, to speak about African solutions to African problems amounts to putting in place the basic fundamentals such as:

Building institutions that harness and maximise the provision of common goods to deal decisively with the poverty-unemployment-inequality nexus,
Solidifying and regular maintenance of the infrastructure necessary for the connections of people or goods through roads, capital through open markets, and data and information through networks, 
Prioritising local and international investment that empowers young people to access opportunities, convert ideas to projects, and adequately capacitates women to participate as equals in the economy, political spaces, social life without fear of discrimination, violence and harassment. 

There is merit in the argument advanced by the likes of Francis Fukuyama, that the dream of African sovereignty will remain deferred until we have normalised in our countries, durable institutions able to withstand political uncertainties, economic improbabilities and social unrest. 

It is only when we have in our countries, inclusive institutions that effective governance can take root. 

It is only if there is a guarantee of the rule of law, that local and international investments can come voluntarily to partner with government to advance public goods of education, healthcare, security, and poverty eradication. 

It is only with transparent institutions and regular democratic elections that we can raise our levels of development. 

If we fail to entrench opportunities that will lift those on the margins of the economy, then it is not inconceivable to see the masses of our people being susceptible to regressive acts like xenophobic sentiments. 

As South African government, we have said before that such sentiments amount to black-on-black-prejudice that has no place in a civilised world. 

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Exploring the gains of a connected Africa amounts to transitioning as soon as possible from being exclusively commodity-dependent countries to becoming truly diversified economies that focus on strengthening people-to-people integration and harness our untapped potential of young people and the rising middle class. 

As South Africa assumes the Chairship of the African Union, we will work together based on respect for each others’ national sovereignty. We will work with other nations to silence the guns and create conducive conditions for Africa’s development. 
 
Allow me to conclude with the wise words of the Prime Minister of Ethiopia, HE Abiy Ahmed when he received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2019: “I believe that peace is an affair of the heart. Peace is a labour of love. Sustaining peace is hard work. It takes a few to make war, but it takes a village and a nation to build peace. Peace requires good faith to blossom into prosperity, security, and opportunity”. 

I thank you.