One Africa only possible if economies prosper

From a revolutionary theory perspective, Africa belongs to all Africans. It is a noble theory and a fact. Without careful consideration of how to build a unified Africa, all the noise we hear from politicians about a single Africa are just populist nonsense to make themselves relevant.

It is a call that under the prevailing material conditions, is simply not achievable. At best, it simply serves to widen the current divisions, not only in Africa, but in South Africa itself. The call seems to be more vociferous and gaining some audience among the politically uninitiated.

From a practical point of view, Africa has been divided into 54 little pockets by the colonisers. Over that time, those artificial states had become a reality. Those pockets have now become sovereign countries in their own right.

That being the case, it becomes the role and responsibility of all African states to start a dialogue over the unification of Africa. It cannot be only one country, in this case South Africa, that calls for the unification of Africa.

It is bodies such as the African Union (AU) and regional economic community bodies, such as Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) that have to begin such a dialogue.

What we cannot be oblivious to is the fact that Africa has got separate and entrenched political leaderships and sovereignties which cannot simply be wished away overnight because some grouping in the southern tip of Africa wished it to be.

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We should also not forget that many parts of Africa are at war with each other over matters of sovereignty and self-determination. We sometimes need to ask ourselves difficult questions. One such difficult question would be: which president of an African state will ever be willing to subject themselves to a single African presidency of, say, Cyril Ramaphosa or Paul Kagame of Rwanda?

I bet that debate alone may take over 20 years without any resolution in sight. For me, the best campaign would be for all African political organisations and like-minded African governments, including South Africa, to call on African leaders to refrain from mismanagement of their economies.

They must begin to put their countries and their people before themselves and deal decisively with corruption, malfeasance and embezzlement. To do this, of course, they have to put pressure on the AU, SADC and Ecowas and others to act with urgency to ensure that Africa does something to fix her economies.

Once Africa experiences proper economic management, some level of economic growth and stability, then dialogue about an envisaged single whole for all Africans would become a reality.

At such a time in the future we shall begin to talk as equals about the continent we all envisage – a continent that will produce a people with a common objective.

Pule Monama is an independent commentator and former Azanian People’s Organisation (Azapo) leader.