“The conviction therefore that our past tells us that the time for Africa’s Renaissance has come, is fundamental to the very conceptualization of this Renaissance and the answer to the question: Whence this confidence? Unless we are able to answer the question “Who were we?” we will not be able to answer the question “What shall we be?”
That was Mbeki then when he was articulating and popularizing the concept of the Africa’s Renaissance as a post-apartheid/colonialism intellectual agenda to deal with Africa’s under-development. According to the Mbeki maxim, the African Renaissance entails social cohesion, democracy, economic rebuilding and growth, and the establishment of Africa as a significant player in geo-political affairs of the world.
However, when Mbeki was ousted, in what is called as Coup de’Grace, by the ANC hardliners in 2008, the vision of getting the African Renaissance off the ground was put in danger.
“We must do everything we can to contribute to the realization of the dream of the African masses that everything would be done, with them acting as makers rather than objects of history, to achieve the renaissance of Africa and thus make the 21st an African century,”
That’s Mbeki now, speaking at the launch of his foundation-the Thabo Mbeki Foundation- in Jozi last week to help Africans confront the continent’s challenges. It is reported by local media that the launch was attended, among others, former Ghanaian president John Kufuor, former Mozambican president Joaquim Chissano, Italian statesman Romano Prodi and Graca Machel, wife of former president Nelson Mandela.
Mbeki’s, who was South African president from 1999 to 2008, legacy is a mixed bag. If you look it from what is called as the World Bank/IMF/Washington Consensus lens, he left an impressive economic track record. But if you look it from the shop floor lens, you will understand why many people flocked to the incumbent president Jacob Zuma’s populist, banner. Under Mbeki, the gap between the rich and poor widened dramatically. Indeed, it is the country’s unemployment situation, and the widening gap between the rich and the poor that were popular and effective tactics in the arsenal of Jacob Zuma.
The Mbeki presidency was also at the center of the HIV/AIDS controversy to which Thabo Mbeki was accused of rejecting the origin of HIV/AIDS. I disagree with his critics that he rejected the existence of HIV/AID, but I leave that for another post.
And yes, I agree that the ANC’s move to get rid off him was populism at work. But we all know that populism is neither a strategy nor a policy for addressing poverty. Therefore I wholeheartedly welcome the launch of his foundation as a non-political entity to deal with Africa’s challenges.
