Department FrontPage

Fellow Africans, Our Dear Friends

One year ago, African leaders from governments, civil society, the arts, students, human rights groups, the media, women’s movements, youth organisations, intellectuals, trade unions, academics, and business met at the Headquarters of the African Union, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to celebrate 50 years since the founding of the Organisation of African Unity.

We were joined in these celebrations by our sisters and brothers in the Diaspora, and our friends and partners from across the world.

We gathered in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and across the length and breadth of the continent to reflect on Africa over the last fifty years and where we are today. We celebrated our achievements, in particular the successes recorded in liberating the overwhelming majority of Africans from the yoke of colonialism and apartheid. We also acknowledged the long and arduous road of building independent nations and states, whilst defining Africa’s place in the world and the route towards African integration.

Throughout the year, we remembered the contributions of the early Pan Africanists, on the mother continent and in the Diaspora, who united into a powerful and enduring movement against dehumanizing slavery, racial oppression and colonialism, for self-determination and laid the foundation for our vision of a United Africa.

As we started the celebrations, we vowed to use the yearlong celebrations to remember our heroes and heroines, to learn lessons from our past and to chart the way forward for the ‘Africa we Want’.

One year on, Africa has a stronger sense of herself, her past and present, and the challenges and opportunities we face.

Most importantly, we used our Golden Jubilee celebrations to define the Africa we want. The ‘E-mail from the future’, which I wrote to Kwameh Nkrumah was but one contribution. It sparked off an amazing process of reflections and dreams about how Africa can be.

Africans from the north to the south, east to west, young and old, men and women, academics, business, and government officials, the religious sector and civil society, got talking and reflecting on our past, present and future.

These reflections found expression in Agenda 2063, a long-term vision and roadmap for the transformation of African into a continent that is integrated, peaceful, prosperous and people-centred.

Agenda 2063 thus contains a summation of the aspirations of Africans for the future we want, and let me voice some of them:

The young people said: We want a modernized Africa that uses technology to provide services to all people; with modern, fast and sustainable transport, energy and ICT infrastructure, a vibrant green economy and with free movement of people and goods.

We want to be able to study anywhere in the continent, have our qualifications recognized everywhere and be able to work or establish a business in any part of the continent.

The religious communities said: We want our people to live in peace, to express themselves and their beliefs freely, with tolerance for others’ religions. We want our societies to be based on shared values of loving thy neighbor, of solidarity and care for each other. We want accountable government and leadership that involve the people in determining their destiny.

The women said: We are more than half of the continent’s population and give birth to the other half. We want to be equal partners in building an Africa of peace and shared prosperity. We want our boys and girls to be healthy, to go to school, to acquire post school education, skills and jobs, and opportunities to participate in the future.

We don’t want the pain of not having food to feed our children, or losing our girls to child marriages, or kidnappings or our young people recruited into rebel groups or armed and criminal gangs, or losing our lives whilst giving lives.

Business people said: We want our economies to diversify and grow, and to make it easy to transport our goods from one country to another, to trade with fellow Africans and to establish strong African business champions in all sectors. We want to invest in new ventures and take risks on the innovation ideas of young entrepreneurs. We need reliable and adequate energy and other infrastructure to grow and expand our businesses.

The Farmers said: Since more than 70% of us working in agriculture are women, we need access to land, capital, irrigation, seeds, extension services, storage and transport. We know the land, the seasons, and we know we can feed the continent.

University students said: We want to be proud Africans, to compete with the best in the world, to live in a continent that is a success story. We want an Africa that is self-reliant and able to finance its development.

The African Tourism Ministers said: we want to capture a much larger share of the global tourism and over the next decades make Africa the preferred tourist destination of the world.

Workers said: we want the economy to grow and create jobs, with decent wages, social protection and safe working environments. We want investment and training in the informal economy to increase productivity and grow into the mainstream.

The small island states communities said: We want Africa to define and lead in the blue economy; and we want transport links amongst our islands and with the mainland. We want movement on the mitigation and adaptation strategies to help us deal with climate change.

One of our science publications wrote: without an African skills revolution, and scaled-up investment in science, mathematics, technology and research, Agenda 2063 won’t happen. African leaders must therefore champion the cause of science and technology.

The African Diaspora: We want the sixth region to be more than just a slogan, so that we can contribute and build effective links between the mother continent and her diaspora.

Our artists said: We want our heritage and culture to be a vibrant part of the Pan African identity and renaissance, we want Africa to reclaim its place amongst the world’s leading civilization, with its values of ubuntu, of solidarity, equality, unity in diversity and living in harmony with our natural environment.

These are but a few of the aspirations for the Future we Want voiced by Africans as we celebrated and reflected over the past year.

Fellow Africans, Dear Friends

Agenda 2063 is however not only about aspirations.

It builds on the historic tenants of the Pan African movement, the continental frameworks of the OAU such as the Monrovia declaration, the Lagos Plan of Action, the Abuja Treaty and NEPAD. It consolidates into a comprehensive framework our sectoral strategies: in agriculture, arts, culture, education, science, technology, social policy, infrastructure, health, industrialization and integration, etc. It takes account of the national and regional developmental plans.

Agenda 2063 will therefore prioritise strategies, identify the key enablers, the capacity required for implementation and how we will finance our programmes.

As a generation that lived to celebrate fifty years since the dream of a United Africa was articulated on 25 May 1963, we are once again taking up the baton.

We are confident that the generations that will celebrate centenary of our continental union in 2063 - our children, grandchildren and great grandchildren - will live in an Africa very different from what we have today.

The journey towards 2063 has started. It will be a long journey and we will climb many hills.

But we will succeed.

I wish you a happy Africa Day!

Statement of Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, Chairperson of the African Union Commission, on the occasion of receiving the Honorary Doctorate of Administration from the University of Fort Hare

17 May 2014, Alice. South Africa

The Chancellor of the University of Fort Hare, Honourable Justice Thembile Skweyiya
The Vice Chancellor, Dr. Mvuyo Tom
Chairperson of Council
President of the Student Representative Council
President of the Convocation
Members of the Fort Hare Council and Faculty
Honourable Minister from Zimbabwe
Students and Alumni
Ladies and Gentlemen
I am honoured to accept this Honorary Degree, Doctor of Administration from the great African University of Fort Hare and to join the honours roll of so many Africans who made a contribution to their countries and to the continent.
I am particularly pleased to do so a week before Africa Day on 25 May, which will be the conclusion of the Golden Jubilee celebrations of the formation of the Organisation of African Unity, now the African Union.
Africa has used the opportunity of these celebrations to reflect on the past fifty years, the current state of the continent, but most importantly, to have a conversation on the future we want in the next fifty years. These conversations find expression in Agenda 2063, a vision for the continent for the next fifty years.
Africa today has turned the corner, and is now home to some of the world’s fastest-growing economies, and with progress on a number of social indicators. Maternal mortality is going down, more people have access to basic services, and we have more children, including girls and young women in school and in higher education. Most Africans today live in countries where security, democracy and governance have improved, and the push for gender equality is gaining momentum.
The continent also has a growing and youthful population and still has vast natural resources including land, water, minerals, oil and gas, forests, biodiversity and oceanic resources. By 2025 a quarter of the world’s young people will be African and by 2050 our population will cross the two billion mark.
The challenge facing our generations, Ladies and Gentlemen, is to tackle the persistent challenges of underdevelopment, poverty and inequality, and to turn these opportunities, into a roadmap that will transform Africa into an integrated, peaceful and prosperous continent, in the shortest possible time.
This is the rationale for Agenda 2063, as a long term, comprehensive continental framework that builds on the foundations of the Lagos Plan of Action, the Abuja Treaty, Nepad, as well as various sectoral policy frameworks of the African Union.
Agenda 2063 allows us to imagine an Africa that is transformed, with vibrant and inclusive economies, free from the burden of poverty, hunger, conflict and disease, and that is integrated and connected through transport networks (including a Pan African High Speed train that connects all our capitals and commercial centres), connected through ICT and with free movement of people and goods.
It is for this reason that the African agenda sets milestones for the priority areas that will make this vision a reality. These priorities include firstly the investments in the African people, as our most precious resources: their health, nutrition, access to shelter, sanitation and water, as well as expanding quality education, and strengthening science, technology, innovation and research.
In a similar vein, the empowerment of women and young people, as drivers of continental development is a critical precondition for Africa’s prosperity and renaissance. It is for this reason that the outrage of the kidnapping of the Nigerian school girls affect all Africans, and we must mobilise across the length and the breadth of the continent and as peace-loving humanity, to demand their safe return. Africa’s girls and young people should be in school and in education, and should be given opportunities to reach their full potential.
Ladies and Gentlemen
Although the growth experienced by the continent over the last decade marks an important turning point, it can only be sustained if we also transform our economies and societies, and create employment. We must do this by diversifying economies, by beneficiating our mineral resources, by expanding manufacturing and services including tourism, build the blue and green economies and by increasing intra-African trade.
Africa is home to over 60% of the world’s unused arable land, and yet it is a net importer of food. We must therefore continue to grow the agricultural and agro-processing sectors to ensure collective food security and to become a net exporter of food.
All this will not be possible without infrastructure - energy, transport, ICT, irrigation and storage facilities. This is therefore a further key priority for the continent, with South Africa having been tasked by the continent to act as a champion for the AU infrastructure programme.
In the final analysis, the integration of the continent is a key precondition to the above: from large-scale energy projects to our collective food security and responses to climate change, Africa gains more through integration, than by acting as 55 fragmented countries and economies.

Ladies and Gentlemen,
Professor ZK Matthews, a former principal of Fort Hare University in 1961 spoke about the role of universities when he said, that the problems of emergent Africa should be tackled with resolute action, research and wisdom… and that universities, by tradition the institutions entrusted with the pursuit of truth, were obvious bodies to meet the challenge of Africa today. This is still very much true today.
Fort Hare is arguably the most significant University in Southern Africa by virtue of its alumni, who number amongst their ranks many of the liberation activists of this region who went on to become political leaders and Heads of State. These include Nelson Mandela, Oliver Tambo, Govan Mbeki, Robert Sobukwe and Mangosuthu Buthelezi in South Africa; Robert Mugabe and Herbert Chitepo in Zimbabwe; and Elius Mathu and Charles Njonjo in Kenya.
Fort Hare also produced great academics and educators such Professors Matthews, Mtimkulu, Vilakazi, Ngcobo and Samkange; as well as great artists like the dramatist Can Themba.
Universities like Fort Hare, Dar es Salaam, Ibadan, Makerere, Addis Ababa, Cairo and others across the continent have a critical role to play not only in ensuring that we train the technocrats, the lawyers, scientists, teachers, engineers, the town planners, the researchers and agronomists to implement Agenda 2063, but also to contribute to the skills revolution that Africa so desperately need.
African universities must ensure that their academic staff conscientise the future generations to a new mindset that does not accept second best, but a believe that they have the tenacity and ideas to compete with the best in the world. Africa’s young people and students should provide the creativity, the energy and the innovation to ensure that the continental agenda for prosperity and integration are moved forward.
As we therefore develop Agenda 2063, we must build values that speak of ‘ubuntu’ rather than ‘enlightened self-interest’.
That speak of harmony with the environment, rather than relentless consumption with disregard for the harm caused to the planet. Values that regard all professions, especially teaching, law, medicine, engineering, and the public service as a means to make a difference and serve the community, rather than just a means to accumulate wealth.
The university sector also has to play a critical role in African integration, by ensuring that it cooperates with other African universities and build networks of research and scientific cooperation. We must be part of the critical project to harmonize training and professional qualifications on the continent, so that students and professionals can study, work and cooperate with each other across the continent.
In conclusion, none of these initiatives and priorities will be successful, unless Africa also mobilises its own resources to drive its development.
Fort Hare University, ladies and gentlemen, as a proud African institution has got the experience and the vision to rise to the occasion and play a leading role in this regard.
Once again, I am humbled by your decision to award this honorary Doctorate to me, and vow to follow the example of the many generations of Pan African servants of the people, that Fort Hare University so ably produced.
I thank you.