Thabo Mbeki: An Unrelenting Force in Quest for African Renaissance, Pan-Africanism 

Whether he is supporting the achievement of Africa’s Renaissance through the promotion of democracy, good governance, human rights and regional integration through his non-governmental organisation, the Thabo Mbeki Foundation or he is shaping the continent’s political landscape one country at a time, Thabo Mvuyelwa Mbeki is known as one of the fathers of Pan-Africanism. The second democratic president of South Africa and an African Icon, recently played host to the third cohort of the MTN-sponsored Media Innovation Programme, who were on a study tour to South Africa.

He fielded questions from Chiemelie Ezeobi and some other fellows on need for seamless African borders; insecurity and coups in West Africa, as well as the role of the media in projecting the continent better 

Undoubtedly, the third cohort of the MTN-sponsored Media Innovation Programme (MIP) had a carefully curated itinerary during their recent study tour to South Africa. From certificate workshops at the University of Johannesburg to visits to the South African Broadcasting Station; South African International Affairs; tour of MTN Group head office and the innovation laboratory, the goal to foster media innovation and development was actualised. 

However, one particular meeting stood out for them. They had an hour of interface with the revered African icon and one of the fathers of Pan-Africanism, Thabo Mvuyelwa Mbeki, the second democratic president of South Africa, at his foundation in Johannesburg. Sandwiched between Mr. Maz Boqwana and Mr. Lukhanyo Neer, the CEO and COO of the Thabo Mbeki Foundation, respectively, he fielded questions from the fellows whose visit was one of the criteria of the six-month long programme sponsored by MTN to foster innovation and development, as well as transform and empower media practitioners to better tell stories that needed to be told.

The MIP fellows were led by the quartet of Dominic Khumalo, Senior Manager for Strategic Public Affairs at MTN South Africa; Senior Manager, External Relations, MTN Nigeria, Funso Aina; Dr. Lakinbofa Goodluck, Public Relations Manager at MTN Nigeria; and Director of Professional Education at School of Media and Communication, Pan-Atlantic University, Chief Isaac Ogugua-Ezechukwu, with support from PAU’s Samsideen Akano. 

Need for Seamless Border for the African Continent 

In response to this reporter’s question on the difficulty in ensuring movement of persons and services through a seamless border in the African continent, despite the offerings of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement, he said part of the problem is a  decline in commitment to Pan-Africanism in the continent.  

“The sense of a strong Pan-Africanism among the political leadership has receded. So when you raise the matter about the matter of movement of Africans amongst themselves, you are talking to people who no longer have that sense of Pan-Africanism or common belonging. It’s a problem.”

He said it’s a battle to convince people to adopt a system which encourages in-direction among the Africans, not to exclude people, but to include.

“Politically, what happened on the continent is a regression from the kind of pan-Africanist commitment that we had with other earlier leaders on the continent, and the weakening of that resolve has negative consequences like this one of people tightening visa regulations so that it becomes very difficult to cross borders. It’s a larger political problem and how you address it is to address the larger political problems. 

“The point that was being made earlier about the relationship among the artists, Nigerian, South African artists (an earlier conversation of how Nigerian and South African artists have been collaborating), and what they are able to do, was correct. In a sense, we need to look at that to say, I know the Nigerian business people for many years have been very keen to have established a similar relationship with South African business, and have not been terribly successful in exciting sufficiency in South Africa, apart from MTN and these others, sufficient of the South African view among the business community to respond to the kind of enthusiasm that was on the Nigerian side about this. 

” I think if you went from sector to sector, it would be the same. And maybe that’s what we need to do, if these various communities in both countries engage each other in the way that artists are saying artists have engaged one another. Maybe that might help to make it easier for people to communicate and move because they’ve established a particular kind of relationship. 

“It’s really difficult about getting people to understand that the matter about movement- that the freer the movement among the Africans, the better for everybody. It’s easier to market these ideas not that these ones are coming to take our jobs, so keep them out.”

Managing Identity Differences and Diversity

On how he managed the identity differences and diversity of South Africa when he was president and his advice for leaders of today, he gave instructive examples including that of Tanzania that eliminated the language divide and brought its citizens under one identity.

Noting that it was a very political thing in management of diversity, he said it’s because it’s central to the survival of all of the African states. “There is no African state which is not characterised by the diversity of its population now. And so if you want to keep this country together, this is one country, one nation, as it were, so it’s got to be a conscious political decision.

“For instance, the one outstanding example in this regard is Tanzania. Because before we got to Tanzania, when it was Tanganyika, they took very important decisions under Julius Nyerere. One of them was about language that everybody must speak Kiswahili. So everybody speaks Kiswahili. So it doesn’t matter whatever your language, your own mother tongue is, the second is the second language. 

“The second thing the abolition of the institution of chieftainship. So there’s no chief of this tribe. Nyerere knew to build one nation out of these tanganyigans, two things you must do- no loyalty to a tribal chief, and no separation among us because of language, and it’s worked.”

He noted that even though some politicians had tried to resurrect this matter about tribal identity in order to advance their political futures, he said fortunately, the notion that they were all Tanzanians and not identified by any other thing was strong enough to defeat that motive. 

“That’s why I’m saying it’s a political decision here. South Africa is very fortunate in that respect, because you know the diamonds were first discovered in the 19th century and right from its beginning, attracted people from Southern Africa, from as far as field, as Angola did come here, and so on. And then, of course, gold mining comes a bit later. The consequence of that is that even domestically, you have a lot of movement of people, the way the social economic development results”.

Still on South Africa, he said the formation of the African National Congress in 1912 had one of its principal slogans to bury the demon of tribalism. So since the beginning of the 20th century, they had a political organisation whose task was to make sure that all of this algorithm come together.

 He said it got to a point where in the  African community, their national leader was always the  president of the ANC and this applied to even those who were not members of the ANC. “What I am trying to say to you is that the way this country developed was such that diversity didn’t serve as a point of division. But that’s a peculiar South African experience, but elsewhere on the continent, it requires a political decision, to say we are this diverse society.

“How to make sure that the unity in diversity becomes important, that’s a political decision. So that’s a challenge. We all have to make sure that at least that kind of understanding on the continent persists. If it doesn’t, then you are faced all the time with weak states that are in conflict.”

African Reconnaissance 

Speaking on African Reconnaissance, his inaugural chair at the African Union and what the next decade will be for the African vision, he said even though there were initial contention about the location and name for the AU, the sentiments for its establishment remain unchanged.

Lamenting that there has been regression with regards to those programs they had earlier instituted, he said it was because of the distancing of people from this notion and vision of Pan-Africanism, which was fed also by this weakness. 

“We’re talking about the AU Commission, which should have been the body institution on the continent, which would be driving this perspective of African Unity every day, full time, but they are not doing that. The programs are still there, but I think weakened, and we need to revisit them, to reinvent, reinvigorate, but I think in the context of a strengthened commitment to The African perspective.”

Coups and Insecurity in West Africa

On insecurity and increasing cases of coups in West Africa, Mbeki recalled that when they were tasked by the AU to engage Cote D’Ivoire, one of the things that stood out was the bad agreement with France, which was having a French military base in Abidjan manned by a French commander with a mandate to look after the national security interests of both of Cote d’Ivoire and France.

He said the consequence was that the  commander of the French troops would always take over the radio and television without recourse to the president or the independence agreement of the country whenever he felt that his national security interest was under threat.

He said such actions are what these young soldiers in Francophone West Africa are rebelling against. Citing the case of Thomas Sankara as a hero, he said they are rebelling against  continuing the colonial relations that continue to exist so that they can genuinely say this country is truly independent.

Mbeki said part of what happens is that when a president is elected in some countries, it’s very much in the pockets of the French. “So the soldiers in rebelling against Neo colonialism, they will also rebel against this political representative of French colonialism in their country. So you get your military coups, and you might protest democracy, but me, I would applaud an anti-colonial stance by the soldiers, that’s what is happening in West Africa. It’s a political rebellion against an old France African relationship.”

While stressing that such coups can be avoided, he however posited that it’s a correct thing to rebel against French Neo colonialism. “How the the matter of the restoration of democracy is handled is something that indeed can be discussed. I don’t think those soldiers are instinctively anti-democratic, but they are addressing a different problem, and it’s a real problem”.

Role of the Media in Pan-Africanism 

Speaking to the heart of the matter -the reason why MTN sponsored the MIP experience for media practitioners, Mbeki said: “I would imagine that before we become media people, we are Africans first. I think generally the African people across the continent have certain objectives upon themselves, the notion of African Unity. We are one people, maybe different languages and so on, but we say we shared the common a common destiny.

“So let’s work together. What does the media do to encourage that sentiment? And I think it’s related to how do we report ourselves to ourselves? I think your visit is important. The African media needs to know Africa, not to be informed about Africa by somebody else in order to report accurately about the continent- the bad and the good. I mean, when we talk about the renaissance of the continent, that will resonate across borders, a rebirth of our continent, so they know a new continent, born afresh, no longer conflict, no longer poverty, no longer any of these negative things. 

Stressing that the media has a very important role to develop that kind of consciousness in the continent, he however said the continent needs to move forward with regard to these matters, free movement of people, better cooperation. “If we want to develop, we can’t develop on our own. It must be mutual, and I can only develop because you are also developing. So how do we cooperate? The media has the possibility and the strength to encourage this common sentiment, common consciousness across our border, so that at least the population, the people, this billion and a half, however many we are, are in a common direction, broadly. It becomes possible then to resolve the issues of interstate relations.”

Shaping the Political Landscape through the Thabo Mbeki Foundation

Like the axiom would say, “retired but not tired”, this cliche firmly represents Mbeki’s life at the moment. Asides the role he plays in shaping the political landscape in Africa, he has through his non-governmental organisation, The Thabo Mbeki Foundation, been supporting the achievement of Africa’s Renaissance through the promotion of democracy, good governance, human rights and regional integration. 

Established in 2010, the foundation seeks to foster a culture of critical thinking and intellectual engagement among African leaders, scholars and citizens on issues of continental and global importance.

When the MIP fellows finally managed to let him go for another engagement, it wasn’t because they had a choice. As was succinctly captured by Dr. Lakinbofa, “if it were possible, we would stay here and listen to you till daybreak”. It was an assertion that resonated across the room as the inspiring conversations had stirred up the quest for a better Africa in the fellows as the African Icon relieved some of the battles they fought for the continent.