3. Nepad needs Africa's cultural custodians
Source: Business Day (2003-10-15)
IN SPITE of wishes to the contrary, colonialism in Africa failed to completely destroy traditional institutions, even though it managed to discredit them in the eyes of some.
Postcolonial governments of Africa have generally failed their people, particularly rural citizens, partly because of their inability to give recognition to indigenous systems of governance and the African way of life. They preoccupied themselves with filling the shoes of their former colonial masters in government, in the industrial and commercial sectors of the economy, and even in their social and cultural lifestyles.
While colonial and apartheid governments gave heavy subsidies to their white farming communities, which provided food for the countries, some of their successors-in-title contented themselves with grabbing the farms and made no meaningful efforts to give support to the general farming populace.
No money was made available to assist African subsistence farmers to become viable commercial farmers through the provision of appropriate seed and fertilisers, suitable implements, construction and maintenance of rural roads and irrigation dams, as well as inoculation of animals and provision of feed in times of drought and other disasters.
In some of the African states communal land tenure systems were converted into freehold, with disastrous consequences for rural communities. Many of those who held title deeds trekked to the cities and, upon arrival, either sold their allotments or used the deeds as collateral. Family members lost their rights to lands that had been in their families for generations.
The exclusion of traditional leaders from policy- and lawmaking structures such as parliaments, local legislatures and courts of law resulted in the formulation of policies and the enactment and interpretation of laws that weakened and undermined traditions and cultures that had bound people together.
But the rural countryside remains the beacon of hope for the revival of what is good in Africa. Relative peace, stability and respect for law and human life continue to be the defining features of rural African life styles.
The New Partnership for Africa's Development (Nepad) and the African Union (AU) are the vehicles on which the success of the African renaissance depends. The founding documents of both, unfortunately, are a perpetuation of what we find in the majority of the African states. They promote the same systems of governance that have failed and hardly make reference to the role traditional institutions can play in promoting its ideals.
If Nepad is meant to fight for the eradication of poverty and the upliftment of the socioeconomic conditions of the masses, its protagonists must take it to the rural areas. This time traditional leaders and their structures must be taken on board. Their special status in African life must be used to enhance the legitimacy of development projects.
In my experience, people tend to be more willing to impart their indigenous knowledge and support when they are dealing with people who enjoy the support and respect of their traditional leaders. Environmental degradation can be halted if traditional leaders are empowered to enforce the tried and tested ways of environmental protection.
The wars that rage in many African states have increasingly taken on a tribal complexion. These wars are instigated by politicians who parade themselves as modernist leaders. Traditional leaders as custodians of tribal ways of life can be used under the auspices of Nepad and the AU to help combat this scourge.
Nepad and AU structures, such as the Pan African Parliament and the various commissions, should provide for the participation of traditional leaders, which should not be along party political lines. Countries should have similar arrangements.
Let us, therefore, make this a truly African century in which the continent's cultural custodians play their part as understood and expected by their people.
Holomisa (A! Dilizintaba) is an ANC MP and president of the Congress of Traditional Leaders of SA. He writes in his personal capacity.
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