Johannesburg - South Africa’s Deputy Minister of International Relations, Alvin Botes, said the economic problems in South Africa and other African countries can be linked to the colonial past of most countries on the continent.
Botes was speaking at a seminar that discussed the new scramble for Africa at the University of Johannesburg at the weekend. The panel discussion was facilitated by the Higher Education Media Services.
He said there were issues concerning the negotiations that ended apartheid and colonisation. The transformation of the South African economy has been a thorn in the side of the ANC, with a section of its top leaders calling for an overhaul of the economy in favour of the majority.
"If you look at countries that have been colonised, there are still rules of engagement. Why is it that we still beholden, for example, South Africa? We were colonised by Britain. What we are faced with is that there are issues with sunset clauses and the fact that our economy today is monopoly-based," Botes said.
He stated that it was difficult to completely free former colonialists from the countries they had taken over. This sometimes resulted in instability in some countries where there was a lot of interference from the colonialists. Cameroon was a case in point. He said this instability would also affect the rule of law in African states.
"If you look at the conflicts in the Horn of Africa, this is pivoted by previous interest groups, we are not speaking about intra state conflict because of challenges of cohesion in relation to religion and ethnicity what we need to appreciate is what is the role of state and non-state entities in the plight of the opportunity dividend in Africa," he said.
Botes said it was important for the South African economy to be fully inclusive and up to the task of creating employment while also being an exporter of goods and services.
"In South Africa, why are we not able to industrialise the way we should? It’s because our economy is owned by monopolies; you should look at the JSE top 40; you will see what I am talking about," Botes said.
Political analyst Nontobeko Hlela told the seminar that there was renewed interest from world powers in Africa. She said there were several reasons for this, including a fight for the natural resources of Africa.
"This new scramble for Africa the intense rivalry between big power, the US, Britain, China and France has already led to military intervention in several African countries, most recently Mali and Libya. In 2019, the US released its new Africa strategy, which states great power competitors, namely China and Russia, are expanding their financial and political influence in Africa and are deliberately and aggressively targeting investments in the region to gain a competitive advantage over the US," Hlela said.
University of Johannesburg’s Dr David Monyae, however, said that Africa has the potential to be a world power. He said the continent had a young population and the natural resources to become a key player in world markets.
He also spoke about the important relationship between China and Africa. China is one of the BRICS countries and one of South Africa’s biggest export partners. South Africa will host the BRICS conference next year.
The Star