The remarkable bond between Nigerian musicians and South African singers is a model that former South African president Thabo Mbeki has recommended the continent’s current leaders to follow.
African politicians are stuck in a cycle of irrational egocentrism and territorialism that prevents wealth from being generated among African nations, according to Mbeki. In contrast, African artists have managed to forge formidable relationships and strong collaborative strategies that have seen them popularise both countries’ entertainment sectors and create wealth for industry participants.
Africa used to be feared, according to Mbeki’s previous statements, because of leaders’ strong pan-Africanism consciousness and purposeful policy formulations meant to give the continent influence.
He lamented, meanwhile, that today’s leaders lacked this kind of political commitment, were increasingly Eurocentric, and had no clear idea of how to keep Africa a free continent.
“Political will to manage diversity is central to the survival of all of the African states because there’s no African state which is not characterized by the diversity of its population now,” Mbeki said at his Thabo Mbeki Foundation premises, Johannesburg while hosting the third cohort of the MTN-MIP Fellows
“And so if you want to keep a continent or a country together, there’s got to be a conscious political decision. There is one outstanding example in this regard – Tanzania.
“When Tanzania was known as Tanganyika, there were two very important decisions under Julius Nyerere to keep the whole country together. One of them was to have one central language.
“Nyerere decided that everybody must speak Swahili and abandon tribal or regional languages. So, everybody speaks Swahili. The second decision was the abolition of the institution of chieftaincy ship. So there’s no chief of this tribe or that tribe.
“These were conscious decisions taken by the political leadership. They wanted to build one nation out of the Tanganyikans, and it’s worked.
“So because the people of Tanzania have gotten used to being one, even some few years back when some political people, in Tanzania, started resurrecting this matter about tribal identity in order to advance their own political futures, the consciousness one united Tanzania, was strong enough to defeat them.
“So, what has 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 the frosty relationship between South Africa and Nigeria. Another is the poor Visa regulation which has made it very difficult for cross border trade.
“And, now addressing the challenge is to address the larger political problems. The point is always being made about the relationship between the artists, Nigerian, South African artists, and what they are able to do,” he added.
