Understanding Africa

Living where we do doesn't mean we have a clue
by Nick van der Leek

Anyone heard of the Berlin Conference? 1884?
Here's a quick history lesson:

"The Berlin Conference was Africa's undoing in more ways than one. The colonial powers superimposed their domains on the African continent. By the time independence returned to Africa in 1950, the realm had acquired a legacy of political fragmentation that could neither be eliminated nor made to operate satisfactorily."*

What that means is that over whiskey and cigars, the colonial powers of the time (France, Britain, Belgium etc), carved up Africa. If you need an analogy of what drawing lines willy nilly over a continent - what that does - then look at Yugoslavia (well, former Yugoslavia - it's recently been torn apart by ethnic conflicts, go figure).

It works like this. People generally group themselves according to many factors, but chiefly according to language and race. But language, believe it or not, is more important. Often, tribes do tend to speak a certain dialect, and tribes can be differentiated along language lines just about as effectively as on bloodlines.

So this is what happens when you carve up a continent, having no knowledge of its human composition. Suddenly a tribe like the Hutus, who once occupied a swathe of countries in Africa (before they became countries), suddenly find themselves boxed in beside a bunch of other tribes, who speak different languages, and in some cases, they became the minority in one country while their brothers do well for themselves across the border. Well, how would that make you feel? How did people feel in East Berlin? Can you imagine what that does to a country, to a people, to a continent over the long term?

In South Africa, we thought we could do what was done in Africa. We carved up the country, creating so called independent states like Bophuthatswana (what was that?) and Transkei and Venda. These have fallen away. They didn't work. Lesotho provides an interesting example of how an ordinary people, how culture, and an African way of life, can be wiped out.

Before South Africa existed, Lesotho was really a country capable of producing pretty good crops,there was quite a lot of farming. Yes, it wasn't easy in the mountains, but a lot of people were involved, and the Basotho were able to look after themselves pretty well. Then, with the advent of South Africa's mining industry, the men left Lesotho to seek their fortunes, and often never returned, leaving destitute wives and broken families behind them. Think of this on a massive scale. It's no different from a country losing its men to war. This is portrayed drammatically in South African writer Zakes Mda's The Hill.

Because of the unnatural way that borders are formed, commerical hubs become very unevenly distributed, which leads to migrant labour. Migrant workers create a lot of issues in the countries they move to, and the countries they leave, including crime. They need to be accomodated, and their interactions with locals cause friction, often conflict. An important aspect is the breaking down of families, especially when the migrant worker decides to go/not to go home.

Recently I have interviewed three university students who hitchhiked from Cairo to Africa over 62 days (watch this space, stories will be appearing in a few weeks). All three say how friendly the Africans are in all the countries except South Africa. In South Africa, blacks are not only worryingly suspicious of whites (and occasionally vice versa), but generally xenophobic.
One of my lecturers is Nigerian. He has been living in South Africa for more than a decade, and he says he still feels like an outsider. So much for ubuntu.

I've travelled to Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Botswana and locally, and I have to agree - the locals here (black and white) are quite uptight in terms of their relations and attitudes towards each other. Is it greed that makes us cold and hard? Is it the sharp divide between the rich and poor that make us feel vulnerable and uncomfortable. Perhaps. But have we forgotten Mother Africa? Do we even participate in the collective heart and soul - that giant cauldron of sunny tears - that is Africa? I wonder.

Do we South Africans feel any link, any ties to the Empire that once were, in Egypt, and Ethiopia, all over Africa. Are we trying to create Europe or America in Africa, or are we truly African, and thus, truly capable of being. Of being our African selves. Are we interested in our history, and not just the conflicts, but our sense of evolution on this continent? Are we interested in belonging to this land, and to each other? I wonder.

It's that fragmentation referred to in the first paragraph that is the seat of this malaise. It is not a physical break that needs to be healed now (although physical boundaries were put in place).
We need to have a collective mentality, that we are Africans. Americans have it (though I am unsure whether they can remain exuberant about their Empire's business for much longer).

It's been suggested that progress in Africa (and in South Africa) is needed. It's inevitable. But as was the case with Lesotho (and Korea is also changing, Americanising themselves), the transition from tradition to modernity needs to be properly paced. Yes, change. But do it slowly, so we don't forget who we are, and where we come from, and what is happening around us.

Africa must digest all its ills. AIDS, poverty, famine, corruption - it's a lot to swallow - the great African python might choke on itself. But we need to get all of this indigestible stuff, this terrible trauma under our belts, and then get on with the job of being Africans. Not poor, enslaved, third class citizens. Custodians of the greatest, the richest continent. The continent with the greatest untapped potential. The continent with the saddest children, but the brightest souls.

Perhaps, at last, what Sophocles' wrote when Africa was strong, and kind, is taking effect once more:

'The mighty words of overproud men
with mighty blows are punished,
And, with old age, teach wisdom'

Are we ready to be wise, or do we need more mighty blows? If Africa is a man, he is an old man, and, I think, I hope, finally a wise one.

* de Blij, H.J. and Peter O. Muller Geography: Realms, Regions, and Concepts. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1997. Page 340.