The EFF statement on Africa Day
24 May 2015
The Economic Freedom Fighters celebrates the 52nd anniversary of African Unity as signified by the founding of the Organisation of African Unity in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in 1963. The founding member states who constituted the first generation of post colonial and independent states in the Africa continent adopted a Charter which has since formed the basis of African unity since 1963.
This Charter declared that, “it is the inalienable right of all people to control their own destiny,” and that, “freedom, equality, justice and dignity are essential objectives of the achievement of the legitimate aspirations of the African peoples.” The founding members also noted that it is, “our responsibility to harness the natural and human resources of our continent for the total advancement of our peoples in all shapers of human endeavour,” furthermore, “to promote understanding amongst our peoples and cooperation amongst our states in response to the aspirations of our peoples for brotherhood and solidarity, in a large unity transcending ethnic and national differences.”
The OAU has since been replaced by its predecessor the African Union which now hosts all the 54 different African states since 2001. Amongst them Swaziland remains under the dictatorial and parasitic leadership of King Mswati III who undermines the freedoms of ordinary people and their democracy on a continuous basis. Also, the people of Western Sahara remain under the colonial occupation by Morocco, which has denied them their inalienable right to self-determination and to control their own destiny.
In celebration of African Unity we call on the governments of Africa and the African Union to isolate Morocco until it ends its colonial occupation of Western Sahara and allow them the freedom to self-determination and sovereignty. We further call on the non-negotiable democratisation of Swaziland; the South African government must play a leading role in pressuring Mswati’s government to concede to demands for democracy.
The EFF also calls on the eradication of Die Stem from the South African national anthem as it represents a direct conscious assault on African Unity. This is because Die Stem celebrates the apartheid regime which killed and massacred black people, not in South Africa only, but also in Southern Africa as a whole in promotion of white supremacy and white minority rule. The EFF calls for the national anthem to only be Nkosi Sikelela as it was sang in the liberation struggle, also because it mobilised our people’s consciousness on a continental as opposed to narrow nationalist grounds.
This is particularly important in light of the reality that South Africa has transformed from being the birthplace of black consciousness to that of Afrophobia; where African foreign nationals are falsely targeted on our streets by poor South Africans due to lack of economic development and employment. The South African government must take full responsibility for all xenophobic attacks and take the occupation of Africa Day to apologies to the continent and its people, including those in the diaspora for what are crimes against humanity.
We reiterate that the ANC government must take responsibility for the murder of Colonel Gaddafi after authorising the bombing of Libya. It must also take responsibility for deaths of African migrants who perished in the Mediterranean Sea while trying to escape the violence and instability in Libya.
The continent continues to face challenges of Islamic fundamentalist groups like Boko Haram and Al Shabaab in both West and East Africa respectively. These terror groups have chosen to cowardly use innocent civilians in fighting for their demands. We accordingly remember the 147 innocent and unarmed students of Garissa Universty in Kenya who were massacred by Al Shabaab insurgents on 2nd April this year. We also remember the 276 Chibok girls of Borno State in Nigeria who were kidnaped by Boko Haram.
The rise of Islamic fundamentalism together with its associated violence represents the continuing weakness of African states and the AU in that they are unable to protect ordinary and defenceless citizens and secure the gains of sovereignty and self-determination in the continent. A continental effort is urgent in undoing Boko Haram and Al Shabaab as they continue to threaten African unity, its peace, security and the human freedoms of its people.
We also call on the content to unite in repossessing its natural and mineral resources from white monopoly and multinational capital who have drained the continent of trillions of dollars through transfer pricing and profit shifting. Nationalisation remains the only solution that will lead to the sustainable end of the phenomenon of illicit financial flows and also allow the continent to locally benefitiate its mineral resources in the interest of industrial expansion, manufacturing and quality employment.
In conceptualising African Unity, the founding fathers never narrowed it down to the continent as a geographic space, but also thought of all the Africans who find themselves in other parts of the world either due to slavery and war or migration in general. We know that Africans continue to suffer injustice in the Americas, Europe and other parts of the world due to the colour of their skins and thus Africa’s freedom is incomplete unless the dignity and freedom of the African diaspora in its entirety is guaranteed.
Long Live African Unity Long Live!
Statement issued by the Economic Freedom Fighters, May 25 2015
