Lack of infrastructure is the biggest challenge facing Africa, newly elected African Union (AU) Commission Chairperson, Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma said in Pretoria, South Africa on Sunday July 29. Addressing a gathering of representatives of women’s groups, Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma said the AU’s vision of more integration could only be reached if infrastructure on the continent was drastically improved, the SAPA news agency said.
She said there could be no integration as envisaged by the AU unless there was proper infrastructure linking African countries. Dlamini Zuma also said she thought integration would be further helped by the Pan-African Parliament harmonising legislation across the continent. But integration cannot be successfully achieved if peace is not achieved on the continent, she pointed out.
The new AU Commission Chair said that while the continent had many challenges, it also had many opportunities of which it needed to take advantage. These include enormous agricultural, energy and human resource potentials. She noted that the challenge was how to use them for the benefit of Africa. She promised that the direction the AU will take would be determined in conjunction with the people and not governments alone.
The Daily Maverick newspaper quoted the newly elected AU Commission Chair as promising to be the servant of all Africans, and not just South Africa. She therefore called on her country people to locate themselves in such pan-Africanism, not just narrow self-interest. Dlamini-Zuma made it clear that she would be guided by a vision to wrest the thrust of African politics from the interests of the West and ensure that Africans themselves determine their own reactions to the continent’s challenges.
Mrs. Dlamini Zuma noted, however, that the African Union could not survive on its own. She promised to work with other countries and the AU-China and AU-India forums for mutual benefit. She said right through the history of the African Union, unity has been emphasised, adding that with political will, it can be achieved.
Kimeng Hilton NDUKONG
