Dr. Wolassa Kumo
1. Introduction

Sub Saharan Africa is a home to 47 of the 53 countries in the continent. In 2009, based on GNI per capita, the World Bank classified countries into four categories: (a) low income, with GNI per capita of $995 or less; (b) lower middle income $996 – $3,945; (c) upper middle income, $3,946 – $12,195; and (d) high income, $12,196 or more. During the same year, 31 of the 47 countries in Sub Saharan Africa were low income economies. These countries include: Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Niger, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Togo, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

The rest of the sub Saharan African economies belong to middle income and higher income groups. About 10 countries have been classified as lower middle income economies. These include: Angola, Cameron, Cape Verde, Congo Republic, Cote D’Ivoire, Lesotho, Nigeria, Sao Tome and Principe, Sudan, and Swaziland. These are predominantly oil rich economies which recorded fastest economic growth during the past decade. Among the remaining six countries: Gabon, Mauritius, Namibia, Seychelles, and South Africa are upper middle income economies while Equatorial Guinea is the only non OECD high income economy from the African continent and is the richest country in Africa owing to the discovery of vast oil and gas reserves in early 1990s. With the third largest oil reserve discovered in the African continent, Equatorial Guinea is regarded as the “African Kuwait.”

Clearly, the sub Saharan African economies are heterogeneous and hence the old “Least Developed Country” (LDCs) classification does not reflect the reality on the ground anymore and must be abandoned with immediate effect. According to this outdated classification, many lower middle income countries are still classified as LDCs, while they have already surpassed the GNI per capita threshold. It is absurd to keep Equatorial Guinea in the least of LDCs due to the economic vulnerability and human development index while it has already achieved the high income status. Apart from this, many of the current low income economies have recorded remarkable economic growth since 2001 and hopes are high that they will catch up soon. The LDC classification holds connotations of backwardness and hopelessness for a continent which already suffers from huge image problems. Presenting a positive image about Africa is as important as the inflow of the development funds. Therefore, UNCTAD and other organizations that repeatedly emphasize about the LDC characteristics of sub Saharan Africa must adopt the more positive approach. At present , most sub Saharan African countries are either emerging middle income or developing low income economies, and as such must be classified accordingly.

The remaining parts of the article is organized as follows: section 2 scrutinizes the trends in real GDP growth in low income and lower middle income sub Saharan economies for the past decade. Section three reviews the challenges of commodity driven economic growth in these countries while the last section concludes the article.

2. The real GDP growth in low income and lower middle income sub Saharan economies

Many low income and lower middle income sub Saharan African economies recorded remarkably higher economic growth between 2001 and 2009. Based on the size of the annual average percentage change in GDP at constant prices between 2001 and 2009 (calculated based on the IMF World Economic Outlook Database, April 2010) the Sub Saharan African economies can be categorized into six groups: (a) those with real GDP growth above 10%, (b) those with 7.0-9.9%, (c) those with 5.0-7.0%, (d) those with 3.0-5.0 % , (e) those with ! 3%, and (f) those with !1% of GDP growth rates during the stated period.

The fastest growing low income and lower middle income economies between 2001 and 2009 were Angola and Sierra Leone with annual average GDP growth rate in excess of 10%. Equatorial Guinea, Africa’s only high income economy, was also the economy that recorded the highest growth rate during this period. These three countries were the top performers in economic growth in Sub Saharan Africa during the past decade and belong to our group (a) above. We may regard these economies as the “African Tigers” although the growth in Sierra Leone must be taken with caution as it has shown persistent decline during the past few years following volatility in its mineral exports.

The second group that closely follows the “African Tigers” is group (b) with annual average growth rates ranging between 7% and 9.9%. These countries include: (a) Chad, (b) Ethiopia, (c) Mozambique, (d) Rwanda, (e) Nigeria, and (f) Uganda. The growth in Chad and Nigeria is driven by oil exports while the growth in Mozambique is anchored by mineral exports. Rwanda and Ethiopia’s growth is propelled by a fast growing service export, while Uganda’s growth is based on export of agricultural commodities. Most of these six economies are on track to achieve the Millennium Development Goals of halving poverty in 2015 and if they sustain the current level of growth, they may graduate from the low income group in two decades or less.

The third group of medium growth low income economies include Burkina Faso, The Gambia, Ghana, Mali, Niger, and also Cape Verde and Sao Tome and Principe from lower middle income group. These economies grew between 5.0% and 7.0% for the period 2001-2009. The growth performance of many countries in this group was dampened by the recent global financial and economic crisis that led to sharp contractions in GDP in 2009. Within this group, Ghana’s growth is expected to improve faster following the recent discovery of oil reserves.

Many sub Saharan Africa countries, however, recorded real GDP growth rates of less than 5% on average for the period 2001-2009. These countries belong to the groups (d) with average growth of 3.0-5.0% including Benin, Botswana, Burundi, Cameron, DRC, Congo, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Namibia, Senegal and South Africa; group (e) with average annual growth of Less than 3% including Comoros, Gabon, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Madagascar, Swaziland and Togo; and group (f) with average annual growth of less than 1% including Central African Republic, Cote D’Ivoire, Eritrea, Seychelles and Zimbabwe.

Most of the lower and upper middle income sub Saharan African economies recorded growth rates of less than 5% per annum during this period. Some middle income countries experience similar challenges to those of low income economies such as high level of unemployment, low savings and investment and lower integration to the global economy among other things.

The worst performers in economic growth during the past decade, however, are: Central African Republic, Cote D’Ivoire, Eritrea, Seychelles and Zimbabwe. Although Seychelles is one of the upper middle income economies, its growth performance during the past decade was dismal owing to tight monetary policy, currency devaluation and large current account deficit, and declining private sector investment among others. Poor economic growth performance in Central African Republic, Cote D’Ivoire and Zimbabwe was linked to the continued political instability in the three countries during the past decade. In fact, Zimbabwe recorded decline in real GDP for the period 2001-2009 on average as a result of which the country has now been downgraded to low income country status. However, the recent positive developments in political climate are expected to improve growth performance in Zimbabwe going forward. Eritrea, which became independent from Ethiopia in 1993, did not live up to its promises with dismal growth performance of less than 1 % for the past decade unlike its bigger neighbor, Ethiopia, which recorded over 8% GDP growth during this period on average. The five worst performers have been characterized by macroeconomic and political instability and have to work hard to turn their economies around during the second decade of the century.

Economic growth in fast growing low income and lower middle income economies was largely driven by commodity price boom. Many analysts worry that heavy dependence on commodity may expose these economies to external shocks and may severely limit the sustainability of such growth. The next section highlights the challenges of relying on commodity driven growth in sub Saharan Africa.

3. The sustainability of commodity driven growth in sub Saharan Africa

Most of the low and lower middle income African economies that recorded higher growth during the past decade were either oil or mineral exporters. Economic growth driven by the commodity price boom exposes the economies to the external trade shock where growth prospects will be dependent on exogenous, foreign demand. However, the good news is that most of the commodity exports from these countries are going to China and India and other fast growing economies with insatiable appetite for raw materials. This is unlikely to change in the immediate future. Even then the African economies should not be complacent. The fundamental structural weaknesses of these economies must be addressed as a matter of urgency. Countries must revisit their industrialization strategy not only to raise the share of manufactures in total output but also to reduce the current high and unsustainable level of unemployment in these economies. This also requires transformation of the traditional subsistence agriculture that currently supports over 70% of the population in most of the low income and some of the middle income sub Saharan economies.

Another challenge is the low level of domestic savings. In most low and middle income economies in Africa the level of domestic savings is less than 15% of GDP as opposed to 40% in China. This implies that these countries rely on foreign capital to finance domestic expenditure and investment. Given the current low level of FDI attractions, this means that most funds come either in the form of aid or loans which may complicate development efforts by leading to dependency and debt traps. Related to this is the underdevelopment of financial institutions required to mobilize domestic resources for development.

Widening current account deficits particularly for non-oil exporting low income economies is another development bottleneck. While higher oil prices will spur growth in oil rich economies, it widens the trade deficits of non-oil and mineral exporting countries forcing them to borrow or depend on aid inflows to finance investment and other expenditure. In this regard, the challenge faced by non resource rich countries is formidable.

High level skills and technological gap constitute another critical challenge to sustainable development in sub Saharan economies. At present most of the sub Saharan economies face critical shortage of high level skills required to lead technological transformation. As a result, there is a growing technological gap between Africa and the rest of the world. To sustain the current growth moment African economies must spend an increasing higher resources on high level skills generation.

Last but not least, sub Saharan Africa faces massive infrastructure gaps. Roads, railways, airports, ports, energy, water and sewerage, and telecommunication are underdeveloped. Investment in economic infrastructure not only directly alleviates poverty by improving access to the services by the poor, but also fosters investment by the private sector, which is regarded as an engine of growth and development in market economies.

4. Concluding Remarks

After decades of stagnation, many sub Saharan African economies have recorded impressive economic growth for almost a decade. The continued discovery of oil and gas and other mineral resources in several of the low income economies coupled with the sustained rise in the prices of these commodities afforded great opportunity for growth and revival. The discovery of vast oil and gas reserves in the coast of Equatorial Guinea in early 1990s, ensured sustained and fast economic growth for over a decade as a result of which the country emerged as the only African and non-OECD high income economy. The discovery of oil reserves in Angola, Sudan, Chad, Ghana, in addition to the traditional oil exporters, Nigeria and Gabon buoyed the growth performance in these economies. This also implied improved accountability by resource rich countries compared to earlier years where revenues from oil have been vastly squandered.

The recently discovered coal reserves in Mozambique are considered to be one of the largest in the world. Sierra Leone and the Democratic Republic of the Congo are endowed with vast diamond resources while South Africa has over 40% of the World’s gold reserves. Zambia is the second largest producer of copper in the world, although its growth performance is far lower than many resource rich countries in the continent. Due to lack of political stability, the DRC has still remained one of the poorest countries in the continent with per capita income of less than US$140 in 2009 in spite of its vast mineral resources. The recent discovery of diamond in Zimbabwe provides a great shot in the arm for the economy if the rival politicians come to their senses and reintegrate the economy into the global market. Africa also has one third of the world’s cobalt, significant deposits of uranium and other strategic minerals, all of which will anchor the current growth momentum.

The expansion of service exports in place of traditional commodities by countries such as Ethiopia and Rwanda must also be encouraged as should Uganda’s innovative agriculture export led growth.

However, there still remains a lot to be done to ensure that the current impressive growth in sub Saharan economies are to be sustained and become catch-up growth. One of the most important strategic measures is an urgent diversification of the domestic output and export. Improved revenues generated through commodity exports must be wisely used to improve agricultural productivity, increase the size of manufactured output and create jobs.

Apart from this, governments must create conducive climate of doing business for the private sector, both domestic and foreign, through significant reductions in bureaucratic red tapes and improved investment in economic infrastructure as sustained economic development cannot be achieved without a strong and viable private sector.

Finally, the current macroeconomic and in particular monetary and fiscal policy resilience in many low and middle income economies must be maintained in the future. In particular, lower inflation rates, exchange rate stability, lower interest rates and improved tax revenues together with improvements in the performances of financial intermediation and capital markets will ensure that this time sub Saharan Africa will take off into self sustained development.

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Tribute To Barack Obama — By The North America Congolese Community

Who is Koffi Olomide?

Congolese singer Koffi Olomide, is one of Africa’s best-selling artists. After completing a maths degree in Paris, he moved back home to become one of the continent’s most controversial musical figures, clashing with the ruling regime in Zaire (DRC – Democratic Republic of Congo) and finding his music banned for obscenity in Mali.

Antoine Koffi Olomidé (born August 13, 1956), is a soukous singer, producer, and composer. Born in Kisangani, Democratic Republic of Congo to a Congolese mother and a Sierra Leonean father, Koffi grew up in Kinshasa.

While studying in Paris, he began playing the guitar and writing songs. On his return to Congo he was a member of Viva la Musica, Papa Wemba‘s band. Koffi re-popularized the slower style of soukous, which had fallen out of fashion.

He dubbed this style Tcha Tcho, and it gained popularity outside Congo. Koffi’s music can be quite controversial, taking on current events and topics considered taboo in some conservative societies. He has also participated in the salsa music project Africando. Koffi has won four Kora Awards in South Africa and also won the best artist in central Africa. He is married and the father of four children.

   [Map of DRC-Congo][Enlarge]

Koffi Olomide, also known by a plethora of other names such as Large Degaire, Akram Bourge, Gralibane Maji, Le Grande Mopao, Le Shakespeare Du Zaire, Nkolo Lupemba, Mokonzi etc., is arguably the most talented African singer, producer and composer of the 1990s..

He has dominated music charts across the continent and abroad with a combination of his deep baritone voice, sophisticated arrangements, blending old school rumba and smooth keyboard melodies as well as a searing guitar climax.

His compositions are classy and appeal to a wide spectrum of fans worldwide.

His songs delve deep into a wide variety of topics including love, politics, technology and even religion. In each song he discusses his feelings about such diverse topics while expressing confused feelings about mythical beasts and dream like fantasies.

Names of famous people like Bill Gates, Silvio Berlusconi, Saddam Hussein and even George Weah are mentioned.

Indeed He himself said you have to understand the words to fully appreciate his songs. More so, he has a keen sense of fashion and extensive sapeur wardrobe as well as a personality to match….[ read more here ]

Koffi Olomide in Action

Danger De Mort

Skol Longitima

Pharmacien

Koffi Olomide Live au Gabon : Bande Annonce

Want more video? GO HERE

Patience Ozokwor a.k.a ‘Mama G’ is a well-known face in the Nigerian home video industry. Patience has also veered into music to conquer the entire world of showbiz……[MORE >>]

The talented actress from Enugu-Ngwo, Enugu State, who everybody loves because of her notable interpretation of roles, speaks about her past, acting career, dabbling into music and plans for the future in this encounter with MAGI MICHAEL….[MORE >>]

   [Patience Ozokwor]
Patience plays the role of wicked women so well in her films that people find it hard to view her as a different person in real life situations. According to her own count, she has appeared in more than 200 hundred movies since joining the industry.

Though she claims to be lazy at reading scripts over and over again, she fits into the characters so easily, to her own surprise.

A proud and caring mother of four, the multi-talented actress who lost he husband a few years back, had stints as a Teacher, Broadcaster, and owner of a fashion Institute before settling into acting.

Her musical genre is “Highlife,” which originated in Ghana and spread to Sierra Leone and Nigeria in the 1920s and other West African countries. It is very popular in Liberia and all of English-speaking West Africa, although little has been produced in other countries due to economic challenges brought on by war and instability. “Joromi” is a sub-genre.

Highlife is characterized by jazzy horns and multiple guitars which lead the band. Recently, it has acquired an uptempo, synth-driven sound…..[MORE >>]

Want more video? GO HERE

The syntax is tortured, the grammar mutilated, but the message – sent by snail mail, telex, fax, or e-mail – is coherent: an African bigwig or his heirs wish to transfer funds amassed in years of graft and venality to a safe bank account in the West. They seek the recipient’s permission to make use of his or her inconspicuous services for a percentage of the loot – usually many millions of dollars. A fee is required to expedite the proceedings, or to pay taxes, or to bribe officials – they plausibly explain. A recent (2005) variant involves payment with expertly forged postal money orders for goods exported to a transit
address.

It is a scam two decades old – and it still works. In September 2002, a bookkeeper for a Berkley, Michigan law firm embezzled $2.1 million and wired it to various bank accounts in South Africa and Taiwan. Other victims were kidnapped for ransom as they traveled abroad to collect their “share.” Some never made it back. Every year, there are 5 such murders as well as 8-10 snatchings of American citizens alone.

The usual ransom demanded is half a million to a million dollars.

The scam is so widespread that the Nigerians saw fit to explicitly ban it in article 419 of their penal code. The Nigerian President, Olusegun Obasanjo castigated the fraudsters for inflicting “incalculable damage to Nigerian businesses” and for “placing the entire country under suspicion.”

“Wired” quotes statistics presented at the International Conference on Advance Fee (419) Frauds in New York on Sept. 17, 2002:

“Roughly 1 percent of the millions of people who receive 419 e-mails and faxes are successfully scammed. Annual losses to the scam in the United States total more than $100 million, and law enforcement officials believe global losses may total over $1.5 billion.”

According to the “IFCC 2001 Internet Fraud Report”, published by the FBI and the National White Collar Crime Center, Nigerian letter fraud cases amount to 15.5 percent of all grievances. The Internet Fraud Complaint Center refers such rip-offs to the US Secret Service. While the median loss in all manner of Internet fraud was $435 – in the Nigerian scam it was a staggering $5575. But only one in ten successful crimes is reported, says the FBI’s report.

The IFCC provides this advisory to potential targets:

Be skeptical of individuals representing themselves as Nigerian or other foreign government officials asking for your help in placing large sums of money in overseas bank accounts.

• Do not believe the promise of large sums of money for your cooperation.

• Do not give out any personal information regarding your savings, checking, credit, or other financial accounts.

• If you are solicited, do not respond and quickly notify the appropriate authorities.

The “419 Coalition” is more succinct and a lot more pessimistic:

1. “NEVER pay anything up front for ANY reason.

2. NEVER extend credit for ANY reason.

3. NEVER do ANYTHING until their check clears.

4. NEVER expect ANY help from the Nigerian Government.

5. NEVER rely on YOUR Government to bail you out.”

The State Department’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs published a brochure titled “Nigerian Advance Fee Fraud.” It describes the history of this particular type of swindle:

“AFF criminals include university-educated professionals who are the best in the world for nonviolent spectacular crimes. AFF letters first surfaced in the mid-1980s around the time of the collapse of world oil prices, which is Nigeria’s main foreign exchange earner. Some Nigerians turned to crime in order to survive. Fraudulent schemes such as AFF succeeded in Nigeria, because Nigerian criminals took advantage of the fact that Nigerians speak English, the international language of business, and the country’s vast oil wealth and natural gas reserves – ranked 13th in the world – offer lucrative business opportunities that attract many foreign companies and individuals.”

According to London’s Metropolitan Police Company Fraud Department, potential targets in the UK and the USA alone receive c. 1500 solicitations a week. The US Secret Service Financial Crime Division takes in 100 calls a day from Americans approach by the con-men. It now acknowledges that “Nigerian organized crime rings running fraud schemes through the mail and phone lines are now so large, they represent a serious financial threat to the country.”

Sometimes even the stamps affixed to such letters are forged. Nigerian postal workers are known to be in cahoots with the fraudsters. Names and addresses are obtained from “trade journals, business directories, magazine and newspaper advertisements, chambers of commerce, and the Internet.”

Victims are either too intimidated to complain or else reluctant to admit their collusion in money laundering and fraud. Others try in vain to recoup their losses by ploughing more money into the scheme.

Contrary to popular image, the scammers are often violent and involved in other criminal pursuits, such as drug trafficking, According to Nigeria’s Drug Law Enforcement Agency. The blight has spread to other countries. Letters from Sierra Leone, Ghana, Congo, Liberia, Togo, Ivory Coast, Benin, Burkina Faso, South Africa, Taiwan, or even Canada, the United Kingdom, Oman, and Vietnam are not uncommon.

The dodges fall into a few categories.

Over-invoiced contract scams involve the ostensible transfer of amounts obtained through inflated invoices to the bank account of an unrelated foreign firm. Contract fraud or “trade default” is simply a bogus order accompanied by a fraudulent bank draft (or fake postal or other money order) for the products of an export company accompanied by demand for “samples” and various transaction “fees and charges.”

Some of the rackets are plain outlandish. In the “wash-wash” confidence trick people have been known to pay up to $200,000 for a special solution to remove stains from millions in defaced dollar notes. Others “bought” heavily “discounted” crude oil stored in “secret” locations – or real estate in rezoned locales. “Clearing houses” or “venture capital organizations” claiming to act on behalf of the Central Bank of Nigeria launder the proceeds of the scams.

In another twist, charities, academic institutions, nonprofit organizations, and religious groups are asked to pay the inheritances tax on a “donation.” Some “dignitaries” and their relatives may seek to flee the country and ask the victims to advance the bribe money in return for a generous cut of the wealth they have stashed abroad.

“Bankers” may find inactive accounts with millions of dollars – often in lottery winnings – waiting to be transferred to a safe off-shore haven. Bogus jobs with inflated wages are another ostensible way to defraud state-owned companies – as is the sale of the target’s used vehicle to them for an extravagant price. There seems to be no end to criminal ingenuity.

Lately, the correspondence purports to be coming from – often white – disinterested professional third parties. Accountants, lawyers, directors, trustees, security personnel, or bankers pretend to be acting as fiduciaries for the real dignitary in need of help. Less gullible victims are subjected to plain old extortion with verbal intimidation and stalking.

The more heightened public awareness grows with over-exposure and the tighter the net of international cooperation against the scam, the wilder the stories it spawns. Letters have surfaced recently signed by dying refugees, tsunami victims, survivors of the September 11 attacks, and serendipitous US commandos on mission in Afghanistan.

Governments throughout the world have geared up to protect their businessmen. The US Department of Commerce, for instance, publishes the “World Traders data Report”, compiled by US embassy in Nigeria. It “provides the following types of information: types of organizations, year established, principal owners, size, product line, and financial and trade references.”

Unilateral US activity, inefficacious collaboration with the Nigerian government some of whose officials are rumored to be in on the deals, multilateral efforts in the framework of the OECD and the Interpol, education and information campaigns – nothing seems to be working.

The treatment of 419 fraudsters in Nigeria is so lenient that, according to the “Nigeria Tribune”, the United States threatened the country with sanctions if it does not considerably improve its record on financial crime by November 2002. Both the US Treasury’s Financial Crime Enforcement Network (FINCEN) and the OECD’s Financial Action Task Force (FATF) had characterized the country as “one of the worst perpetrators of financial crimes in the world.” The Nigerian central bank promises to get to grips with this debilitating problem.

Nigerian themselves – though often victims of the scams – take the phenomenon in stride. The Nigerian “Daily Champion”, proffered this insightful apologia on behalf of the ruthless and merciless 419 gangs. It is worth quoting at length:

“To eradicate the 419 scourge, leaders at all levels should work assiduously to create employment opportunities and people perception of the leaders as role models. The country’s very high unemployment figure has made nonsense of the so-called democracy dividends. Great majority of Nigerian youthful school leaver’s including University graduates, are without visible means of livelihoodâ?¦ The fact remains that most of these teeming youths cannot just watch our so-called leaders siphon their God-given wealthy. So, they resorted to alternative fraudulent means of livelihood called 419, at least to be seen as have arrivedâ?¦ Some of these 419ers are in the National Assembly and the State Houses of Assembly while some surround the President and governors
across the country.”

Some swindlers seek to glorify their criminal activities with a political and historical context. The Web site of the “419 Coalition” contains letters casting the scam as a form of forced reparation for slavery, akin to the compensation paid by Germany to survivors of the holocaust. The confidence tricksters boast of defrauding the “white civilization” and unmasking the falsity of its claims for superiority. But a few delusional individuals aside, this is nothing but a smokescreen.

Greed outweighs fear and avarice enmeshes people in clearly criminal enterprises. The “victims” of advance fee scams are rarely incognizant of their alleged role. They knowingly and intentionally collude with self-professed criminals to fleece governments and institutions. This is one of the rare crimes where prey and perpetrator may well deserve each other.

Also Read

• The Greatest Savings Crisis in History

• The Typology of Financial Scandals

• The Bursting Asset Bubbles

(Case Studies: The Savings and Loans Crisis, Crash of 1929, British Real Estate)

• The Shadowy World of International Finance

• Hawala, or the Bank that Never Was

• Money Laundering in a Changed World

• The Varieties of Corruption

• Corruption and Transparency

• Straf – Corruption in CEE

• The Criminality of Transition

• The Kleptocracies of the East

• The Enrons of the East

• Bully at Work – Interview with Tim Field

• The Economics of Conspiracy Theories

• The Industrious Spies

• The Business of Torture

• Fimaco Wouldn’t Die – Russia’s Missing Billions

• Treasure Island Revisited – Maritime Piracy

• Organ Trafficking in Eastern Europe

• Slush Funds

   Malignant Self Love – Narcissism Revisited

By Khamati Shilabukha

In the past few years, there have been efforts to re-position Africa in the globalising world to take care of relationships among its states and the rest of the world.

The association of African states was restructured from the Organisation of African Unity, to the African Union. Many would argue that this is merely a change in name and not in the character of the organisation.

Proponents of the “new” outfit argue that it is meant to generate a new awareness of who we are. Many also hold the view that Africans are too divided to evolve into a meaningful regional identity.

This argument stems from the myriad conflict situations in the continent. The conflicts are both intra-national and international, with the former more prevalent.

Intra-national conflicts are often the result of internal (political/economic) power squabbles. Sierra Leone, Liberia, DRC, Rwanda, Madagascar, Central Africa Republic, Algeria, Ivory Coast and Kenya are some examples of countries that have experienced such conflicts. They have all received adequate media coverage. But the other genre of conflict has not received the same kind of coverage, yet it is crucial in the pursuit of a global and modern Africa.

This conflict derives from all forms of discrimination including racism and xenophobia. It is vicious and has gone on for some time. These forms of discrimination are serious, and efforts have been made to put them on the global agenda.

The most appropriate example is the current attacks on foreigners in South Africa. The question that begs answers is, why at this time in Africa? All sectors of a society have an obligation to contribute to the resolution of this conflict. We need to examine the extent to which as leaders, scholars and policy makers, we can intervene in this scourge called xenophobia.

It is argued that xenophobia is a result of poor intercultural communication. Members of one culture do not understand, appreciate and accommodate those from another culture. They lack adequate information to deal with such people with the least stress and threat.

But acquiring such information does not come easy and the poor management of communication often leads to strife. This could be the case in South Africa. One major source of information that allows us a wide world view and a more holistic perception and appreciation of others is the mass media. But the mass media, as inanimate objects, cannot do anything. It is those who use and manipulate them that can make the difference.

Xenophobia is a global problem. Although the phenomenon is ubiquitous in contemporary societies, its targets vary across countries and nations. It is such that even those who have been a subject of hate also develop hatred for others. But how does this hatred come about? Anthropologists and other social scientists posit that a population composed mainly of foreigners is an environment in which xenophobia can easily thrive.

They distinguish three theoretical approaches to the rise and diffusion of hatred. The first relates to socio-economic status of individuals, the second pertains to their cultural identity and the third the general attributes of society.

Source of hatred

The first approach derives from the “power theory” — a paradigm that views the relationship between groups as a function of their competitive positions. This concept suggests that a threat of one particular group to another is a source of hatred. When people feel insecure in the face of threat, they portray resentment and hate. But here, the intensity of hate need not necessarily depend on real competition on the job market but on the perception of threat. This is sufficient ground to induce animosity. Much of this is absent in the South African situation.

The cultural symbolic approach holds that animosity towards the other is not a consequence of economic competition between rival groups. It is a product of early political and value socialisation. The main issue here is the fear of loss of social status and identity.

Thus, cultural differences among people could be responsible for conflicts and hatred. In this approach, it can be explained that people would prefer to be surrounded by their own kind rather than be exposed to “strangers”. Defining a group of people as “un-belonging” to the national “we” deprives them of the right to belong. Much of this is also absent in South Africa.

The third approach, termed phenomenology, attributes xenophobia not to economic strains or cultural divergence but to general attributes of society. When society experiences deep crises, which occur intermittently, anomic tensions encroach upon social postures.

This leads to a crisis of collective identity “so that the calm self-certainty which might enable unproblematic relations with the minorities gets lost”. Under this approach, xenophobia is interpreted as a way of reassuring the national self and its boundaries, as an attempt at making sense of the world in times of crisis. This could be happening to indigenous South Africans.

To start with, the impeding fallout between President Thabo Mbeki and Africa National Congress (ANC) leader Jacob Zuma could be disillusioning to many ordinary citizens of African descent.

Many of them subscribe to ANC with a passion yet they find themselves on the sidelines when major party decisions are being made. At the same time, they have not benefited from the economic prosperity of their country.

Many South Africans still live in squalid conditions and the dream of land reform has turned into a pipe dream. These issues run so deep in their collective psyche that they need reassurance of economic and social survival. But they are directing their anger at the wrong enemy.

Many of the low class Zimbabweans, Malawians, Zambians and nationals of other countries are escaping economic hardship and political violence which South Africa has refused to acknowledge as a problem, especially in Zimbabwe.

They should commit themselves to assisting them to the best of their capacity. And this applies to other countries with a chance to host other Africans in need of refuge and sanctuary.