×

We've got news for you.

Register on SowetanLIVE at no cost to receive newsletters, read exclusive articles & more.
Register now

African leaders 'still lackeys of Western nations'

SUPPORTER: Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. © Unknown.
SUPPORTER: Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. © Unknown.

Mpikeleni Duma

Mpikeleni Duma

African heads of state will not accept a People's Union of Africa (PUA) because of their complicity with Western nations, Jamaican academic and revolutionary Horace Campbell told an international conference in Durban at the weekend.

Speaking at the third Towards an Africa Without Borders annual conference held at the Inanda Community Hall on Saturday, Campbell told hundreds of delegates and observers that African leaders banked their monies in European banks and regularly visited Western hospitals for medical check-ups.

He said African intellectuals still admired certain Western traditions and were intellectually submissive to whites. Therefore, the idea of a PUA would be tricky for many of the politicians.

Campbell said the civil society conference that ran simultaneously with the African Union meeting in Ghana last week supported the idea of PUA and had a different conception of African unity from that held by politicians.

He said "even South African President Thabo Mbeki's idea of regional cooperation and gradualism towards a united Africa is beholden to Western capital".

Campbell said even proponents of the PUA idea such as Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi had supported warlords and despots like Charles Taylor and Idi Amin. The idea of a PUA had been mooted even before Qaddafi was born.

"The big conglomerates will still be able to invest in any part of Africa while it will be difficult for Zimbabweans to be granted work permits in South Africa," said Campbell. He predicted that the idea of a PUA would only be realised after 2016.

Would you like to comment on this article?
Register (it's quick and free) or sign in now.

Speech Bubbles

Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.