Former SA President de Klerk appeals to African leaders to adapt to change

Former South African President Frederick de Klerk on Monday appealed to African governments to meet the challenges of change to protect its turf from outsiders wherever they might come from.

“Africa must change its attitude to governance; it must improve the standards of governance and eliminate pervasive corruption; it must continue the good work it has done to resolve the continent’s remaining conflicts,” he said at a symposium organized in Accra by the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA).

The symposium titled: “An Afternoon Encounter with Mr Frederick de Klerk,” was on the theme: “The Challenges of Change in Africa”.

Mr de Klerk said African governments must do more to establish genuine democracies in the 39 sub-Saharan countries that are still only partially free or not free at all,

He said the emergence of international criminal cartel trafficking in drugs in Africa was a concern not only for Africans but the international community and presented special challenges to Africans.

The former President said Africa must therefore change its attitude towards economic development.

He said the continent must diminish dependency on foreign aid, expand intra-African trade, strive to gain larger and fairer slice of international trade, avoid reliance on single commodities and it must do more to benefit from its mineral and agricultural products.

He proposed a change of attitude toward human development based on working towards doubling the percentage of children who go to high school and universities improve health housing and social conditions.

Ex-President de Klerk said the current crop of African leaders were capable of adopting the changes; “….Africa must show that it has the ability to manage the change that will confront it in the years and decades that lie ahead and that Ghana once again is showing the way”.

He said Ghana had traditionally set the pace for change in Africa; “Ghana was the first in sub-Saharan Africa to gain independence to open the way to the rest of the continent and espoused the ideals of African unity.

“Under the leadership of the late President John Evans Atta Mills, Ghana once again assumed leadership position at the forefront of a new wave of freedom and development”.

The South African former President noted that the reality of today was about change and the key to survival during the coming years in the world, Africa and Ghana would depend largely on the ability to adapt to change.

He said Africans had three choices to make; “try to resist change, allow ourselves to be swept away by change or try to manage change and by so doing empower ourselves through transformation.

Mr de Klerk said change was about making choices. “You can make the right choices and manage change or you can become a victim of change. Countries that are victims of change are exploited by others, overrun by corruption, abuse of power, unstable and wasteful of their precious resources.

“Ghana is not a victim of change…its recent history has been a beacon for the rest of Africa, particularly its record of holding transparent democratic elections peacefully and in accordance with the law,” he said.

During an interaction with the participants who were mainly politicians, lawyers, academics, security personnel, civil society actors who asked scores of intriguing questions; the former South African President explained that South Africa experienced change 23 years ago.

“Given the chance and circumstance again I will repeat all major strategic decisions I took, will think through some minor decisions”.

Dr Charles Mensa, Board Chairman of IEA, explained that the lecture sought to tap on the former South African President’s unique leadership experience which allowed him to support the transformation of South Africa, a multi racial democracy by entering into negotiations that resulted in equal voting and other rights for all citizens.

He said as Ghana approached a highly competitive general election, it is the hope of the Institute that the country would learn from President de Klerk.

Source: GNA