Working together to solve Africa's
problems
This week
two important developments took place in our country. One of these was
the holding of the final session of the Inter-Congolese Dialogue (ICD).
The other was the launch of the Southern Africa Race against Malaria Car
Rally.
At the concluding session of the ICD at Sun City, all
the participants signed "The Final Act" committing themselves
to honour all the agreements they had entered into, relating to the future
of the DRC.
These are contained in 36 Resolutions covering a wide
variety of matters, a Global and Inclusive Agreement signed in Pretoria
on 17 December 2002 and an Additional Memorandum of the Army and Security,
as well as a Constitution of the Transition, adopted at Sun City on 1
April 2003.
In "The Final Act", the united leaders of
the people of the DRC, representing the government, the armed rebel groups,
the political parties and civil society, recommitted themselves to a number
of important objectives.
They agreed to pursue the goal of peace, national unity
and reconciliation. They undertook to protect the rights of all citizens
and promote democratic governance. They pledged to run the transitional
institutions on the principles of consensual management, inclusiveness
and transparency. They committed themselves to free, democratic and transparent
elections.
They also committed themselves to move to the next critical
stage in the process of the resolution of the conflict in the DRC and
the advance of this sister country towards unity, democracy and development.
This is the earliest possible installation of the transitional government
and other institutions, as envisaged in the Global and Inclusive Agreement.
The final session of the ICD was a moment of celebration
for the Congolese people, the peoples of Africa, and everybody else who
had made a contribution to the process that has led to the historic agreements
finalised at Sun City earlier this week.
Speaking at the closing session of the ICD, among other
things we said: "The agreements arrived at in the Inter-Congolese
Dialogue open the way to the rebirth of the DRC, the land of the great
Patrice Lumumba. Whether that dream is transformed into reality will depend
on what you, the leaders of the Congolese people, do.
"Your practical actions will answer the question
whether the dream translates into a better life for the Congolese people,
or turns into a mirage, confirming the perpetuation of a nightmare. We
are confident that you will not disappoint the expectations both of your
people and the peoples of Africa.
"What this will require above all else is an unwavering
patriotism among the entirety of the Congolese leadership. I believe that
this leadership will have to strive at all times to live up to the heavy
and honourable commitment - we serve the people of the Congo!
"Any other position will turn the hopes aroused
in these masses into yet another long night of despair. I am certain that
none of us has either the desire or the intention to give birth to such
a dismal outcome.
"After many centuries during which our continent
suffered at the hands of others from across the oceans, the rebirth of
the Democratic Republic of Congo signals that Africa's time has come!"
As a country, we have been involved in the effort to
help resolve the conflict in the DRC since 1996-97. This followed approaches
to President Mandela by the President of the then Zaire, General Mobutu,
and the insurgent and now late Laurent Kabila, to help as much as he could
to help find a solution to the conflict.
We have stayed with this issue since then because we
felt a keen sense of solidarity with the Congolese people, and understood
the importance of a peaceful, united, stable and democratic DRC to the
achievement of the goals of African unity and the African Renaissance.
We are committed to stay the course with the Congolese
people as they work to implement the agreements they have entered into.
Accordingly, our engagement with the DRC did not end with the signing
of The Final Act at Sun City this week. The struggle for the renewal of
the DRC continues.
I would like to thank all our people for the inspiring
sense of African and international solidarity they have shown as our government
committed resources to assist the Congolese people to resolve their problems.
At no point did these masses complain about the support we extended to
the sister Congolese people. This is because they know the role played
by our continent as we struggled for our own liberation from the system
of apartheid.
The day after the conclusion of the ICD, we launched
the Southern Africa Race against Malaria Rally. The Rally will involve
all the member states of the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC).
The Rally vehicles drawn from a majority of these member states will conclude
the Race in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania, later this month on Africa anti-Malaria
Day, April 25.
The purpose of the Rally is to raise the level of consciousness
about the importance of the struggle against malaria throughout our region
and to encourage the mobilisation of the necessary resources to confront
this pandemic.
In this regard, we extend our thanks to the many private
sector companies that have contributed the resources that have made the
Rally possible, thus demonstrating their readiness to enter into a public-private
partnership to help our region to defeat the scourge of malaria.
The possibility to reduce and eliminate the incidence
of malaria has already been demonstrated in the Lubombo Spatial Development
Initiative, which covers our country, Swaziland and Mozambique. A coordinated
and sustained anti-malaria campaign by the three countries has reduced
the incidence of malaria in the Lubombo area by at least 80 percent.
This required cooperation among our countries' national,
provincial and local governments, the private sector and local communities.
Soon we should be able to announce that we have eradicated malaria within
the area covered by the Lubombo SDI. The Race against Malaria Rally will
seek to encourage precisely this outcome throughout Southern Africa.
In our region, 88 million people live within the malaria
transmission areas. In these areas, every year, among others, 14 million
children and 4 million pregnant women face a high risk of contracting
malaria.
It should therefore come as no surprise that malaria
is one of the leading killer diseases in our region. It is estimated that
in this region, between 19 and 21 million people fall sick from malaria
every year. Five hundred thousand die every year from this infectious
disease, which is both preventable and curable.
It is both a disease of poverty and a disease that causes
poverty. For instance, the direct and indirect cost of malaria in Angola
is estimated at $125 million per annum. It is estimated to cause a lowering
of the GDP in Zimbabwe ranging from 0.8% to 1.9% in the GDP annually.
In Malawi, for very poor households, the direct cost of malaria treatment
amounts to 28% of the annual income.
At the launch we said, among other things: "Poverty
and malaria are interlinked. Poverty increases risk of malaria and mortality
from malaria. Communities with low incomes, limited education and poor
access to health care are at least able to engage in malaria control activities.
Prevention of malaria may not be affordable or properly understood.
"Equally, treatment-seeking behaviour may be influenced
by lack of education as well as inability to pay transport, consultation
and treatment fees at health facilities."
Our region has already launched the Roll Back Malaria
campaign. We will move with even greater determination to ensure this
campaign succeeds. The Race against Malaria Rally will provide further
impetus in this regard.
The provision of health for all throughout Africa is
one of the central pillars of NEPAD. This has to be so because we cannot
say that we have improved the quality of life of our peoples if we have
made no progress in radically improving the health of these masses. At
the same time, we cannot expect these masses effectively to contribute
to the development due to them, if they are weakened by debilitating ill
health.
Like the other countries of our region, except Lesotho
which has no incidence of malaria, the new transitional government of
the DRC will have to confront the challenge of malaria even as it works
further to normalise the situation through free and fair elections. It
was good that the current Minister of Health of the DRC was present at
the Pretoria launch of the Race against Malaria Rally.
We must pursue the campaign to eradicate malaria with
the necessary vigour and commit such resources as we can. We trust that
the international organisations working with our region already will sustain
their support for our programmes. These include the WHO, UNICEF and the
Global Health Fund.
From the beginning to the end, the DRC peace process
was been handled by Africans. Faced with a daunting African problem, all
of Africa has sought to find an African solution. Whatever the problems,
as Africans, including and especially the Congolese people and their leaders,
we have made significant progress towards the resolution of one of the
most difficult challenges independent Africa has faced.
This we did because we demonstrated confidence in ourselves
to solve our problems. We made a determination that we would identify
these problems ourselves, and find the solutions. We decided that we would
determine our destiny and take responsibility for our failures and successes,
refusing that others should decide our agenda and programme of action.
Very few in the world seem motivated to highlight the
fact that we confront a malaria epidemic. As Africans, we have a duty
properly to inform ourselves about the things that make us ill and kill
us, in the same way that we took it upon ourselves to determine the nature
of the problems facing us in the DRC. It is only on this basis, based
on our determination to think independently - despite the fact, and because
we are poor - that we will find the correct solutions to our problems.
Without this, it will be impossible for us to repeat
what we said at the conclusion of the ICD, that the rebirth of the Democratic
Republic of Congo signals that Africa's time has come!
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