ANC Today 

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Volume 5, No. 13, 1-7 April 2005 
 
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THIS WEEK:

* Letter from the President: Pax Africana - dream or reality? 
* Zimbabwe Elections: Let the voice of the people be heard 
* AIDS programme: Government meets targets for AIDS plan implementation 

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LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT

Pax Africana - dream or reality?

As this edition of ANC TODAY goes to press, the Pan African Parliament (PAP) is
holding its third session at its seat in Midrand, Gauteng. We would like to take
this opportunity warmly to welcome back to our country, and their permanent
home, Africa's parliamentarians, and wish them success in their important work.

The convening of this regular session of PAP confirms the determination of the
peoples of Africa to promote and achieve the unity of our continent. To realise
these goals, the PAP, made up of representatives elected by the African masses,
will discuss a number of the important pan-African issues of the day, consistent
with its mandate to help determine the African agenda.

As the PAP meets, at least three important events will take place on our
continent in which undoubtedly Africa's parliamentarians will be intensely
interested, consistent with their mandate to contribute to Africa's renaissance.

One of these important events is the Parliamentary Elections in Zimbabwe, which
were held on 31 March.

The second is the Summit Meeting of the leaders of Côte d'Ivoire, which will
start in our capital city, Tshwane, on 3 April.

The third is the initiation of the training programme in our country for
representatives of the leadership from Southern Sudan, which is preparing itself
to assume governmental positions both in the South and in Sudan as a whole. The
delegation includes an important component of women, who are correctly concerned
that the Sudanese peace process should also focus on the central goal of the
emancipation of the Sudanese women.

What distinguishes all these important events is that developments in Zimbabwe,
Côte d'Ivoire and Sudan have, for some years now, raised issues that transcend
the borders of these countries and therefore stand at the centre of the
continuing struggle of our continent to achieve its renewal.

As our continent has battled effectively to respond to the developments in these
sister African countries, the peoples of Africa have come face to face with the
reality that we still have the task to win our right to determine our own
future, even though we had thought that our accession to independence from the
1950s onwards guaranteed us our right to self-determination.

Hopefully the PAP will take advantage of the currency of all these matters to
discuss them, and publicly state its views concerning these issues, which will
also be informed by the report of the PAP delegation that visited Darfur in
Sudan. All this will help to provide the necessary leadership to our governments
and the African masses with regard to matters that, inevitably, will help to
shape the future of our continent for some time to come.

To add to the matters we have raised, we should perhaps also mention the
controversy surrounding an important African and world leader, the UN Secretary
General, Kofi Annan. This has arisen from the serious questions about moral
integrity in the conduct of global affairs that have been raised concerning the
UN Iraq oil-for-food programme.

In particular, we must take note of the fact that in a report tabled in New York
as the PAP began its current sitting, the Paul Volcker investigation into this
programme cleared the Secretary General of any unethical conduct. However, it
seems that the pressure from some international circles to compel Kofi Annan to
resign his position as the Secretary General of the UN has not diminished.

When journalists asked him whether he would resign his position, regardless of
the findings of the Volcker investigation, Kofi Annan resorted to a
colloquialism and replied - "hell no!"

The proceedings concerning the future of the UN Secretary General have posed the
challenge to all of us as Africans whether we too, despite our poverty, have the
courage to say "hell no!", when others more powerful than we are, taking
advantage of our weakness, seek to instruct us how we should think, speak and
behave, regardless of the dictates of our principles, our consciences, our best
interests, our knowledge, and our dignity as human beings.

It would seem appropriate and timely that the PAP should consider the "Annan
affair" and hopefully add its voice to that of the AU Assembly and others who
have said that the eminent African, Kofi Annan, should be allowed to serve his
full term as UN Secretary General, to help implement the critically important UN
transformation process he is leading. This includes the elevation of the
challenge of African development to a higher position on the global agenda. In
this regard, the PAP and Africa as a whole may have to answer the question
whether we as Africans have the courage also to say -"hell no!" to those who
think otherwise.

The crisis in Côte d'Ivoire has imposed an obligation on the PAP and the rest of
our continent to answer a number of questions that are of fundamental importance
to the future of our continent. These include:

* what must we do to ensure stability, democracy and inclusive political,
economic and social systems in multi-ethnic, multi-cultural and multi-faith
African societies?; 
* what conflict resolution mechanisms should we put in place so that competing
interests in our diverse societies do not lead to violent conflict and
instability?; 
* given the long-standing continental decision to respect the colonial
boundaries we inherited, how should we manage the reality that since these
political boundaries divide families and entire communities, so that they do not
become a factor of conflict and instability?; * how should we design our
political systems to obviate the possibility of resort to undemocratic means to
gain political power, or resolve disputes, including the use of violent means
and resort to coups d'etat?; and, 
* what mechanisms and procedures should we put in place to ensure that the
African Union is able to assist all member states of the Union to honour their
obligations as defined in the Constitutive Act of the African Union and the
Conventions and Protocols approved by the Union? 

Similarly, the events in Zimbabwe have imposed an obligation on the PAP and the
rest of our continent to answer a number of questions that are of fundamental
importance to the future of our continent. These include:

* what should we do to complete the anti-colonial revolution by eradicating all
vestiges of the legacy of colonialism, including the repudiation of neo-
colonialism?; 
* what are the appropriate socio-economic programmes we should adopt to ensure
the sustained and sustainable development of our societies within the context of
NEPAD and the process of globalisation?; and, 
* how should we manage the political evolution in our countries so that we
guarantee democratic practice even as this natural evolutionary process leads to
the emergence of a number of competing political parties and organised interest
groups? 

An account of the recent histories of Zimbabwe and Côte d'Ivoire would make it
obvious why we use the experience in these sister countries (and Sudan), to draw
the conclusion that all the questions we have listed above are "of fundamental
importance to the future of our continent".

Our continent is faced with the critical challenge to achieve the goal we have
set ourselves to ensure that the 21st stands out as the African Century. To
realise this goal, we must successfully address a number of serious issues that
help to define our continent, with which we are all familiar. Even a cursory
reading of the Constitutive Act (CA) of the African Union would show what our
continent thinks these issues are.

The CA identifies democracy, human rights and good governance as one of our core
challenges. Specifically, it says that our continent is "determined to promote
and protect human and peoples' rights, consolidate democratic institutions and
culture, and...ensure good governance and the rule of law".

In this context, the CA also commits Africa to two other related objectives. It
says that our continent is committed to "respect for the sanctity of human life,
condemnation and rejection of impunity and political assassination, acts of
terrorism and subversive activities". It goes further to pledge "condemnation
and rejection of unconstitutional changes of governments".

Intent to ensure that we achieve peace and stability throughout Africa, the CA
commits all of us to the "peaceful resolution of disputes among Member States of
the Union..., prohibition of the use of force or threat to use force among
Member States of the Union".

Most important, it also asserts "the right of the Union to intervene in a Member
State pursuant to a decision of the Assembly in respect of grave circumstances,
namely war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity". It also grants "the
right of Member States to request intervention from the Union in order to
restore peace and security".

Similarly, it draws attention to the task we all face to fight and defeat
poverty and underdevelopment throughout Africa. It therefore says that we must
"promote sustainable development at the economic, social and cultural levels as
well as the integration of the African economies".

Among other things, in this regard, it says the Union must "promote cooperation
in all fields of human activity to raise the living standards of African
peoples", as well as "establish the necessary conditions which will enable the
continent to play its rightful role in the global economy and in international
negotiations".

The CA also addresses another important matter, namely an explanation of the
continental unity we seek. As we would all expect, it speaks of the "noble
ideals which guided the founding fathers of our Continental Organisation and
generations of Pan-Africanists in their determination to promote unity,
solidarity, cohesion and cooperation among the peoples of Africa and African
States".

But the CA also addresses the challenge of African unity at the national level.
It therefore says our Union is "guided by our common vision of a united and
strong Africa and by the need to build a partnership between governments and all
segments of civil society, in particular women, youth and the private sector in
order to strengthen solidarity and cohesion among our peoples".

This objective, which focuses of the important issue of national unity, or a new
national partnership for development, the foundation and starting point of
NEPAD, makes a critical statement about Africa's fundamental challenges.

That statement says that these challenges are of such a nature that they require
the united response of the peoples of Africa within and between countries. It
asserts the determination that so fundamental are these problems to the lives of
the African masses, that they require a united and non-partisan engagement.

This means that we must strive to develop the national and continental consensus
which will ensure that we actually succeed to make the historic progress we
seek. This is as relevant to Zimbabwe, Côte d'Ivoire and Sudan, as it is to our
country.

The New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD), the development programme
of the AU, and the African Peer Review Mechanism, are based exactly on all the
aims and objectives contained in the Constitutive Act of the African Union that
we have detailed.

Similarly, the PAP was founded on the basis of the same principles and goals.
The CA provides for the PAP to be established "to ensure the full participation
of African peoples in the development and economic integration of the
continent".

Inevitably, therefore, even during its current sitting, the agenda of the PAP
will be informed by the principles and goals contained in the CA. Consideration
of the issues of Côte d'Ivoire, Zimbabwe and Sudan would enable the PAP
practically to apply these principles to the concrete and pressing circumstances
relating to these sister countries.

By so doing, the PAP would make an important contribution to the transformation
of the CA and other policy statements of the AU into living documents. It would
ensure that the AU achieves its objective of practically establishing itself as
a decisive instrument for our continental integration and unity, impacting on
the policies and programmes of all AU Member States.

Perhaps the most challenging task posed by the establishment of the AU and the
initiation of NEPAD is the requirement that, at last, as Africans, we must take
full responsibility for our destiny. In this regard, the CA even includes the
pursuit of the goal of self-reliance.

Practically, this means that as it strives to implement its mandate "to ensure
the full participation of African peoples in the development" of Africa, the PAP
must help us to ensure that Africa acts to solve Africa's problems. In any case
such solutions can only be stable and lasting if they genuinely express the
conscious will of the peoples of Africa.

This also means that as we proceed in this manner, we should also strengthen the
new partnership of equality, shared interest and mutual respect that must
underline our cooperation with the rest of the world, which will enable us to
achieve the goal stated in the CA of "establish(ing) the necessary conditions
which (will) enable the continent to play its rightful role in the global
economy and in international negotiations". Self-reliance does not mean that we
should cut ourselves off from the rest of the world, or treat the rest of
humanity as our adversaries or enemies.

What it means, however, is that we should fight to assert our right to determine
the future of our countries and continent, insisting on our right as Africans to
decide the future of the unique and only common home of all Africans, Africa.

The people of Zimbabwe have just exercised their right to choose their elected
national representatives. The leaders of the people of Côte d'Ivoire will meet
in our country, hopefully to take the necessary decisions that will end the
crisis in their country, in the interest of the masses of the Ivorian people.

In both instances it is important that the leaders and peoples of these
countries (and Sudan), should respect their national obligations as Member
States of the African Union, and honour the commitments contained in the CA.

But it is equally important that the PAP, and the African Union as a whole,
should defend the right of the peoples of these countries, acting as members of
the AU, to exercise their right to self-determination. To give birth to the new
Africa of our dreams, we must have the courage to say "hell no!" to any
intervention that seeks to compromise our possibility to determine the future of
our countries and continent.

Democracy, development and unity in Africa, and the realisation of the goal of
an African Century depend on the achievement of real peace and stability in all
our countries. This can only come about as a result of our sovereign and
purposeful actions as Africans. Only when we accomplish this will a meaningful
Pax Africana become reality rather than a dream.
 
Thabo Mbeki 

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ZIMBABWE ELECTIONS

Let the voice of the people be heard

During the last few weeks various commentators, in South Africa and
internationally, have written about various obstacles - both real and imagined -
that may have prevented the people of Zimbabwe from freely exercising their vote
in this week's parliamentary elections.

But amid all these comments, none has drawn attention to one significant
obstacle to the voice of the Zimbabwean people being heard - an intensive
international 'campaign' to firmly establish the view that these elections were
irredeemably unfree and unfair.

Largely conducted through local and international media, this effort has sought
to convince the international public that - regardless of the actual situation -
the people of Zimbabwe were not able to freely express themselves in the poll.

Far from being a sincere effort to provide accurate information about the
conditions for a free poll in Zimbabwe, this effort has sought to prejudge the
legitimacy of the election, consistently asserting that a free election was
impossible.

A number of election observer missions, from this country and others, have been
in Zimbabwe for some weeks monitoring preparations for the election, including
the campaigning by the various parties and candidates. Once these missions
complete their work and publish their reports it should be possible to gain a
better sense of how the election was conducted and the extent to which its
outcome can be truly said to reflect the will of the Zimbabwean people.

Yet while election observer missions are important, particularly for countries
that seek first-hand insight into the process, the legitimacy of these elections
ultimately rests on the extent to which the people of Zimbabwe accept their
outcome and consider those MPs who will take up seats in the new parliament as
their true representatives.

On Thursday, 31 March Zimbabweans turned out in large numbers to vote, many
standing in long queues from early in the morning. Initial reports indicated the
voting took place without major incident. Yet, if the views expressed on behalf
of the 'unfree campaign' were to be believed, these voters should not have
bothered.

A recent front-page article in the international magazine, 'Newsweek', entitled
'A Despot Clings to Power', is one of many that has claimed - prior even to
voting - that the election would not be free or fair. It was "virtually a
foregone conclusion" that fraud similar to the reported "voting-rigging" in the
2000 and 2002 elections would take place again, it said.

'The Economist' of 26 March , in an article entitled 'Robert Mugabe is poised to
rig a general election once again', said "There has been less violence than
there was in the run-up to the poll five years ago, but there is no chance that
the one on March 31st will be free or fair".

With well-respected international news magazines having declared it a "foregone
conclusion" that the vote would be fraudulent, and that there was "no chance" of
a free election, why did all those Zimbabwean voters bother to turn out at the
polls?

Perhaps it is because they wanted to give the democratic process an opportunity
to succeed. Perhaps it is because, unlike the many commentators who have their
own political agendas to pursue, the people of Zimbabwe want an opportunity to
elect their own leaders.

Such public commentary should not be confused with honest, accurate election
reporting, which provides factual information about the election campaign and
process, including providing important information about any irregularities or
instances of violence or intimidation. In any election, in any country, such
reporting makes an important contribution to ensuring conditions exist for a
free and fair process. It also informs people's understanding of the integrity
of the electoral process.

Yet the bulk of media coverage of the Zimbabwean election and related
commentaries - at least in South African media - has not focused as much on the
actual events in the country as it has on the message that the elections will be
unavoidably illegitimate.

This is unfortunate for a number of reasons. Firstly, it creates the possibility
that the gulf between perception and reality will become so vast that it cannot
be bridged. The broad public perception about the Zimbabwean election may end up
being so far removed from the reality that it is impossible for people to
construct an informed understanding of the situation in Zimbabwe.

Secondly, and more importantly, it disempowers the Zimbabwean people, by not
even allowing for the possibility that they would freely express themselves in
this week's elections, and that this expression would be reflected in the
election results. It denies them the possibility - at least in the eyes of
international opinion - of electing MPs who truly reflect their needs and
aspirations.

The people of Zimbabwe deserve an opportunity to express themselves at the polls
and for their wishes to be reflected in the outcome of the election. It may be
days - or even longer - before we know whether or not they got that opportunity.
It may yet be some time before it is possible to assess, on the balance of
available evidence, whether or not these elections were indeed free and fair.

Yet all those who support the democratic and sovereign right of the Zimbabwean
people to elect their own government should not deny them the possibility of
freely electing their national parliamentarians. They should reject the efforts
of those who have predetermined that these elections can be nothing but
illegitimate.
  
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AIDS PROGRAMME

Government meets targets for AIDS plan implementation

Government has met its target in the implementation of the Comprehensive Plan
for Management, Care and Treatment of HIV and AIDS for the latest financial
year, the health department reported this week.

In ANC TODAY Vol 3 No 32 we reported on the adoption by cabinet of measures to
enhance government's HIV and AIDS programme. To keep readers informed of
developments, we publish in full below the contents of the department's
statement:

"The Department of Health has met its target in the implementation of the
Comprehensive Plan for Management, Care and Treatment of HIV and AIDS for the
financial year ending 31 March 2005.

"The Department had a target of establishing at least one service point for AIDS
related care and treatment in all of the 53 districts in the country before the
end of March 2005.

"In pursuing this goal, the Department initiated an accreditation process aimed
at strengthening the health system by evaluating the capacity of health
facilities to provide quality health services including effective screening,
diagnosis, treatment and monitoring of safety of people living with HIV and
AIDS. The health facilities that are eligible to provide antiretroviral drugs
are certified through this process. This approach was necessary because of the
complexity of the programme to administer in particular antiretroviral drugs
safely and effectively.

"The national accreditation team visited various hospitals across the country to
establish if they met the requirements for the provision of quality health
services. The facilities that did not meet the requirements were assisted by the
Department of Health to develop urgent action plans to address their
deficiencies. The facilities were only accredited after the accreditation team
conducted follow up visits to verify if the identified service delivery
challenges had been adequately addressed.

"On 30 March the national accreditation team visited and accredited Kuruman
Hospital in Kgalagadi district (Northern Cape), which was the last district
without an HIV and AIDS service point. Kgalagadi district is one of the 13 most
impoverished districts in the country identified as nodal points for the
Integrated Sustainable Rural Development Programme.

"The Minister of Health, Dr Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, said she was delighted
that her Department has been able to achieve the goal it set for itself.
'Although it has not been easy, the accreditation process has been a valuable
process in ensuring that there is an equitable distribution of services across
the country right from the beginning of implementation of this programme,' said
Minister Tshabalala-Msimang.

"The accreditation process also assisted the Department in identifying the
challenges in the health system and problems facing health facilities in various
settings. Some of the common challenges highlighted by this process are:

* Shortage of critical personnel including doctors, pharmacists and dieticians, 
* Lack of appropriate accommodation particularly for confidential consultation, 
* Longer turn around times for laboratory results, 
* Lack of adequate and safe storage for medicines and consumables like
nutritional supplements, 
* Lack of training in AIDS related treatment across various health professions. 

"Significant efforts have been made to address the challenges of implementation
and strengthen the overall health system. Two hundred and fifty laboratories
have been certified to provide laboratory support to the programme and three
pharmacovigilance centres have been established to monitor and investigate
adverse reaction to treatment.

"More than 1,060 health professionals have been recruited to support the
programme and more than 7,600 health personnel has been trained on the
management, care and treatment of HIV and AIDS.

"The tender for the supply of antiretroviral drugs was awarded to seven
successful pharmaceutical companies earlier this month and all accredited
facilities have adequate supply of antiretroviral drugs. The tender for
inventory management and tracker system is being evaluated

"Patients tested positive for TB and/or HIV are assessed for their nutritional
needs and those who qualify are given nutritional supplements and multivitamins.

"Nationally agreed form for collecting data is being implemented in all sites.
Customisation of existing information system to allow for tracking of patients
between facilities and provinces is being piloted in KwaZulu-Natal and
Mpumalanga. This Patient Information System should allow for easy access to
programme indicators like number of patients, laboratory specimen details and
other clinical details of patients. About 370 officials are expected to be
trained on monitoring and evaluation to improve collection and flow of quality
data.

"Minister Tshabalala-Msimang and officials in the Department of Health will be
visiting the accredited facilities to establish the quality of service being
provided and address the challenges that may be undermining quality service
delivery on the ground.

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