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Vol 10 October 2011
South Africa’s Foreign Policy in the Zuma Gov-ernment:
By Tseliso Thipanyane
GIS Analyses: The Potential of Renewable Resources in Africa
By Mpho Mutavhatsindi
2011 Liberian General Election
By Lindokuhle Khumalo and Justice Mkhabela
Page 6
Page 18
CEO’s Corner: Advancement of African Leadership
Dr Matlotleng Matlou—Chief Executive Office of the Africa Institute of South Africa
Continues on page 3
Muammar Gaddafi and the Regime Change.
By Otsile Malebaco
Page 7
F or the past five years the first week of October has been anx-iously awaited by many Africans
and our global partners. For this is when the Mo Ibrahim Index is released as well as the announcement of the winner of the Mo Ibrahim Prize (worth US$5million) for the Advancement of African Leadership (to a head of govern-ment or state for outstanding achieve-ments). For the years 2009 and 2010 there was no winner. In 2011 former president Pedro Pires of Cape Verde was declared the winner by the Prize Com-mittee made up of prominent Africans and others, chaired by Salim Salim for-mer prime minister of Tanzania, and sec-retary general of the Organisation of African Unity. In 2007 and 2008 the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University in the USA, led the process of developing the index, then handed over the project to a consortia of African academic and non-governmental organisations (CODESRIA, CDO Ghana, IREEP Benin and including board members of the Mo Ibra-him Foundation, amongst others) form-ing the technical and advisory commit-
tee. This is an African driven and funded initiative, using 23 data providers and over 40 000 raw data items; giving it greater acceptability across the conti-nent. The index presently covers 86 indi-cators (having started at 58 and fluctu-ated up to 88) across the four categories of safety and rule of law, participation and human rights, sustainable economic opportunity, and human development, these categories have 14 sub-categories. Many observers argue that indexes can be wrong and do not tell the whole pic-ture; indeed this is partially true. How-ever, they can be a useful tool and pe-rusing various regional or global indexes they almost always reflect rankings of countries and regions more or less accu-rately; for example, those of the African Development Bank, Transparency Inter-national, United Nations World Eco-nomic Forum, World Bank, etc. The aver-age for the continent being 50, with So-malia the lowest at 8 (it has been at war since 1991), the highest regional average was Southern Africa at 58 and the lowest Central Africa at 39 (the most unstable and conflict ridden region).
The Road to COP 17
By Nomasonto Magano
Page 9
Page 12
Page 2
Editorial By Otsile Malebaco
In this issue
Celebrating Africa’s Hero-ines: Nobel Prize Laure-ates from Liberia
4
Book Launch – Coopera-tive Diplomacy, Regional Stability and National Interests: The Nile River and Riparian States.
5
Forthcoming Publications
to be launched at COP17
10
African She Elephant Leadership: Seminar
11
From the Archives 14
Making peace in the
midst of violence: local
peace-building in South
Kivu
17
Africa Elections Update – October 2011
20
‘T here are three ingredients in the good life: learning, earn-ing and yearning’. The quote
by Christopher Morley sum-up Africa in October. We have seen, heard and read of admirable governing lessons for nations and the continent. Learning, earning and yearning can be used in achieving a goal successfully. Success refers to goals, missions or objectives achieved through hard work. Africans are yearn-ing for peace and stability which we are working on through diplomacy and individual contributions. Evidently two African women that are contributing to this is the Liberian President Ellen John-son Sirleaf and Leymah Gbowee, for their activism for peace. Currently, Af-rica is learning to practice good leader-ship ethos. Looking at Libyan conflict, the Libyans are yearning for a country with liberal democracy, it is unfortu-nate of the killings for the civilians. Africa will definitely earn world ad-miration as a key role player as we are yearning and learning. ‘Life's Secret Formula for Achievement and Success’ is as follows: Yf+ Yt +Yd + Ya = YR. YR x t = Your Future+/. Your focus + Your decisions + Your time + Your actions =Your Results. Your Results x time = YOUR FUTURE +/-. It is important to know the result you
want to produce. Intelligence is what Africa has and the motivation is what we are working on. In this issue, the build up to COP 17 written by Nomasonto Magano with three Books to be launched at the con-ference on page 9. Looking back at the seminars AISA hosted by Adv Tseliso Thipanyane page 7, Mmatshilo Motse page and Dr Sylvester Maphosa. In addition, the views and analysis of Africa, starting with the 2011 Libe-rian General Election page 6, Muammar Gaddafi and the Regime Change page 12 and GIS Analyses: The Potential of Renewable Resources in Africa page 18. Africans are on track to succeed!
Africa Institute of South Africa Vision:
‘An Indispensable African voice on
African Affairs’
Page 3
Sudan is still treated as one country in spite of South Sudan attaining independ-ence on 9 July 2011. Hopefully next year it will be treated separately. The use of maps to illustrate the information in its index makes the Mo Ibrahim Foundation report easily readable and understand-able. The maps showing the various re-sults are included in our newsletter. In 2010 South Africa came fifth (after Mauritius, Cape Verde, Botswana and Seychelles) scoring 71,5 per cent. It re-tained its position behind the same countries as for the past four years, but went down to 0,5 per cent to 71 this year (safety and rule of law drags it down), with Mauritius at 82. As men-tioned previously Mauritius, Cape Verde, Botswana and Seychelles lead the pack and they may be relatively small coun-tries in population size, but they also have exemplary governance and socio-economic development terms. There are many African countries with similar populations which continue to do poorly. Of course one can argue that the Mo Ibrahim Index got it wrong in 2010, just like many other observers taken by sur-prise by the Arab Spring, in relation to North Africa. It is interesting that this region is significantly marked down in 2011 on participation and human rights. However, Tunisia and Egypt are numbers 9 and 10 in spite of the upheavals they have faced since December 2010. The Mo Ibrahim Index findings mirror those of the National Planning Commis-sion’s Diagnostic Review, issued in June 2011, which recognises nine major chal-lenges as holding back South Africa’s development and fuelling the vicious cycle of poverty and inequality. These are unemployment, poor educational outcomes, resource intense economy, divided communities, crumbling infra-structure, inefficient public service, cor-ruption, spatial Apartheid and high dis-ease burden. These findings are not new and have been articulated in some cases before 1994 and consistently since then, by numerous local and international ex-perts and institutions. The NPC’s man-date is to develop a plan for South Africa covering the period up to 2030 and sub-
mit this in November 2011, for consid-eration by Cabinet. Long term plans are useful to the extent that they outline strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats and therefore reveal visions and intentions. However, plans cannot implement themselves and this is where South Africa’s greatest challenges lie. Since 1994 there have been numerous plans by developed government and sometimes together with social partners – business, civil society and labour – but the levels of implementation have been variable and disappointing in relation to the nine challenges above and many more. Consequently, the warning infra of
the NPC is chilling and hopefully should
rock many out of their complacency;
many who believe and want this country
to indeed fulfil its constitutional princi-
ples and immense potential must stand
up and be counted. It states that
‘Elements of these indicators are already
visible in South Africa, though their
strength and prevalence is uneven and
differs from sector to sector. If they
could become more prevalent the coun-
try’s progress could be stalled, its gains
reversed and even foundational aspects
of democracy unravelled. If these threats
are not tackled the probability of decline
will increase.’ Many African countries
are growing at an average of 5-6 per
cent annually, even if off low bases.
South Africa is hovering between 3 to 3,5
per cent and there are predictions that
Nigeria and Egypt will have overtaken it
by 2025. If little is done to drastically
deal with the challenges outlined by the
NPC many other countries will speed
past South Africa. Could the axing of non
-performing and ‘corrupt’ ministers, sus-
pension of the police commissioner and
appointment of a judicial inquiry by
President Zuma this month, be a small
light at the end of the tunnel or is this a
band-aid? Time will tell!
Continues from page 1
Page 4
By Brenda Modisaotsile
I n explaining the reasons behind awarding two African women, namely Liberian president Ellen
Johnson Sirleaf and Leymah Gbowee, a peace activist from Liberia on the 7th of October 2011, the Nobel Peace Prize, the committee stated, ‘We cannot achieve democracy and lasting peace in the world unless women obtain the same opportunities as men to influence developments at all levels of society.’ The two are the second and third Afri-can women to receive the prestigious honor after the late Wangari Muta Maathai Kenyan social activist and envi-ronmental crusader in 2004. President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and Leyman Gbowee deserved the award because of championing non-violent struggles for the safety of women and for women’s rights to full participation in peace-building work. The two have changed the image of Liberia as a gun possessed and drug-induced nation to a nation with clear sense of civility and normal-ity.
Ellen Johnston Sirleaf, Africa’s first elected woman president started her position as a president in 2006, making women rights her priority. She sanc-tioned an expansive rape law which was passed immediately after her win at the polls to protect sexual and gender-based violence. In 2006, Sirleaf estab-lished a Truth and Reconciliation Com-mission with a mandate to ‘promote national peace, security, unity and rec-onciliation’ by investigating more than 20 years of civil war in the country. She marshaled women across religious and ethnic lines to help end Liberia's second civil war and ensure women's participa-tion in elections (more on Liberian elec-tions, page 6).
Leymah Gbowee’s peaceful anti-war protest contributed to ending a 14 year long circle of war, in 2003. Gbowee tells her own life stories in a book she au-thored titled, Mighty be Our Powers: How Sisterhood, Prayer and Sex Changed the World. She was a colum-nist on African issues in The Daily Beast and appeared at the 2010 Women in the World summit. She always per-
suaded women to dress in all white in demonstration of peace and ending war. One report mentions an incident in particular where in the middle of inter-nationally sanctioned peace talks in Ghana in 2003, Gbowee grew enraged at the sight of warlords living in comfort and luxury in a hotel while in Monrovia ordinary men and women – and chil-dren – starved to death. This partly in-cited General Leymah to hold hostage the powerful thugs and bureaucrats. Gbowee was also the founder and leader of the Liberian Mass Action for Peace, a coalition of Christian and Mus-lim women who sat in public protest ( who confronted both Charles Taylor and the rebel warlords he was fighting) and intervened in the peace negotia-tions and even held a sex strike. The Noble peace prizes won by these African women bear testimony of their bravery, leadership, risk taking, courage and determination in a male dominated world. At a global scale this achievement can also be appreciated by underscoring the fact that of the 43 women in total who have been awarded the Nobel Prize between 1901 and 2011, three are from Africa.
Celebrating Africa’s Heroines: Nobel Prize Laureates from Liberia
Leymah Gbowee. Picture sourced: www.emu.edu
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Picture sourced: www.umc-northerneurope.org
By Nonjabulo Mabuza
O n the 6th of October, the Af-rica Institute of South Africa (AISA) hosted its first book
launch on their own premises. The book was conceptualised by the Peace and Security Unit of the Institute which held a conference in November 2010 in Nairobi entitled ‘The Interface between National Interest and Regional Stability: The Nile River and Riparian States’. The book is a culmination of two main events. Firstly, it focuses on case studies of Egypt, Eritrea, Kenya, Sudan and Uganda as well as the 1929 Anglo-Egyptian Treaty. Secondly, it addresses the interlocking national and regional centrifugal and centripetal issue areas which concern the Nile River Basin states discussed by experts from Bu-rundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Rwanda and Tanzania. The book was edited by Korwa Adar, thr previous Research Director at AISA and Nicasius Achu Check, a Research Specialist in the Peace and Security
Unit. Unfortunately Prof Adar was un-able to make it to the launch. The event was well attended by staff members and external guests. Representatives from ten different countries also formed part of the dele-gation. After the presentation by Mr Check and the Ambassadors from the Arab Republic of Egypt, North Sudan and South Sudan, the floor was opened for debate. Overall, the event was a great suc-cess and a substantial number of books were purchased. This is the first of many launches to be hosted by AISA.
Page 5
Book Launch – Cooperative Diplomacy, Re-gional Stability and National Interests: The Nile River and Riparian States.
Mr Check Achu, co-editor of Cooperative Diplo-macy, Regional Stability and National Interests: The Nile River and Riparian States.
African and European ambassadors at the book launch
Dr Matlotleng Matlou, Ambassador H E Dr M B E M Zayed (Egypt) and Ambassador Extraordinary Dr AY Ahmed ( Republic of Sudan)
Page 6
By Lindokuhle Khumalo and Justice Mkhabela
I n its first domestically organized election poll since the 1989-2003 civil war, Liberia held what has been
widely deemed a peaceful electoral proc-ess. According to that country’s National Elections Commission (NEC), 1 288 716 Liberians voted in the presidential and legislative elections which were held on 11 October 2011. 4 457 polling places were set up across the country to enable all eligible voters to cast their votes in an electoral process significantly viewed as a test of the West African country’s pro-gress since the 14-year long civil war which left about 250 000 dead and the infrastructure in ruins. Voters had a choice between 925 presidential and legislative candidates who participated in the elections. The results of the first round of the presidential and legislative elections were announced on October 25 declaring the incumbent president Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf of the Unity Party (UP) as having won 43.9 per cent of the vote, followed by the Congress of Democratic Change’s (CDC) Winston Tubman who received 32.7 per cent. The National Union for Democratic Progress nominee and for-mer rebel leader Prince Johnson came third in the poll winning about 11.6 per cent. According to Liberian Constitution if none of the presidential candidates ob
tain an absolute majority (more than 50% vote) of the valid votes cast, a presi-dential run-off election has to take place whereby the two frontrunners in the elections participate in the contest. Ac-cordingly, Johnson-Sirleaf and Tubman are the two contenders who are ex-pected to take part in the run-off elec-tions, as has been declared by the NEC. The first round of the elections were monitored by about 800 local and 4000 international observers who generally stated that the voting was largely free, fair and transparent with no major ir-regularities or incidents of violence. The post-election period however saw about instances of violence and intimidation. According to news reports, two arson attacks took place less than a week after the completion of the polls. One of these attacks was waged on an independent radio station which is believed to favour Tubman’s party, the CDC. Another attack followed two days later on the headquar-ters of Johnson-Sirleaf’s UP. There have also been allegations of vote rigging which led to nine parties that partici-pated in the first round of the elections - including the CDC and the INPFL - sub-mitting a statement indicating their with-drawal from the electoral process. The second round of the presidential elections was scheduled for November 8,
2011. Although the CDC was initially pre-pared to partake in the runoff, it took many by surprise when it later threat-
ened to boycott the polls. The party al-leged that the NEC was fraudulent and ineffective in addressing its demands for the dismissal of the electoral commis-sion’s commissioners including its chair-person, James Fromayan, who the party has accused of favouring the UP. The standoff led to Fromayan voluntary re-signing “for the sake of Liberia and so that CDC would not have an excuse not to participate in the run-off”. However, despite the CDC’s success in pressuring the former NEC chairman to step down, Tubman still adamantly stated his reluc-tance to participate in the second round demanding a recount of the first round ballot. Considering the riots which re-sulted from election disputes in 2005, the recent fraud accusations threaten the relative peaceful atmosphere in the country. On the other hand, the Interna-tional Criminal Court has stated that it is closely monitoring the process and has also voiced a stern warning against any party that resorts to violence. Meanwhile, Johnson-Sirleaf is re-ported to be a strong favourite for the presidential run-off. Her popularity is partly due to the endorsement she has secured from Prince Johnson who has urged his supporters from Nimba county to support her in the second round. Johnson won more than two-third of the votes in that county. Support from the majority of the citizens of Nimba will be highly valuable for Johnson-Sirleaf in boosting her chances to win a second term in office as that county is Liberia’s second-most populous. According to the UP, other former rebel leaders from the war are also backing Johnson-Sirleaf. The vote is viewed as an indicator of the country’s progress since the civil war which ended eight years ago. It is be-lieved that investors are closely studying the manner in which the elections are being conducted so as to inform their decisions as to whether they should go ahead in pouring billions of dollars to develop mineral, energy and agricultural resources in that West African state.
2011 Liberian General Election
Page 7
By Tseliso Thipanyane
H uman rights constitute one of the values upon which the new South Africa is founded upon
and are an important cornerstone of its democracy. The advancement of human rights – that are universal, indivisible and interrelated – should thus be at the heart of South Africa’s foreign policy and should inform its international relations and activities. Nelson Mandela in acknowledging this position, indicated in 1993 that hu-man rights will indeed be a pillar of South Africa’s foreign policy and went on to say that ‘[h]uman rights will be the light that guides our foreign affairs’ and that South Africa will be ‘at the forefront of global efforts to promote and foster democratic systems of government.’ Global developments on the role of human rights in international relations since the establishment of the United Nations in 1945 and the international support South Africa (and Mandela) re-ceived in the human rights struggle against apartheid certainly contributed to Mandela’s position and boldness. Mandela’s position was supported by provisions of South Africa’s constitution which provide that human rights consti-tute one of the values upon which the new South Africa is founded upon and an important cornerstone of its democracy. The Constitutional Court in S v Makwan-yane, in respect of these provisions held that the respect, protection and promo-tion of human rights should ‘be demon-strated by the State in everything that it does.’ Notwithstanding several challenges and failures, Mandela’s government did
display a commitment to human rights focus in South Africa’s foreign pol-icy and international rela-tions - as seen in Man-dela’s stand over the exe-cution of Ken Saro-Wiwa by the regime of the Nige-rian dictator, Sani Abacha – and was held in high regard by the interna-tional community though not by many African lead-ers adverse to human rights and democratic governance. Mbeki’s government did continue with the pro-human rights approach in South Africa international relations mapped out by Mandela and also made important contributions in the establishment of the African Union and its Constitutive Act with its progres-sive provisions in the advancement of human rights in the region, the establish-ment of NEPAD and its African Peer Re-view Mechanism amongst other meas-ures. However, the need for the Mbeki government to forge closer relations and cooperation with African leaders in pur-suit of greater influence and other geo-political and trade considerations led to a more pragmatic approach in South Af-rica’s foreign policy and international relations that resulted in less emphasis on human rights. This approach saw South Africa siding with China and Russia to block resolutions on human rights violations committed by countries such as Zimbabwe, Iran and Myanmar and
attracted criticism from many quarters in the international human rights. The Economist regarded these developments as amounting to the squandering of South Africa’s reputation as a ‘beacon of human rights’. President Zuma’s government also started with a lot of hope that the trend of moving away from human rights con-siderations that began to emerge under Thabo Mbeki’s government will be halted and reversed. The stand taken to arrest President Bashir of the Sudan if he was to come to South Africa – in line with South Africa’s international treaty obliga-tions – was one such example of this ex-pectation.
South Africa’s Foreign Policy in the Zuma Government:
A human rights based policy or a pragmatic policy based on political and economic considerations
Adv Tseliso Thipanyane, presenting “South Africa’s For-
eign Policy in the Zuma Government: Human rights policy or a pragmatic policy based on political and economic considera-tions”
Continues on page 8
Page 8
However, two years later, worrying de-velopments have emerged that raise serious concerns and questions about the role of human rights in South Africa’s foreign policy and international relations that cast doubt on the South Africa’s ability to regain or maintain its credibility as a beacon of human rights in interna-tional relations. These developments include; South African’s role or stand in the AU’s refusal to cooperate with the International Criminal Court in its action against African leaders such as President Bashir of Sudan and Uhuru Kenyatta amongst others. South Africa’s unsatis-factory adherence to international hu-man rights treaty reporting obligations and failure to ratify important interna-tional human rights treaties such as the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights; and South Africa’s position in the UN Security Coun-cil in relation to the unsuccessful resolu-tion on Syria amongst other develop-ments. The delay in granting the Dalai Lama a visa to attend Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s 80th due to suspected pressure from China or fear of displeasing China – its biggest trading partner (after China’s disapproval and response to visits of the Dalai Lama in the USA and other coun-tries) highlights the challenge South Af-rica faces in maintaining human rights as the anchor or pillar of its foreign policy and international relations in view of competing economic and geopolitical considerations under the Zuma govern-ment. The resultant cancellation of the trip of the Dalai Lama to South Africa at-tracted much criticism and also drew a sharp response from Archbishop Tutu who said the government was ‘worse than the apartheid government’ and warned that South Africans might find themselves having to pray for the down-fall of the ANC government some day. The current developments in South Africa’s foreign policy and international relations highlight a lack of a cohesive and comprehensive and documented foreign policy. The lack of this policy has led to a situation where South Africa con-
ducts its international relations like a ship without a rudder that gets tossed up and down by waves of competing inter-ests – leading to perceptions and con-cerns that South Africa’s government is moving even further away from the posi-tion established by Mandela in relation to international relations and human
rights. This also suggests a very low pre-mium placed on human rights in South Africa’s foreign policy and international relations under Zuma’s government. South Africa is thus in need of much clearer vision in its foreign policy and international relations – a vision that genuinely and meaningfully place human rights at the centre of South Africa’s for-eign policy and international relations. The current draft white paper on South Africa’s foreign policy and interna-tional relations, notwithstanding its vagueness in hu-man rights posi-tions, is a good start. The involvement of the public in mat-ters of international relations is impor-tant and necessary in order to hold government and bureaucrats who formulate and im-plement foreign pol-icy more account-able and should be encouraged in such a
vision and policy – foreign policy and international relations have largely been the preserve of a few! Transparency (and even prohibition of foreign political funding to avoid South Africa’s foreign policy and international relations being influenced by foreigners with deep financial pockets and with possible agenda’s that might not be in the interests of the people) should also be central to this vision and policy. Past and current events have shown that a human rights-centered foreign policy and international relations do pay divi-dends in terms of a country’s sustainable development, prosperity and stability. On the other hand, short-term gains of foreign relations not anchored in human rights do incur long terms loses as the US support for Hussein Mubarak of Egypt has shown. While human rights are not the only consideration in any country’s foreign policy and international relations and while it is also recognised that trade and geopolitical issues will also be taken into account; human rights – as Mandela stated in 1993 – should be at the heart of South Africa’s foreign policy and should inform its international relations and activities. South Africa should pursue its trade and geo-political interests in a manner that does not undermine its obli-gation to advance human rights democ-racy in its international relations.
Prof Narnia Bohler-Muller, Adv Tseliso Thipanyane and Prof Phindile Lukhele-Olorunju.
‘The current develop-ments in South Africa’s foreign policy and inter-national relations high-light a lack of a cohe-sive and comprehen-sive and documented foreign policy’.
Continues from page 7
Page 9
By Nomasonto Magano
T he seventeenth Conference of the Parties (COP) to be held in Durban from the 28th November
to the 9th December will serve as a rubi-con between Kyoto Protocol and new climate change agreement. Much is ex-pected out of the discussions from COP 17. As it has happened in the past nego-tiations, various country positions are in existence. While the expectation of the developing countries is to see the life span of the Kyoto Protocol being ex-tended, the developed countries are ada-mant that a new platform should be ne-gotiated. In the existence of this schism, it is obvious that there are quite a num-ber of contagious issues that will be dis-cussed during COP 17. COP meets annually to assess the pro-gress of climate change issues. This an-nual meeting has taken place since the mid-1990s when the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) entered into force. The UNFCCC was established as an ‘international environmental’ treaty that
arises from the United Nations Confer-ence on environment and development, this conference is informally known as the Earth Summit. The ultimate objective of the UNFCCC treaty is to reduce the effects of human activity on climate change. Deriving from the past engagement of the negotiating member states, the out-standing issues to be resolved at COP 17 include amongst other things:
There is a need to reach a consensus on a legally binding agreement from all countries that keep the Kyoto Protocol alive while also taking for-ward the Bali Action Plan.
To establish a formal link that relates UNFCCC to Kyoto Protocol.
To reach an agreement on emission reduction targets for the industrial-ised countries while the developing countries require an action plan that will assist the developing to limit their emissions.
To establish suitable guidelines for devel-oping countries expected to have their
mitigation actions being reviewed and analysed by the international community AISA will be hosting two day events at COP 17. On the 29th November, AISA, together with Erasmus Mundus African Chapter, as well as the Department of Science and Technology is organising a symposium on Transdisciplinary Studies on Climate Change and Green Economy in Africa. The symposium is a platform for young scholars to discuss issues per-taining to climate change in Africa. On the 30th November AISA in partnership with UNISA, EXXARO and Institute for Global Dialogue (IGD) will launch three books pertinent to issues to be discussed at COP 17, namely Green Economy and Climate Mitigation: Topics of Relevance to Africa, Overcoming Barriers to Climate Change Adaptation Implementation in Southern Africa, and Energy Transition in Africa.
The Road to COP 17
Image Sourced from http://www.iied.org/
Page 10
The Africa Institute of South Africa
(AISA) in collaboration with UNISA and
EXXARO are proud to announce: Green
Economy and Climate Mitigation Top-
ics of Relevance to Africa
Editor: Godwell Nhamo
Available: November 2011
T he book comes at a time when key role players are battling to find solutions to a challenge of
our time - climate change. To address some of the concerns, the authors iden-tified topics of relevance to Africa, among them: discourses surrounding the green economy and sustainable development; financing green econo-mies; carbon bench marking; role of multilateral development banks in car-bon financing; and carbon taxation. The book mainstreams climate change into ‘unfamiliar’ territories, such as account-ing, finance, management, education, economics and banking. I would recom-mend this book to readers destined to become influential in addressing cli-mate change.
Professor Valiant A. Clapper Deputy Executive Dean: College of Eco-
nomic and Management Sciences UNISA, South Africa
Africa Institute of South Africa (AISA) in collaboration with the Institute for Global Dialogue (IGD): Overcoming Bar-ries to Climate Change Adaption Im-plementation in Southern Africa Editors: Lesley Masters and Lyndsey
Duff
Available: November 2011
G lobal climate change is possibly the greatest environmental challenge facing the world in
the twenty-first century. Although often referred to as ‘global warming’, climate change encompasses serious disrup-tions to the world’s entire weather and climate patterns, including impacts on rainfall, extreme weather events and rising sea-levels, as well as moderate to extreme global temperature increases. Like most other developing countries in the world, Southern African nations are finding it increasingly difficult to imple-ment adaptation activities as a result of a number of barriers. In an effort to explore and identify the full spectrum of barriers to adaptation, the research and analysis of this book is divided into five sections – political, economic, financial, technological and social barriers.
Africa Institute of South Africa (AISA) is
proud to announce: Energy Transition
in Africa
Editors: Thokozani Simelane and Mo-
hamed Abdel-Rahman
Available: November 2011
T he world’s energy consumption and demand is increasing expo-nentially. While this appears to
hold hope for Africa, the reality is that Africa is still trapped in darkness when it comes to energy production and distri-bution. Of critical concern is that the world’s supply of fossil fuels and its re-serves are decreasing and locating new reserves has become difficult. This shift in energy sources pose a challenge and opportunity for Africa, as it will need substantial investment in infrastructure, technology and human capital for Africa to catch up with the international trends of generating and supplying en-ergy from renewable sources. Of greater advantage is that Africa is en-dowed with abundant sources of re-newable energy, which if exploited maximally can place Africa in the fore-front of the world’s energy production
and supply.
Forthcoming Publications to be launched at
COP17 in November 2011
Page 11
By Nomasonto Magano
O n the 7th of October, Africa In-stitute of South Africa hosted a seminar by Mmatshilo Motsei.
The inspiring seminar was to teach women to lead with the power of the feminine. Mmatshilo is a community organiser, author, poet, spiritual health coach and a mother. After obtaining her nursing qualifications, she worked as a nurse and a mid-wife; she later became
a lecturer at Lebone College of Nursing and then a social science researcher at Wits University. In 1990 Mmatshilo completed her Bachelor of Arts Honours in Psychology at University of South Africa (UNISA). She went on to work as a counselor, trainer, gender and peace activist as well as a rural development practitioner. Mmatshilo has done a lot of work to curb violence against women and children; she is the founder and director of the Agisanang Domestic Abuse Prevention and Training (ADAPT) NGO that is based in Alexandra, Johan-nesburg. She has received many
awards, including the United Nations Habitat Scroll of Honour award for her important role in fight against violence. Dr Matlou, the CEO of AISA wel-comed everybody as well as the speaker. Professor Narnia Bohler-Muller then introduced Mmatshilo Motsei and she mentioned books by Mmatshilo that had a huge impact on her life, Pro-fessor Narnia went to on to say that South Africa requires more courageous woman such as Mmatshilo that speak out for women. Guests and AISA staff started ululating when Mmatshilo intro-duced herself by reciting a Tswana praise poem to describe who she is. While there is progress being done to have more and more women in power, there still exist a challenge of integrating masculine and feminine modes of leadership. There are lessons to be learned from the African she ele-phant since the herd of the elephant is matriarchal and ‘without the she ele-phant the herd is seriously disadvan-taged.’ The lessons we can learn from the African she elephant are as follows:
Even though the she elephant is a large animal, it is very quiet. The lesson to learn is that even if you have power, there is no need to show off and make others infe-rior.
The she elephant is very smart and has amazing memory.
The family of ele-phants works as a team. Elephants have no orphans and we need to find a way to re-solve the issue of orphans and child headed house-holds in our soci-
ety.
The older elephants pass on their knowledge to younger generation. It could be knowledge of plants in the environment in which they live.
Elephants could be miles away but they will still communicate with each other. They use rumblings to communicate with other elephants far away.
As we lead we should invoke a leader-ship that is caring and that comes from the heart. The she elephant uses its power to communicate, to protect the herd and to unlock the genius in all.
African She Elephant Leadership: Seminar
Mmatshilo Motsei with Prof Narnia Bohler-Muller
Prof Narnia Bohler-Muller and Dr Matlou
Mmatshilo Motsei presenting her ‘Africa She Elephant Leadership” Seminar.
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By Otsile Malebaco
M uammar Gaddafi was the de-facto ruler of Libya since he led a military coup d'état
overthrowing King Idris I in 1969. As Hu-man Rights Watch has pointed out: ‘the end of Muammar Gaddafi’s 42-year rule over Libya which presented the country an opportunity in ending an era of hu-man rights abuses’. The conflict that eventually led to Gaddafi’s demise has been viewed as ‘popular uprising’ that resulted in removing the long term leader to allow for fair democratic prac-tise as it happened in Tunisia, Egypt, and is happening currently in Syria and Yemen. The Libyan conflict began with a peaceful protest on the 15th February 2011 by Libyans who protested in Ben-ghazi over the incarceration of Fethi Tar-bel, a lawyer representing families of prisoners killed in 1996. The protests then escalated into an uprising which spread across Libya met with military force by Gaddafi’s regime. During the conflict, the rebels with called for a re-turn to the 1952 constitution and the transition to multi-party democratic state. It has been reported that ‘Gaddafi's violent response to his nation saw sev-eral ambassadors and diplomats resigned from their posts in protest. Other gov-ernment officials refused to follow or-ders from Gaddafi, and were jailed for insubordination’. During the conflict between Gaddafi and the Libyan rebels, ‘Gaddafi accused the rebels of being "drugged" and linked to al-Qaeda. His military forces killed rebel-ling civilians, and relied heavily on the Khamis Brigade, led by one of his sons Khamis Gaddafi, and on tribal leaders loyal to him’. The acts of killing civilians can be characterised as crimes against humanity, as defined in Article 7 of the Rome Statute of the International Crimi-nal Court (ICC). It was alleged that ‘he imported foreign mercenaries to defend his government,
reportedly paying Ghanaian mercenaries for their services. Reports from Libya also confirmed involvement with Belarus, and the presence of Ukrainian and Serbian mercenaries. The Swedish peace re-search institute SIPRI reported flights between Tripoli and a dedicated military base in Belarus which only handles stock-piled weaponry and military equipment’. On the 27th of June 2011, the ICC is-sued warrants of arrest for Muammar Gaddafi, his son Saif al-Islam and brother-in-law Abdullah al-Senuss (Intelligence Chief) under Article 7 of the Rome Stat-ute. According to Matt Steinglass of The Financial Times ‘the charges call for Gad-dafi, and his two co-conspirators, to stand trial for the murder and persecu-tion of demonstrators by Libyan security forces since the uprising based in the country’s east that began in February’. The Libyan officials supporting Gad-dafi rejected the ICC's warrants, stating that the ICC has ‘no legitimacy whatso-ever’ and that ‘all of its activities are di-rected at African leaders’. Libyan justice minister Mohammed al-Qamoodi re-sponded that, ‘The leader of the revolu-tion and his son do not hold any official position in the Libyan government and therefore they have no connection to the claims of the ICC against them’. This made Gaddafi the second serving state-leader to have a warrant issued against him, the first being Omar al-Bashir, presi-
dent of the Republic of Sudan. On 17 March, the United Nations Security Council passed a resolution im-posing a no-fly zone in Libya. Later, NATO announced that it would be taking over the command of the no-fly-zone opera-tions. Subsequently airstrikes continued with reports from the Libyan Health min-istry that ‘114 people had been killed and 445 wounded’ since the airstrikes began. ‘NATO claimed that it was enforcing the no-fly zone on rebels as well as on gov-ernment forces. However, an unidenti-fied rebel pilot and an air traffic control-ler claimed that NATO agreed to let them attack government targets after approv-ing a request by the rebel military coun-cil’. Since 20 August, ‘diplomats of the United States, the United Kingdom and France began working on a UN resolution to release some of the frozen Libyan as-sets to the NTC. Resistance was met from China and Russia, who felt that the move would formally recognise the NTC as the de facto government of Libya. On 25 Au-gust, the UN sanctions committee re-leased $500 million of frozen Libyan as-sets following a direct request by the US. South Africa only agreed on the condi-tion the money would be used for hu-manitarian
Muammar Gaddafi and the Regime Change
The current Libyan flag, which was adapted after gaining independence in 1951 from Italy. This flag was used by Libyan protesters and the NTC adapted the flag.
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purposes, but blocked the release of a further $1 billion for the NTC itself’. The National Transitional Council (NTC) was recognised by the United Nations as the legal representative of Libya on the 16th September 2011. In October 2011, the city of Sirte had been occupied by NTC forces, al-though fighting continued around the city until Gaddafi was captured. It was stated that ‘He had been in a convoy of vehicles that was targeted by a French air strike on a road about 3 kilometres west of Sirte, killing dozens of loyalist fighters. Gaddafi survived but was wounded and took refuge with several of his bodyguards in a drain under-
neath the road west of the city. Around noon NTC fighters found the group and took Gaddafi prisoner, shortly after-ward, Libya's Prime Minister and sev-eral NTC figures confirmed Gaddafi's death, claiming he died of wounds suf-fered during his capture’. Controversy surrounds the death of Gaddafi, as cell phone footage depicts him being beaten and shot. He has been buried in an unmarked grave in Libya, after his body being displayed in a shopping mall. On the 28th October 2011 it was re-ported that The ICC was in contact with Muammar Gaddafi's son Seif al-Islam over his surrender. Libya faces chal-lenges brought by the revolution, Whitson has said that: ‘The drafting of
the constitution offers a golden oppor-tunity for positive change in Libya’. NATO supported NTC in removing Gad-dafi as Libya’s leader acting according to the no-fly zone resolution by the UN and some European states providing military support to the rebels and NTC. All of this begs the question: was this an incident of illegitimate western in-terference and regime change in Africa and if so, what does the future hold for Libya and the rest of the continent post-Gaddafi?
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From the Archives:
BY Elize van As
Nigeria
T he first Europeans to trade in Nigeria were Spanish and Portuguese explorers. However, on 1 January 1901, Nigeria
was declared a British protectorate. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth century many wars against subjugation had been fought against the British Empire. Due to the growth of Nigerian nationalism and demands for inde-pendence, the British government granted Nige-ria self-government during the 1950s. A great wave for independence swept across Africa dur-ing the middle of the twenty-ninth century, re-sulting in the independence of Nigeria on 1 Oc-tober 1960 from the United Kingdom. In 1963 Nigeria declared itself a Federal Republic and Benjamin Nnamdi Azikiwe (popularly known as ‘Zik’) became the first president.
Benjamin Nnamdi Azikiwe (right), the first president of an independent Nigeria
Guinea Guinea was colonized by France in the 1890s and made part of French West Africa. On 2 October 1958 Guinea declared its independence from France and Ahmed Sékou Touré became its first president, an autocrat ruler, who ruled by violent oppression until 26 March 1984 when he un-expectedly died. Touré’s term contributed to Guinea being one of the poorest countries in the world.
Ahmed Sékou Touré, the first presi-dent of an independent Guinea.
In the month of October 2011 six African countries cele-brated their independence: Nigeria 1 October, Guinea 2 October, Lesotho 4 October, Uganda 9 October, Equatorial Guinea 12 October and Zambia 24 October.
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Lesotho
In 1822, Basutoland (present Lesotho) emerged as a single polity under king Moshoeshoe I. In 1869 Basutoland became a British protectorate after Moshoeshoe’s appeal to Queen Victoria which ended a series of wars fought with the Boers in the Free-State Basotho War. On 4 October 1966 Basutoland gained its independence from Britain and became the Kingdom of Lesotho, with Lebua Jonathan of the Baso-tho National Party, elected as the Prime Minister. In 1986, Dr. Lebua Jonathan, who led what was called a ‘de facto’ govern-ment, was forced out of office during a mili-tary coup and executive power was granted to King Moshoeshoe II by the Military Coun-cil.
Lebua Jonathan, Prime Minister of the inde-pendent Kingdom of Lesotho
King Moshoeshoe II of Lesotho
Equatorial Guinea The island of Bioko was discovered by Portu-guese explorer Fernão do Pó in 1472 who sought a path to India. He called it Formosa (‘Beautiful’). In 1474 the islands of Fernando Pó (present island of Bioko) and Annobón were colonized by Portugal. In 1778, the islands of Bioko and Annobón, adjacent islets and the mainland part between the Niger and Ogoue Rivers were ceded to Spain. They were united as the colony of Spanish Guinea between 1926 and 1959. On 12 October 1968 Equatorial Guinea became independent with Francisco Macías Nguema elected first president and a single-party state was created.
Francisco Macías Nguema, first president of an independ-ent Equatorial Guinea
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Uganda British explorers searching for the source of the Nile moved inland from the Indian Ocean Coast of East Africa in the 1860s. In 1888 the area was placed under the charter of the British East Africa Company and in 1894 it became a British protectorate. Uganda was the last territory to be integrated and became a Brit-ish protectorate in 1914.On 9 October 1962 Uganda gained inde-pendence from Britain. The first post independence government was headed by Milton Obote as executive Prime Minister, King Edward Muteesa II, the ceremonial president and William Wilber-force Nidiope, the paramount chief of the Busoga as Vice Presi-dent. Following a power struggle between Obote and King Muteesa in 1966, the constitution was changed which led to the removal of the ceremonial president and vice president. In 1967, Uganda was proclaimed as a republic with Obote declared as ex-ecutive president and the traditional kingdoms abolished. Milton Obote, first president of
an independent Uganda
Zambia At the end of the nineteenth century, Zambia was colonized by Britain and became the British colony of Northern Rhodesia. On 24 October 1964, the country declared independence from the United Kingdom and the Republic of Zambia was formed with Prime Minister Kenneth Kaunda the first head of state. Between 1972 and 1991 Zambia was a one-party state.
Kenneth Kaunda, first president of an independent Zamiba
AISA’s Corporate Values: PRIDE
Participation Responsibility Integrity Development Excellence
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Making peace in the midst of violence: local peace- building in South Kivu,
By Brenda Modisaotsile
O n the 27th October 2011, AISA hosted another informa-tive seminar: ‘Making peace in the midst of violence: local peacebuilding in South Kivu’, delivered by Dr Syl-
vester Maphosa, Chief Research Specialist in the Peace and Secu-rity Unit. South Kivu is a highly populated province of about 3,2 million people in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The general topography of the area is varied and replete with tropical forests, mountains, highlands and lowlands which are also very rich in mineral resources. Dr Maphosa avowed that a combination of these factors as well as other triggering socio-political dynamics provides motivation and opportunities for in-surgent groups to mobilize and/or hide. As a result of discussion held in Kibila, Bukavu, Kabare, Businga, Kamanyola-Luvinga, Fizi and Baraka, Dr Maphosa asserted that both armed militias includ-ing state-armed forces have been responsible for severe violence and human rights abuses in South Kivu as they fight for control and access to the region’s rich resource endowment. Dr Maphosa argued that in the process, the social fabric of the region has be-come eroded in terms of its conventional tapestry and ubuntu-like values that have held families and communities together and with integrity. He argued that this was epitomized by extreme war-related trauma and pain and shattered family and community social well-being. In the face of this adversity, how do individu-als, families, and commu-nity members engage in processes of peaceful re-generation in the midst of violent conflict? Thus, this presentation based on focus group discussions and key informant inter-views, attempted to iden-tify research questions and related ideas for policy and psychosocial intervention in fragile situations.
A seminar presented by Dr S Maphosa on Octo-ber 27th 2011.
By Mpho Mutavhatsindi
R enewable energy is energy which comes from natural re-sources such as sunlight,
wind, rain, tides, and geothermal heat, which are renewable (naturally replen-ished). This article is highly focused on the potential analysis of two types of renewable energy, which is Wind power energy and Hydro power energy. Wind power Wind power is the energy converted from moving air (wind) through the use of technology such as wind turbines. Wind power has the following advan-tages as compared to other power source:
The use of wind turbines does not generate pollution or radioactive waste like most other forms of elec-tricity generation do. Their con-struction and installation has less environmental impact if site analy-sis has well investigated;
It does not use any non-renewable resources, like coal, natural gas, or oil. Thus, it won't contribute to their eventual depletion;
wind can generate large amount of electricity that can serve large population depending on the avail-able wind at a particular location;
Wind energy is also less expensive as compared to other source of power.
Wind is the primary site requirement for establishing wind power farms, there-fore wind speed needs to be investi-gated for suitability analysis. An annual average speed of 4.0 m/s can generate power. Terrain is another major consid-eration when selecting a site, most parts of northern Africa have high wind speed of up to 4.5 m/s. Most Sub-Sahara coun-ties have wind speed ranging from 0.5 m/s to 2.5 m/s, except some parts of southern Africa and Madagascar whose wind speed is up to 4.0 m/s.
Hydro power Hydro power is generated by using elec-tricity generators to extract energy from moving water, previously river and streams were used for irrigation and drinking purposes, due to technology innovation now rivers and streams are now used for generating electricity, some dams are constructed along the rivers for electricity purpose. When cri-tiquing hydro power energy the follow-ing found to be the advantages:
Hydroelectric power plants do not require any fuel for producing power as it utilizes of water energy to generating electricity;
It is continuously cost effective, since it does not rely on price of energy resources like, coal, oil and natural gases;
It does not create air pollution; Since the hydroelectric power plants do not burn any fuel no pol-lutants are emitted: Water from the dams can also be used for the irriga-tion of farm lands and also chan-neled from reservoirs to develop public recreational facilities like water parks for water sports and gardens.
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GIS Analysis: The Potential of Renewable Resources in Africa
The map represents the number of wind power farms by countries. In this map the northern countries starting from east in Egypt to west in Mauritania have wind power farms with Morocco as having the highest number of wind power farm of approximately 15 . Most of central Africa countries have no wind farms.
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The map below represents the number of hydro power dams in Africa, with few countries that do not have hydro power dam. Mo-rocco has the most hydro power dams of about 19 dams.
The map shows the distribution of hydro power dam in Africa, many dams have clus-tered in north western Africa (morocco). Some dams are linear distributed over the eastern and western parts of Africa. The Sahara region and some parts of Central Africa have no hydro power dams. Since water is the primary source of hydro power dams, this map also show the distribution of river over the continent (Africa) to ana-lyze the potential of African countries to have hydro power dams. The Sahara region appear to have few river because is the desert area, as that results the countries along that region have no hydro power dam except Egypt with only one Hydro power dam. Some rivers are densely dis-tributed over Sub Sahara region but some countries are not utilizes these river for power generation. The North West coun-tries have more rivers and utilize some these for energy generation.
Renewable energy resources has a vital role on pro-
moting the three pillars of sustainable development
(economic, social and environmental) to ensure that
the need of current generation are met without
compromising the need as of the future generation.
Due to high annual average wind speed over the
northern parts of Africa, these region have the ad-
vantage of practicing wind power a, whereas the
Sub Sahara region have sufficient rivers to construct
hydro power dams.
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AFRICA ELECTIONS UPDATE – OCTOBER 2011
BY Elize van As Liberia General Election, 11 October 2011 In the general elections that were held on 11 October 2011, the presidency, all the seats in the House of Representatives and half of the seats in the Sen-ate were up for election. Incumbent President Ellen John-son-Sirleaf won 43,9 per cent of the votes and Winston Tubman 32,7 per cent, run-off election were held on 8 November 2011. Cameroon Presidential Election, 9 October 2011 Long serving incumbent presi-dent Paul Biya won with a re-sounding 77,99 per cent of the vote. In 2008 the constitution was amended, eliminating the number of terms, allowing presi-dent Biya to rule for another term on top of his already 29 years in power.
Tunisia Democratic Election 20 October 2011 Tunisia’s first ever democratic election took place on 20, 21 and 22 October 2011 in which massive numbers of voters elected a new 217-member assembly that will decide in the country’s government system and appoint e new caretaker president and government for the duration of the drafting process to rewrite the constitution. The moderate Islamist party Ennahda , that was banned for decades , won Tunisia’s first free elections. Seychelles Parliamentary election , 29 September 2011 – 1 October 2011 Seychelles held early Parliamentary elections between 29 September 2011 and 1 October 2011, after the National Assembly was dissolved following a boycott by the opposition of the July 2011 election. Presidential candidate, Wavel Ramkalawan of the opposition accused eventual winner of the election, James Michel of ‘political bribery’. The Constitutional Court then or-dered the ensuing election in which the ruling party won every single parliamentary seat.
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