African Solutions for Global Problems

A couple of days ago I had the honour and privilege to attend a speech delivered by one of the most inspiring and strongest women in the world, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Her speech was about a call on African Countries, particularly South Africa, to stand up and take lead in global issues. She mentioned that in order for that to happen, African nations must develop strong institutions and partnerships and not strong man.

As South Africans, we did not only grow up in democracy, we grew up with democracy. Therefore, we, especially young people, need to build on Madiba’s legacy and take responsibility for our problems and provide assistance to other countries in need. There are African countries that require our assistance such as Egypt and South Sudan who are new democracies, because we as South Africans did not achieve our democracy alone, we did so with the assistance of other countries and therefore, we should not only become receivers of assistance but also givers of it.

As a country, we realised that human rights start in the smallest places close to home; we founded our new democracy on the values of freedom, human dignity and equality. We can use the values that shape us as a country to help shape other countries. One of the things that really touched me about the speech is when she said “African countries need to break down the barriers with their neighbours because when countries open their doors, everyone benefits”. This is so true in a sense that African countries have so much to offer, not only to each other but to the world as a whole and that the world is developing at such a fast rate in all sense of the word and eventually we are all going to rely on each other to survive when all the barriers are broken.

I admired the passion and knowledge she had about our country, she mentioned that she often heard of the notion of “African problems need African solutions” and she believes that the time has come where global problems also need African solutions. As South Africans, we have an obligation to be a constructive force in the global arena and this is an obligation we owe to ourselves as a country. The world requires South Africa to contribute much because South Africa has achieved much. What makes me proud of being a South African is that as a country when we were in the most terrible conditions, we saw all as human beings and treated each other with dignity. We once reminded the world that the way forward is not revenge, violence and hatred but truth and reconciliation. Nelson Mandela once said “When I left Roben Island, I knew I had two choices, I could reconcile the feelings inside me with my fellow human beings or I can carry the anger and hared towards them and still be in prison”. We are a great example in the world of what forgiveness and reconciliation is all about, with the current conflict between nations in this world, I believe we can indeed play an instrumental role in restoring peace and order in those countries.

All countries have their own problems, in South Africa, only South Africa can fight corruption, prevent use of government institutes for political gain, only we can build from Madiba’s legacy. No country’s influence or interference on another is a right, but when a country violates the right of its people, violates the values of freedom and democracy of its own people, the global community must unite to ensure and restore democracy and freedom in that country, and I believe that South Africa can play a role in these issues from a global scale.

The speech made me think of how much potential and capacity of influence we have to make change in the world, but sadly we have a lot of problems of our own, and at home I have been taught that charity begins at home, until you can help yourself, you won`t be able to help others. South Africa has a lot of problems of its own and although we have values such as equality entrenched in our constitution, we remain one of the most unequal societies in the world, this is a sad but a true fact. Martin Luther King once said “democracy transferred from thin paper to thick action is the greatest form of democracy on earth”. The call is on us, young blood of this nation to break racial and social barriers within ourselves in order to make the country a better one and one that can play a crucial role in development at international level.