Africa: Poverty the Problem, Not Africa, Says FW

from All Africa

Business Day (Johannesburg)

Wyndham Hartley
Cape Town

Afropessimism is unfair to Africa because poverty and tyranny go hand in hand throughout the world, not only in Africa, says former president FW de Klerk.

Delivering a lecture in the Africa Dialogue series at the Pretoria University yesterday, De Klerk said the nine African countries where conflict had been at its worst in the past 10 years had in common the fact that they were extremely poor. "Poverty is the problem, not Africa."

It seemed that the greater the per capita gross national product, the higher the level of freedom.

There was a vicious cycle of poverty, tyranny and conflict as well as "the cycle of democracy and good governance". Economic development should establish the conditions needed to enable different communities to coexist peacefully.

De Klerk praised President Thabo Mbeki's "tireless efforts" to promote peace in Africa. But he warned that Mbeki's brainchild -- the New Partnership for Africa's Development -- should not turn into a hollow acronym.

Steps should be taken to increase Africa's diminishing share in global trade. "Although first world nations are quick to give lip service to the need to help develop African economies, they are often ruthless when their own interests are adversely affected," De Klerk said.

"Africa needs two things -- a fair break from the rest of the world and the determination to address its own problems."

While developed nations subsidised their farmers to the tune of $280bn a year, they made it difficult for Africans to compete where they "have a competitive advantage".