President Cyril Ramaphosa has wished South Africans well on Africa Day, describing it as an occasion to reflect on their collective responsibility to further the cause of unity among the nations of the continent.
Africa Day commemorates the founding in 1963 of the Organisation of African Unity, the forerunner to the African Union.
“For us as South Africans, this day assumes the same significance as all the national days we observe in democratic South Africa, because our freedom would not have been possible without the support and moral courage of the people of Africa and their leaders,” Ramaphosa said.
The President said that advancing the African Agenda was a fundamental tenet of South Africa’s foreign policy and that our commitment to progressive internationalism meant that South Africa would continue to play its part to enable the continent to meet its aspirations.
“South Africa’s socio-economic development, stability and progress cannot be assured without a peaceful, integrated, prosperous continent,” he said.
“We will continue to contribute to this effort, whether it is through peacekeeping operations, through our role as AU Champion for Covid-19 response, or through supporting development projects through our African Renaissance Fund.”
The President said that the African Continental Free Trade Area, once fully operational, will enable local businesses to produce and sell goods and services to a market of almost 1.3 billion people across 54 African countries.
“As a country we are banking on increased intra-African trade as a key enabler of economic growth and job creation,” he said.
President Ramaphosa said that tensions between South Africans and nationals of other African countries were a troubling reminder that the divisions fomented by successive colonial and apartheid administrations had not yet been fully eradicated.
“As we address the critical issue of illegal immigration, as is our right as a sovereign nation, let us never become like the former oppressors, who sought to divide the African people and turn us against each other,” he said.
Ramaphosa ended by calling on the community and civil society groups supported by the South African Human Rights Commission to initiate dialogues and programmes that bring communities together and foster tolerance.
“Our brothers and sisters from elsewhere in Africa are not our enemies. Our common enemies are the scourges of poverty, crime, unemployment and social exclusion. We need to work together to defeat them, and not turn on each other as Africans.”
