The future of Africa does not belong to obsessions with power and sloganeering like “Down with the West, down with the detractors, down with this and that.” Neither does it belong to the worship of lavish lifestyles and BASHES.
When bashes are held amidst a flood of awful unemployment figures and poverty and general suffering of the citizens, then any decent African citizen is bound to feel offended or to raise EYEBROWS.
No amount of sloganeering and posturing and pretense or indeed silencing or
wiping away of dissenting voices will rescue Africa from the socio-economic woes of the DAY. The young groups are having a lot of unanswered questions: when will African leaders nip corruption in the bud or own up to their failures and follies and prioritise development and PEACE?
The youth want to be the game changers, the masters of their destinies and dreams, the voices of reason-- but are leaders listening to them, giving them SPACE? What if the youth have the gift of sight to see a better Africa, a blessed continent whose time to become the economic and cultural powerhouse of the world is no longer a mere wet, pipe dream- but a reality of TOMORROW?
Are you going to give the youth the opportunity to take part in rebuilding and reinventing Africa so that it does not remain stuck in endless wars or poverty or remain vulnerable and amenable to neocolonialist machinations and INSTITUTIONS?
The youth are saying if it is true that the older we become the wiser we are then why do we still have sixty-something year old, tired, clueless and useless folk masquerading as saviours and youth leaders in some African nations or presidents whose terms EXPIRED?
Their message, their plea, their position is as simple as “nothing is for us without us.” They are saying some African leaders will tell you “we have this and that for the youth and the women” but when one looks at it realistically there is no funding but ABUSE.
It is clear that the future of Africa does not belong to the greedy geriatric dictators or the dinosaurs who no longer fit in with the fast-paced realities of this world but to the youth of substance, vision and courage, so that it moves FORWARD.
archive - issue 20
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- AUDIOVISUAL
- POETRY
- WRITING
- Default
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- Date
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How Are You Brother? Amen. It was 4p.m when the yellow van arrived, and I was glad. The Sunday breeze was slightly tinged with…Read More
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One – She wore her nakedness too well, it scared me. Two – Her breasts were a monument; a single one covered my universe whole - it…Read More
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An elaborate classical Roman arch frames Raphael's School of Athens (1509-1510), behind which three more arches advance towards a vanishing point; focusing the viewer's…Read More
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Vision is a wide-reaching concept. With this piece, I'm merging the physical/literal idea of vision, (as in seeing) with the idea of en-visioning. Watching…Read More
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Ndaba Sibanda
Ndaba Sibanda was a 2005 National Arts Merit Awards (NAMA) nominee. He compiled and edited Its Time (2006), and Free Fall which has been accepted for publication in India. The recipient of a Starry Night ART School scholarship in 2015, Sibanda is the author of Love O’clock, The Dead Must Be Sobbing and Football of Fools. He has contributed to more than twenty-five published books.
Mr. Sibanda`s latest book, Football of Fools can be found here:https://www.amazon.com/dp/9352