Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma: Any real change at the AU?

The appointment of Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma against the incumbent, Mr Jean Ping, as chairperson of the African Union Commission (AUC) at the Summit in Addis Ababa on 15 July has been greeted with enthusiasm in many quarters. We are told that it will herald a period of new and decisive leadership. That it heralds a reformist agenda. That it highlights the promotion of gender equality and thus will impact nationally.

All of this would, of course, be welcome and is not to be quibbled with. But there is good reason to believe that the AU is indeed the sum of its parts and that Dlamini-Zuma - far from coming up with a new mathematical formula - will work with a familiar equation.

In his must-read article published in this week’s Pambazuka News, well-known scholar Mahmood Mamdani, in critiquing former World Bank economist Joseph Stiglitz’s views on ‘market failure’, makes a compelling argument. He writes in conclusion: ‘Not only has the market wrenched itself free from society, so is the state trying to do the same. Not only do market forces threaten to colonize society, the state too threatens to devour society. Free markets are not a solution for poverty; they are one cause of modern poverty. State sovereignty is not a guarantor of freedom; it threatens to undermine social freedom.’

It’s a compelling argument and the AU can’t escape the analysis because the link between markets and states extends to unelected regional bodies such as the European Union or AU, who are charged in their rhetoric with the betterment of the human condition. Made up of representatives from member states, many of whom do indeed threaten to ‘devour society’ and all of whom are beholden to the logic of the free market, on this basis alone it is very hard to see that Dlamini-Zuma will be able to make any fundamental changes and so we can expect more of the same.

Nor does the South African development model – which Dlamini-Zuma soundly represents as the only surviving cabinet minister under four successive presidents since 1994 – offer any hope of anything other than an elite development party. It certainly hasn’t in South Africa - just ask those behind the waves of protest that permanently sweep the length and breadth of South Africa. And if that anecdotal evidence doesn’t convince you, do some research on the statistics on inequality in the country. Is it really realistic, then, to suggest that greater South African influence through the deployment of a senior member of the ruling South African elite to the AU will improve the lot of the continent’s people?

Indeed, there are actually fears that Dlamini-Zuma’s position could further South Africa’s position as a sub-imperial power, with the speculation that South Africa used ‘economic diplomacy’ to muster support from states that initially supported Mr Ping, following the earlier and failed attempt to shuttle Dlamini-Zuma into the job. And the captains of industry are already frothing at the prospects. ‘There is no better time than now to drive an African investment programme with a South African elected as the head of the African Union (AU) Commission, but it is critical to use this opportunity responsibly,’ Public Investment Corporation (PIC) CEO Elias Masilela told Business Day immediately after Dlamini-Zuma’s appointment. ‘SA’s growth depends on the development of the rest of the continent, therefore it is important that we start looking at investment opportunities for SA’s businesses in the rest of the African continent,’ Mr Masilela said. The problem here is that big capital – although it is astonishingly seen as an important development partner in certain quarters – has an appalling record in Africa. Land grabs that dispossess local people, pollution that destroys livelihoods, massive capital extraction, tax evasion and corruption, are all justified under the guise of attracting foreign direct investment.

Then of course there’s the issue of security. We’re told that the situation on the continent has never been better. Fewer wars, that is. But anyone who follows Africa will know that while there may be fewer full-scale conflicts, the situation is on tenterhooks in many countries. Throw in the ramped up role that the United States sees for itself on the continent in combating ‘terrorism’/securing energy supplies and you have a recipe for insecurity. Will the AU stand in the way of US meddling? Far from it. In fact, they’ll facilitate it, as do many leaders that remain kingpins within the AU – just like Meles Zenawi, who presides over probably one of the most undemocratic states on the planet thanks in part to historical US support. If you haven’t already read ‘The increasing US shadow wars in Africa’, which Pambazuka News gave prominence to last week (http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/83724), it gives a fascinating insight into the increased US military involvement in Africa. This is done through states and with the involvement of the AU. And lets not forget the embarrassing role of South African diplomacy in supporting the bombing of Libya.

So lets not pretend. Let’s see this all for what it really is. Our states are hopelessly compromised by a market logic that is mostly divorced from society. Our leaders talk some of the talk, but they don’t walk much, not really, not for us. They’re walking for other interests, for a toxic and dangerous cocktail of state and corporate interests that has become intertwined; poisonous snakes that have become impossible to separate and whose fangs are sunk deep into our beings, our institutions, every facet of our life. That’s the real issue here. In another article published in Pambazuka News this week about the impunity with which oil companies destroy communities and livelihoods in Nigeria, activist Nnimmo Bassey writes: ‘Companies will keep calling the bluff of Nigeria and other countries to which they pose as benefactors while in reality they are rapists. This will only stop with strengthening of citizen-driven democracy, legislative activism and systemic change.’ And that, it seems pertinent to add, won’t happen through the AU.

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