Volume 26 June 2013

Issued by the Africa Institute of South Africa (AISA) Issued by the Africa Institute of South Africa (AISA)

A pledge to increase collaboration with the African Union

Continues on page 2

President Obama’s visit to Africa Page 1, 2,

Nelson Mandela Inter-national Day Page 3

PICTURE: GCIS

“We stand ready and eager to work with the African Union for the best engagement of the United States with Africa. If there is a strong African Union, any help that is provided by the US becomes more effec-tive than us doing things on our own,” United States President, Barack Obama told the Chairperson of the African Union Commission (AUC), Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma when they met in Johannesburg, South Africa in June.

AzaniaZulu inspired by Africa Page 7

African children’s condition Page 9

AFRICAN UNION PICTURE: AU

June 2013 Volume 26

Issued by the Africa Institute of South Africa (AISA) 2

Editorial

It is still not clear if whether the war of words between President Jacob Zuma’s politi-cal advisor and Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe will not have negative effects in the two countries relations. So much is happening in the mother continent in a way that few days down the line, Barak Obama’s visit had long been forgotten.

Nelson Mandela had once again proved to be a fighter. The old man has been sleeping on hospital bed since June 8, 2013. However, this year’s Nelson Mandela International Day was commemorated in a massive way. Our archive sec-tions focused on children affected by wars in Africa.

President Barak Obama’s visit to Africa claimed a good share of this issue in both text and images.

As usual, AISA’s key divi-sions, Research, Library and Publications were all covered in this issue. You are still en-couraged to write to us. Until next time enjoy your reading.

P resident Obama high-lighted the great op-portunity existing for cooperation with Afri-

ca in various areas under the leadership of Dr Dlamini-Zuma.

In this maiden official encoun-ter between the Chairperson of the AUC and a sitting US Presi-dent, the two leaders had an opportunity to exchange views on areas of mutual interest aimed at boosting the AU-US partnership.

. In a more promising way,

President Obama assured Dr. Dlamini-Zuma of the many are-

as of cooperation, and ex-pressed the US’s willingness to work together to ensure mutu-al benefits for the US and Afri-can countries.

Identifying the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) which has benefitted a number of African countries, President Obama said the timing is just right to find ways to improve its performance given its re-newal due in 2015. However, the AUC Chairperson noted the importance of extending AGOA to impact on economic growth, unity and integration of the continent. About 38 of 54 Afri-can countries currently benefit from AGOA.

Africa presents enormous investment opportunities in transport and communication infrastructure, as well as ener-gy, including clean and renewa-ble energy. Recalling his initia-tive presented during the last G8 Summit in Northern Ireland, President Obama said the US is ready to send teams of negoti-ators to help African countries to better negotiate contracts in the extractive industries.

In the area of peace and se-curity, President Obama con-gratulated AMISOM for a great job done in Somalia, amidst the enormous challenges. He en-couraged the AU and its mem-ber States not to pull out fast from Somalia. He equally noted the situation in South Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo,

Mali, Central Africa Republic and in Uganda with the Lord Resistance Army. He extended his government’s readiness to provide support in same ways that include building capacity. But he added that local sup-port from the region will be needed.

Welcoming President Obama’s offer of assistance, Dr. Dlamini Zuma assured him that the AU and its member States cannot pull out from Somalia so fast. She under-scored the help needed by those countries. However, she called for a more comprehen-sive approach to tackling the recurrent issues of insecurity in those countries in particular, and Africa in general.

President Obama's three-nation African trip started in Senegal to South Africa and ended in Tanzania. The visit was aimed at bolstering U.S. investment opportunities, ad-dressing development issues such as food security and health, and promoting democ-racy.

…Obama’s collaboration with AU? Continued from Page 1

Tel: +27 12 304 9700 Fax:+27 12 323 8153 Email: ai@ai.org.za Website: www.ai.org.za

Embassy House 1Bailey Lane Arcadia Pretoria

Africa Institute of South Africa PO Box 630 Pretoria South Africa 0001

However, the way in which Africa resolves her conflicts is also crucial. Therefore, the achievements that the conti-nent has seen in the past 100 years in terms of conflict reso-lution can never be overlooked. The early 90’s dramatic transi-tion to democracy in South Afri-ca, the end of civil war in Ango-la and Mozambique, the peace-ful secession of South Sudan and the four year old Zimba-bwean government of national unity are among the achieve-ments that the continent has seen in the recent decade.

The first part for the seminar was addressed by Prof Keasley who presented the paper ti-tled, Arts of the Contact Zone in 21st Century South Africa whereas Dr Maphosa’s presen-tation titled, Preparing for

peace: The AU Regional Coop-eration Initiative for the Elimi-nation of the LRA in Central Africa was delivered in the sec-ond session of the seminar.

On the other hand, Dr Ma-phosa provided a sketch of the

strategy used by the African Union (AU) in eliminating the LRA in Central Africa, after more than 27 years of pro-tracted atrocities, abduction and killing of civilians.

He said the strategy was a culmination of extensive con-sultations involving the AU, affected member states, the UN and its presences in affect-ed regions and governments like the US and EU to help miti-gate and eradicate the LRA problem in CAR, DRC, South Sudan and Uganda.

Dr Maphosa quoted the for-mer UN Secretary General Mr. Kofi Annan saying that, making peace ultimately requires a firm commitment and extraor-dinary courage, on the part of all sides, to ensure a perma-nent end to violence. He said commitment requires determi-nation and imagination of all parties to seek solutions, and build trust between communi-ties who have been at logger-heads for decades.

“Therefore, preventing vio-lence and consolidating region-al security requires that many people work at many levels (social, political, and economic) in different ways,” concluded Dr Maphosa.

Conflict resolution and the art of contact zone in Africa

CONTACT ZONE… Professor Alphonse Keasley and AISA’s

PICTURE: ADZILIWI NEMATANDANI

OTSILE MALEBACO

Volume 26 June 2013

Issued by the Africa Institute of South Africa (AISA) 3

UN commemorated Nelson Mandela International Day

Zimbabwean elections: Back to the future?

With the Zimbabwean national elections set to take place sometime this year, it is still unclear when or if ever they will take place. A simmering stand-off is playing out already between the rival parties, con-cerning the proposed dates for

these elections.

In 2009, South Africa initiated and led a process that saw the United Nations General As-sembly designating 18 July as Nelson Mandela International Day. It was decided that the General Assembly will annually observe this day in a special session. This year also marks the 50th Anniversary of the

Rivonia Trial – a seminal event in South Africa’s liberation. The South African President, Jacob Zuma has invited strug-gle veteran Mr. Andrew Mlan-geni, a comrade, compatriot and fellow Rivonia trialist of former President Mandela to represent the Government of South Africa at the special

sitting of the General Assembly as the keynote speaker. The Programme speakers in-clude the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Mr Ban Ki-moon, the President of the General Assembly, Mr Vuk Jer-emic, former President of the United States, Mr Bill Clinton, and legendary musician, Mr

Henry Belafonte. This year’s commemoration of the International Mandela Day took on a particular signifi-cance in the count-down to South Africa’s 20th Anniversary of liberation. In a statement issued by, the Department of International Relations and Cooperation en-

couraged the international community to celebrate Madiba’s life by observing the ideals that his life encapsu-lates: freedom, democracy and dignity for all. According to the department, Madiba’s leader-ship transcended all human boundaries, whether based on race, clan, ethnicity or religion.

DOING IT FOR OTHERS… Volunteers from the UN and the South African Consulate distribute South African oranges for Nelson Mandela Day 2013 at Columbus Circle, New York.

PICTURE: UN/JOHN GILLESPIE DIRCO

Analysts are arguing that in order to avoid a repeat of events of the last election, the crucial reforms in the security and media sector need to be urgently addressed in order to enable the parties to partici-pate freely without fear of intimidation. This will further allow the parties to fully cam-paign in a violence free envi-ronment and also to enjoy the same media coverage as the ruling party.

At the moment President Mugabe is adamant that the elections will proceed as planned, at the end of July while the opposition is singing to a different tune.

On the other hand, the Movement of Democratic Change (MDC-T) led by the Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangarai is threatening to boycott the elections if they

are to go ahead as planned. This has resulted in the 15

leaders of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) entering the fray in order to resolve this impasse, by recommending to President Mugabe that he postpones the elections and deal with the suggested reforms before de-ciding on an election date.

However, President Mugabe refused to budge to the SADC’s call, threatening to withdraw from this regional body.

In my opinion, the SADC has handled President Mugabe with kid gloves before, and they need to be firmer with him this time around in order to make sure that Zimbabwe holds legitimate elections that will be deemed free and fair by all parties involved.

Mathye is a Research intern at the Africa Institute of South Africa and he writes in his personal capacity.

BIG BROTHER GAME… President Jacob Zuma's international relations adviser Lindiwe Zulu has recently angered the Zimbabwe president by calling for elections to be postponed.

“Let it be known that we are in SADC voluntarily. If SADC decides to do stupid things, we can move out,” President Robert Mugabe lashed out. The SADC has all along handled President Mugabe with kid gloves and they need to be firmer with him this time around WRITES Ntshembo Mathye

PICTURE: GCIS

June 2013 Volume 26

Issued by the Africa Institute of South Africa (AISA) 4

Continued on Page 5

Volume 26 June 2013

Issued by the Africa Institute of South Africa (AISA) 5

2014 AYGS abstracts submission extended

The closing date for the sub-mission of abstracts for the 8th Annual Africa Institute of South Africa Young Graduates and Scholars (AYGS) Conference has been extended to the 31 July 2013.

According to AISA’s project manager, Ithuteng Nkhereanye the submission had been ex-tended in order to give the young scholars and graduates an ample time to prepare.

The 2014 AYGS conference

will be held at the University of Johannesburg (South Africa) from 17 – 19 February 2014. The conference will be held under the theme: Africa at the Crossroads: The continent’s future prospects 50 years after the formation of the Organisa-tion of African Unity (OAU)/African Union (AU).

Nkhereanye said the three day conference is one of the prime capacity-building pro-grammes in AISA aimed at

providing research skills and experience for emerging young African scholars.

“It brings together African graduates and young scholars from multi-disciplinary back-grounds to reflect on Africa’s future and developmental breakthroughs, as well as its challenges and opportunities going forward,” she added.

She further said that the con-ference promotes knowledge production amongst young

scholars; provide a platform for emerging African scholars to engage and exchange insights in the debates pertaining to the challenges faced by African societies as well as bridging the gap of expertise in knowledge production about African affairs by Africans.

The conference is divided into paper presentations and the debate/public speaking contest. The paper presenta-tion is open to all universities across the continent of Africa, whereas the AU Debate chal-lenge is open to local and inter-national students studying in South African institutions only.

The papers should be within the five thematic areas – Sci-ence and Technology, Sustaina-ble development, Peace and Security, Democracy and Gov-ernance as well as Internation-al Relations. Post-graduate students are encouraged to participate.

Students are requested to submit their abstracts to the email address below. They must indicate their sub-theme and topic also in the subject line of your email. Abstracts for papers should be between 250 and 300 words.

On the other hand, the AU Debate Challenge will be con-tested around the theme: Afri-ca and the Green Economy: A socio-political analysis. The debate is a simulation of an African Union Peace and Secu-rity Council (PSC) meeting where the 15 member coun-tries’ representatives provided their view on African Inter-regional cooperation for ener-gy security in response to cli-mate change.

The students are invited to submit a 500 words brief, high-lighting one African country which they wish to represent, illuminating their key points of arguments for or against the green economy.

For the AU Debate contact Ithuteng Nkhereanye on +27 (0) 12 304 9763. For a com-plete call for papers document visit www.ai.org.za

ACADEMIC FRAUD: A RISING PHENOMANA

The website Encyclopaedia defines scientific fraud as the “intentional misrepresentation of the methods, procedures, or results of scientific re-search.” Dictionary.com de-fines scientific misconduct as

“any action that wilfully com-promises the integrity of scien-tific research.” This includes the intention of claiming false credit to a scientific message, falsifying research data to attain a certain scientific con-clusion and the distortion of the research process. Whether it be fraud or misconduct, it is deemed to be totally unac-ceptable in the scientific world and can have dire consequenc-es for both perpetrators and users of this information.

According to the Ithenticate Professional Plagiarism Pre-vention website, academic dishonesty occur in many of the sciences including social science. Suggestions are that dishonesty in research is a growing trend and is increas-ing year on year. Types of Academic Dishones-ty/Misconduct/Fraud

There are various types of academic dishonesty that have been identified and can take

the form of one of the follow-ing; however, the below list not being exhaustive: Fabrication of data or physical evidence – falsification of re-search data or reporting of research results of experi-ments that were never per-formed. Misrepresentation of experi-mental results – manipulating data to suite the researcher’s conclusions. Data Snooping – ending the data collection before the tar-get sample is achieved when significant results are realized. Cherry picking – not reporting on data collected because re-sults do not support the ‘hypothesis” (tentative expla-nation for an observation). Harking – hypothesizing after results are known (reporting unexpected finding as having been predicted from the start). Plagiarism – the use of others’ ideas, processes, results or words without appropriate credit.

Self-Plagiarism – multiple pub-

lication of same content in different journals. Ghostwriting – a situation where someone other than the named author(s) make a major contribution to a paper.

Some statistics on academic fraud and misconduct

It is quite astounding to see some of the statistics of aca-demic dishonesty:

In November 2012, Celia Walter wrote on blogs.uct.ac.za that Yoshitaka Fujii (anaesthesiologist) holds the current record of fraudu-lent research papers of 172 faked articles. Since 1993 nearly a thousand biomedical papers have been retracted as a result of cheating or 67% of all biomedical retractions. This situation is getting worse as is suggested in a journal where it is indicated that the rise in retraction rates has overtaken the rise in the number of pa-pers published.

A detailed review of about 2047 biomedical and life-science research articles in-dexed by PubMed, a medical institute journal, as retracted in 2012 revealed that 67.4% of retractions were as a result of

misconduct (fraud-43.4%; dupli-cate publications-14.2%; plagia-rism-9.8%).

Characteristics of those engaged in misconduct

Little is known about the char-acteristics of those engaged in misconduct. One article in the Perspectives on psychological Science compared cases where academics were caught for fraud and identified a set of common characteristics:

Individuals are normally highly respected researchers;

Individuals publish their journal articles proficiently;

They usually had perfect data-bases for their research work;

They generally published with co-authors who also has fraudu-lent publications; and their ca-reers climbed very quickly.

According to Celia Walter, aca-demic misconduct is likely to in-crease as the benefits of miscon-duct become more rewarding and the risk of being detected is lower. The reasons for com-mitting such acts are numerous and interconnecting. Typical fac-tors that increase the likelihood of research misconduct include pressures to publish in high im-pact journals; the favouring of

positive results over null find-ings by publishers and the inconsistency and secrecy of the assessment of journal arti-cles. Other factors could be the researcher’s high level of stress coupled with the lack of appropriate mentoring to sci-entific misconduct.

Those who have been in-volved in cases of research misconduct are all too familiar with the consequences. Loss of careers, capital and funding is a few of such consequences. Even though journals can fall back on retraction as a solu-tion, the reality is that the best way of avoiding such inci-dences is to have strong pre-ventive measures in place with a combination of com-pensating detective measures. These possible remedies could include good mentoring; blinded assessment of data; data reviews; effective inter-nal and external committees and most importantly strong departmental leadership.

Wayne Poggenpoel works in the Internal Audit office of the Africa Institute of South Africa and he writes in his personal capacity.

Science in general runs a serious risk of losing credibility if misconduct is not effectively dealt with. Each time a new case of academic fraud/misconduct rears its head, academic credibility gets further questioned, WRITES Wayne Poggenpoel.

LEARNED AFRICA… The 2013 AU Debate challenge winners have recently represented AISA at African Scholars Conference in Pembroke College, United Kingdom.

ADZILIWI NEMATANDANI PICTURE: OTSILE MALEBACO

June 2013 Volume 26

Issued by the Africa Institute of South Africa (AISA) 6

… Africa through lens glance

DOING IT FOR MADIBA… AISA’s interns spent their Nelson Mandela Inter-national Day 67 minutes cleaning at the nearby preschool.

AFRICA MY HOME… US President Barack Obama and his delegation holds bilateral talks with President Jacob Zuma at the Union Buildings Pretoria.

INSPIRED BY THE MOTHER CONTINENT… Sindisiwe Buthelesi, AzaniaZulu clothing brand’s founder is a regular visitor of AISA library. The library carry variety of African books.

LONG WALK TO FREEDOM… AISA library also carry a variety of Nelson Mandela’s publications. The library is open to the public.

AISA’s Chief Research Specialist in Governance and Security, Dr Sylvester Ma-phosa flanked by University of Colorado’s Deputy Vise-Chancelor, Prof Al-phonse Keasley and his students during his annual visit to AISA.

AFRICA AGENDA… AU Commission chairperson Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma held talks with the US President during his visit to Africa in June.

Pictures included in this section were taken from AISA’s events and those of the African Union and the South African Government. Credit goes to AISA Interns, GCIS and AU for making this page possible.

Volume 26 June 2013

Issued by the Africa Institute of South Africa (AISA) 7

Inspired by the continent of Africa...

Who is Sindi Buthelezi? Busisiwe Sindisiwe Buthelezi, was born and raised in a small semi-rural town called eNqutu in the province of KwaZulu-Natal but currently resides in Pretoria. I am a 29 year old, purpose-driven woman who is passionate about Africa and Her future. I see myself as a student of life. What is AzaniaZulu and what inspired the name? Late 2008, I was living in Queens and working in Brook-lyn, New York when I

was given the name “Azania the Zulu princess” by the people who worked on the same street as I and who thought that Sindi didn’t sound African enough. So, coming back to South Africa in 2009 and having the name lingering at the back of my mind, I shared the idea of starting a cloth-ing brand with a friend of mine, Gcina, who lat-er became my business partner but has now found passion in some-thing else. Early 2010 we started printing t-shirts with messages of love, peace, Ubuntu, basically preaching African unity, self-love, etc, through clothing. We sold them in flea markets mainly in Newtown, Johannes-burg and the brand grew ex-ponentially and its vision had to be bigger and it needed a name. This is how the clothing brand “AzaniaZulu”, meaning “Africa is Heaven”, was born.

It was no longer about the indi-vidual but as a way to spread positive messages about the African continent which unfor-tunately has been termed as “The Dark Continent” and syn-onymous with strife, social ills, zero progress, etc. All Aza-niaZulu is trying to say is, the only thing dark about our con-tinent is our ignorance of it. What motivates you as a young emerging en-trepreneur? The fact that through what I do I am or will be able to influence others in a positive way, nothing moti-vates me more.

What are the hurdles

you encountered in setting up your busi-

ness? The business, Aza-

niaZulu Crea-tions, is still in its infancy, two years in fact, so I suppose I’m still learn-ing some of the things but one hur-dle I can mention that I’m almost done jumping is having all

the paperwork in order. I am

also trying to put a team to-

gether that will ensure the smooth

running of the business as we all know that to pro-

duce beautiful music one needs a band. Setting up and running a business is tough, especially if you do not have adequate business training. It

is only recent-ly that I got

busi-ness skills

through an Entre-

preneurship Development Pro-gramme which was funded by the Telkom Foundation and offered by the University of Pretoria. All along I was just following the dream, exposing myself to good material by veterans in the business world and learning as I go. I often find

myself wishing that our educa-tion system equipped/s us with entrepreneurship skills espe-cially during high school years. In that way, you wouldn’t find a youth roaming and wandering about looking for jobs, they would create the jobs them-

selves. Who is your role model and why? My mother, she continues to be the pillar of my strength, my North Star and support system. She’s a hardworking woman who worked from 6am till 9pm in a supermarket she owned. I think this is where I picked my entrepreneurial spirit from. Mama Wangari Maathai’s works and life story has had a major impact on me and she was one person whose traits and charisma I admired. I also draw my inspiration from different kinds of situations and progressive individuals. I am mostly inspired by ordinary Africans who are working tire-lessly to ensure that Africa’s greatness is re-instated, thus reclaiming Her glory. Whether it is a woman working at an informal market so she can feed her fam-ily or a civil servant working earnestly for the pub-lic they serve, as long as they have Africa’s progress and fu-ture at heart, such people in-spire me to work harder to-wards achieving a common goal that is Africa’s bright fu-ture. I listen to and read a lot of motivational speakers such as Les Brown, Brian Tracy, Napole-on Hill and Maya Angelou to name but a few, these are the individuals whose stories and

words keep me motivated and focused and whose traits I would like to emulate. What

do you think are

the challenges for today’s youth?

One that comes to mind is lack of business mentorship oppor-tunities: there are many young people who would do with guidance and grooming. The sad thing is that young people are willing to be taught but such opportunities are just not there, if there are, are very few. What can we characterise as a generational mission of to-day’s youth? The youth of today is caught up between mending the cracks of the past and paving a way for their future while living in a country that is still trying to discover its identity, a coun-try that is still in its teenage years. In all honesty, I think we are that “middle” generation that is trying to carve out a picture of what it wants to do

or to achieve. We are yet to define our

mission. One moment we will be crying “we want eco-

nomic free-dom” which I

believe we can achieve through entrepreneur-ship, the next moment we will be complaining about lack of jobs. The problem is most of us aren’t entrepreneurial minded, we still believe that success is a combination of getting a job i.e. being employed rather that being the employer/self-employed. It is unfortunate or rather sad that the youth of today is not unified, doesn’t have a common goal or vision.

Everyone is doing their own thing individually somewhere in their little corner.

What legacy do you want

to leave behind? I want my works to con-

tinue helping others long after I’m gone. I

want to be remem-bered as the one

whose life bene-fitted others and

whose deeds proved that

through perse-verance,

courage and dedication, nothing is

impossible.

You are well travelled, tell me about that? I have been travelling Africa since the year 2006 and have-n’t looked back ever since. I have self-funded my travels to Mozambique, Botswana, Leso-tho, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Tan-zania, Swaziland, Egypt and Kenya. I am very passionate about the African continent. What started as a mere trip to Mozambique ended seeing me backpacking to as far as Egypt. The idea is to promote budget travelling among the African youth. Travelling or rather backpacking is a foreign con-cept to most young, black South Africans, so my aim is to inspire them to backpack and explore Africa. I believe that travelling in Africa can be used as a tool to educate and en-lighten individuals about who they are and who really Africa is. I am busy writing a book based on my travels, hoping to have it out late this year. What’s your advice to the youth? Don’t believe the hype, don’t believe the pipe and know that nyaope is a thief! I can’t stress this enough. Whether you are a young person in Accra, Nairobi or Johannes-burg, the problems we face are more or less the same. As young people, we easily give in to temptations and traps, deceptively thinking that be-ing young calls for exploring even harmful territories. Whilst it may feel good doing that at the time, always re-member that Time is sensitive. The things we do in our youth will haunt or bless us in our old age. The classic truth, “you get out what you put in”, comes to play here.

Frank Lekaba, AISA research intern got up close and personal with Sindi Buthelezi, a photographer and young entre-preneur who owns a company called AzaniaZulu Creations. Buthelezi, is a traveller and aspiring anthropologist who sees herself as an individual whose duty is to help Africa flourish.

Young people display AzaniaZulu clothing brand

Sindi Buthelezi

I believe that trav-elling Africa can be

used as a tool to educate and en-

lighten individuals about who they

are and who really Africa is

June 2013 Volume 26

Issued by the Africa Institute of South Africa (AISA) 8

From the archives... According to the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) an estimated 250,000 children are involved in conflicts around the world. They

are used as combatants, messengers, spies, porters, cooks, and girls in particular are forced to perform sexual services, depriving them of

their rights and their childhood. It is also said that in at least 65 countries around the world, boys and girls are recruited into Government

military forces, either legally as volunteers, or illegally through force or deception. In this issue, AISA Focus took a glance at the children

unsettled by conflict in the world. Below are photos from AISA’s photo collection showing unsettled children due to conflict as compiled

by AISA Cartographer, Elize Van As.

Survivors from the Kolwezi massacre (Belgian Congo then, DRC today) arrive in Brussels. 11 July 1960

Refugee children in Ethiopia

Their homes destroyed by French shelling, refugees make their way through the outskirts of Bizerte, Tunisia

Rehabilitated Biafran (Nigeria) children attend a mission school near Libreville (Gabon). Ga-bon took thousands of Biafran refugee children. Most were starving on their arrival

These children are abducted by armed forces and rebel groups like

the LRA. In the latest incident, (13 June 2013) armed LRA forces

accompanied by children stopped a vehicle near Manga Saba, DRC.

The driver and passengers fled, while the assailants looted 12 cas-

es of soft drinks before leaving.

Volume 26 June 2013

Issued by the Africa Institute of South Africa (AISA) 9

CONTRIBUTORS

EDITOR IN CHIEF

Prof. Phindile Lukhele-Olorunju

EDITOR

Adziliwi Nematandani

ASSISTANT EDITOR

Otsile Malebaco

WRITERS IN THIS ISSUE:

Elize Van As

Frank Lekaba

Ntsembo Mathye

Otsile Malebaco

Wayne Poggenpoel

Adziliwi Nematandani

PHOTOGRAPHY

African Union and UNHCR

Adziliwi Nematandani

Otsile Malebaco

GCIS

United Nations

LAYOUT:

Adziliwi Nematandani

GRAPHICS:

Otsile Malebaco

CONTACTS:

Embassy House

1 Bailey Lane

(Cnr Edmond Street)

Arcadia

Pretoria, South Africa

Switchboard: +27 12 304

9700

Tel: +27 12 304 9729/51

E-mail media@ai.org.za

Under the theme: “Eliminating Harmful Social and Cultural Practices Affecting Children: Our Collective Responsibility”, the African Union (AU), togeth-er with a group of African chil-dren and partners, celebrated the 23rd Day of the African Child (DAC), on June 14, 2013, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Organised by the Depart-ment of Social Affairs and the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACERWC), DAC 2013 main aim was to draw atten-tion on harmful social and cul-tural practices against children, and highlight the roles and responsibilities of various stakeholders.

Delivering the keynote ad-dress, the AUC Commissioner of Social Affairs, Mustapha Sidiki Kaloko, said the conti-nent's children continue to endure violence, humiliation and other ills perpetrated by and in the interest of the few in the name of cruel age-old traditions that have lost mean-ing and relevance.

“We need to wake up and ensure that necessary and ur-gent steps are taken to eradi-cate injurious, violence orient-ed and harmful socio-cultural practices against the conti-nent's children," he added.

He urged African govern-ments to ensure that depart-ments dealing with children need to be highly prioritized in budgetary allocations. He con-cluded by quoting Nelson Man-dela saying that “There can be no keener revelation of a socie-ty’s soul than the way it treats its children.”

On the same note the Chair-person of the ACERWC, Dr. Benyam Dawit Mezmur used the occasion to recall the 1976 uprisings in Soweto stating that the DAC further presents an opportunity to reflect on lived realities of African children today. He said protecting chil-dren from all forms of violence, including harmful practices is

an imperative of human rights. He further stressed that

while law reform and child friendly policies are important, they are insufficient on their own in guaranteeing the safety of children. He pointed out that the year of Pan-Africanism declared by the AUC under-scores the need to make pro-gress on the unfinished busi-ness of creating an Africa fit for Children.

The event, which was moder-ated by children, also featured presentations by Girls Not Brides, Save the Children, Afri-ca Child Policy Forum, Inter-African Committee on Harmful Practices, Experts representing AU Member State and Part-ners, an Intergenerational Pan-el Discussions on the theme of DAC 2013, with participation of five children representing

Northern, Southern, Eastern, Western and Central regions of Africa.

The event was also attended by high officials of the AUC, the ACERWC, representatives of AU Member States, UN agen-cies, Country Directors of inter-national organizations, as well as children from Egypt, Kenya, Cameroon, Gambia, Ethiopia, Mozambique and Zambia.

The ACRWC, which has been ratified by 47 African countries as of today, recognizes the need to take appropriate measures to promote and pro-tect the rights and welfare of the African child.

DAC is celebrated each year since 1991 to raise awareness and urge everyone to make their utmost efforts in pro-tecting the rights and the wel-fare of the child in Africa.

Call for the elimination of harmful social and cultural practices affecting children

Editors: Tuntufye Mwamwenda and Phindile Lukhele-Olorunju ISBN: 978-0-7983-0371-2 Size: 240mm x 170mm Extent: 700 Pages Availability: May 2013 Price: R275.00 Published: AISA

The Triumph and Prosperity of Education in Africa examines education in the continent of Africa for the past thirty years, with emphasis on the two dec-ades, when Ministers of Educa-tion of the African Union (AU) made various resolutions and goals of what they want achieved at four various levels of the education system, namely early childhood development,

primary, secondary and universi-ty education. Such resolutions and goals were made in light of Africa’s social, political, econom-ic and national development.

Twenty-two African scholars

The book exposes the enor-mous strides that Africa has made at all levels of the educa-tion system – early childhood education, primary, secondary and higher education levels. It is recommended that all Africans and people from other countries read this book in order to appre-ciate the strides Africa has made in transforming the education system and advancing its people. To Order Contact: Africa Institute of South Africa Tel: +12 304 9700 Fax: +12 323 8153 Email: publish@ai.org.za

TRIUMPH AND PROSPERITY OF EDUCATION IN AFRICA

Scores of women and children fleeing the surrounding area of Kibati, north Kivu, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) .

AFRICAN UNION

PHOTO: UNHCR