Vol 11 Nov/Dec 2011

AISA at COP17

By Nomasonto Magano, Vincent Mnisi and Otsile Malebaco

Page 10-13

CEO’s Corner:

Dr Matlotleng Matlou—Chief Executive Office of the Africa Institute of South Africa

Continues on page 3

The Educational Philosophy of Nyerere: Curriculum and Con-tent Lessons for South Africa from Tanzania.

By Laurette Mkhwebane

T he year 2011 is gradually coming to an end and it has been a very interesting one with many highs

and lows for Africa. It started with a con-troversy about whether it was the first or second year of a new decade. A matter that will continue to divide global citi-zens and makes one ponder on the issue of mathematics being an exact science. I suppose it is a question of perspectives here! This intervention will be an overview of various elections across Africa during 2011, noting that elections are a neces-sary but not sufficient condition for de-mocracy, good governance and sustain-able development. The wave of democ-ratisation that swept through most of sub-Saharan Africa in the 1990s, seems to have been more a case of many coun-tries transforming from military and one party rule to opening up to opposition parties, but with ruling elites and parties finding other means to stay in power. The principles of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) and those of the African Union (AU) make refer-ence to democracy, rule of law, good governance, poverty eradication, sus-tainable development etc. Just about 30

African states have signed or had re-views under the African Peer Review Mechanism of NEPAD, where they com-mit to systematic assessments in the economic, political and governance areas by their peers. The challenge is that the enthusiasm and commitment in the past decade by states that had been reviewed or wanted to be reviewed is waning. Peer pressure does not seem to count that much anymore. The AU developed and adopted the Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance in 2007. So far only 29 of the 54 members have signed the charter and there have been 3 states ratifying it (15 ratifications are required for the charter to come into force and Africa is a long way from this figure). Interestingly many of the so called African democra-cies have not signed the charter, mean-ing they have not even considered ratify-ing it). May be they could argue that they should be judged by what they do at home. The problem is why be a mem-ber of an organisation if you do not sup-port its objectives! Furthermore, the charter is very detailed on what is ex-pected of states. It goes beyond only holding

Limits of Goodwill to US Ex-

posed by UNESCO

By Prof Narnia Bohler-Muller

Page 6

Page 14

Geovisualition of the amount of Carbon dioxide (CO2) emit-ted by African countries

By Mpho Mutavhatsindi

Page 5,7

AISA Through the year

Page 19

Page 2

Editorial By Vincent Mnisi

In this issue

Regional Integration in Africa: Bridging the North And Sub–Saharan Divide’ book launch

4

‘The Impact of the Euro-

pean Union’s Member-

ship Conditionalities on

Romanian Politics’

8

Going Green in your Office Space

9

LDS School Outreach Pro-

gramme

15

From the Archives: 16

Information Technology

Backup

18

The Africa Institute of South Africa (AISA) was one of the 119 exhibitors at the 2011 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC COP17) conference from 28 November to 9 December 2011 at the International Convention Centre in Durban. South Africans were wonderful hosts as usual. I believe that congratulations are in order for Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane who was the President of the COP17/CMP7 for her sterling leader-ship and fortitude during the two weeks long discussions. The biggest talking point coming into COP17 was whether some of the devel-oped industrial nations were going to agree to legally-binding measures to mitigate their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in other words another “Kyoto Protocol” after 2012. The Kyoto Protocol is an international agreement linked to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The major feature of the Kyoto Protocol is that it sets binding targets for 37 industrialized countries and the Euro-pean community for reducing green-house gas (GHG) emissions .These amount to an average of five per cent against 1990 levels over the five-year period 2008-2012. The Kyoto Protocol was adopted in Kyoto, Japan, on 11 De-cember 1997 and entered into force on 16 February 2005. The detailed rules for the implementation of the Protocol were adopted at COP 7 in Marrakesh in 2001, and are called the “Marrakesh Accords.” It was encouraging to see that after long discussions and debates a decision was taken to amend the Kyoto Protocol and the Green Climate Fund was estab-lished. I am hopeful that COP18/CMP8 to be hosted by Qatar will give more solutions. The truth is that for a longtime the dis-cussions around global warming and climate change were expected to be initiated by politicians, policy makers and environmentalist and many people especially in remote and rural areas of-

ten felt that climate change issues did not affect them and it was something for the educated and elitist but as we all know that all of that is not true. Today words like ‘green economy’, ‘global warming’, ‘recycling’, carbon emissions’, ‘sustainable living’ ‘energy saving’ and ‘renewable energy’ have become part of our daily vocabulary and rural villages, townships, schools, churches, civil society and private com-panies now all have a ‘green’ agenda which augers well for the future . In Africa, South Africa has been under the green spotlight. The steady eco-nomic growth since 1994 has resulted in a lot of development in manufacturing, mining, engineering and construction all of them are well known CO2 emitters. The recent announcement by President Jacob Zuma that South Africa is commit-ted to be a green country and the re-cently released Integrated Energy Plan by the Department of Energy is an indi-cation that there is commitment from the top to decrease our carbon footprint but because South Africa is a very com-plex country with a lot of variables that need to be attended to, it will take a collaborative effort from all of us to achieve that. In this month edition of our newsletter we share and show you all the informa-tion about AISA at COP17 and seminars. We also have a geovisualition of the amount of carbon dioxide emitted by African countries, article as well as AISA through year feature, looking back at the activities and events AISA was in-volved in We hope you have enjoyed 2011 We wish everyone a safe festive sea-son!

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elections, to dealing with achieving high levels of human development and ensur-ing that they create viable nations; many governments are not ready to commit to these objectives. Nevertheless there has been a grow-ing number of countries where the tree of democracy has found fertile soil and conducive conditions for growth. Indeed North Africa which was a bastion of autocratic regimes where sham elections prevailed felt the winds of change start-ing in Tunisia and Egypt where the Arab spring commenced in December 2010, eventually sweeping into Libya and Mo-rocco. There were national, provincial and local government elections in 28 countries across the continent. From Cameroon and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Gabon in central Africa; Egypt, Sudan and Tunisia in the north; Uganda in the east; Cape Verde, Gambia ; Liberia and Nigeria in the west and; Malawi, South Africa and Zambia in southern Africa. The year commenced with the referendum in Sudan on keep-ing the country as one or South Sudan seceding. The vote was overwhelmingly in favour of the latter option and South Sudan became Africa’s 54th nation on 9 July 2011. This was not unexpected con-sidering that the country had been at war intermittently from before inde-pendence in the mid 1950s until the pre-sent. The year closed with national as-sembly elections in Gabon in mid-December 2011. The birth of this new state has been traumatic and difficult with various aftershocks still being felt – conflict over Abyei, division of assets and liabilities, charges for transportation of oil and the Republic of Sudan seeming to be out to make circumstances difficult for South Sudan. Nevertheless, the inter-national community has been very sup-portive and South Sudan has joined vari-ous multilateral organisations in its short lifespan. Many heads of state had been in power for decades or had served more than two terms stood for re-election this year and retained power. Some of the longest serving being in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Djibouti, and Uganda (over

two decades), as well as in Gambia and Seychelles (over a decade). In some countries constitutions and legislation are amended to increase or remove term limits; opposition parties and can-didates are banned for one reason or another; and electoral commissions and the judiciary are not independent or had limited capacity. In Egypt, the DRC, Libe-ria and Nigeria the elections were marred by violence and there were deaths in clashes between the security forces and the public; Opposition par-ties and candidates were harassed, vio-lated and incarcerated in Uganda, with

the leader of the opposition having to seek refuge and medical treatment in neighbouring Kenya. Interestingly in Cape Verde, Sao Tome and Principe and Zambia the in-cumbent presidents or ruling party can-didates lost to the opposition or inde-pendent candidates. In the first two countries the ruling parties won the leg-islative elections but lost the presidential ones. The elected president in Sao Tome and Principe who had led the country from 1975 to 1991, ran as an independ-ent, whilst in Zambia, president Sata broke away from the many other ruling Movement for Multiparty Democracy in 2001 and contested in three elections before winning the fourth in 2011. In many countries the freeness and fairness of the elections varied widely. In some countries the ruling party deployed states resources to support party candi-dates, opposition parties were denied proper access to the media and to freely campaign. Elections were boycotted in Liberia, Ivory Coast and Gabon by the opposition handing ruling parties victory at various governing levels.. It is always debateable whether this is a good strat-egy, because it leaves the political space

to incumbents and the opposition is now left out in the cold, where they are less effective. There have also been sugges-tions that some external parties have interfered in elections in some African countries. The opposition in Liberia ac-cused the United States of having pro-vided support to the incumbent presi-dent Sirleaf, whilst France is often ac-cused of similar activities across many countries in Francophone Africa. Some North African countries held elec-tions towards the end of the year which were much freer and fairer than the ones which had previously been held in these countries where rulers had been in power for over two and three decades respectively. The elections in Egypt were tainted by violence, which has continued as the populace fights against the contin-ued military rule during the transition period ending in July 2012. Western na-tions which had supported some of these autocratic regimes were con-cerned about so called Islamist parties gaining the majority in the elections, which is exactly what happened in Tuni-sia and Egypt. The DRC had about 32 million voters spread across a country about two thirds the size of the European Union , with inadequately developed voters registra-tion lists, relatively poor transport and other infrastructure and received ballot papers a few days before the election. This created a nightmare scenario, de-spite substantial SADC and international support, this would have tested even the most efficient electoral commission to the limit. Not surprisingly, the opposition and some international observers have said that the elections were not fully free and fair. The greatest elections violence has been in the DRC where there were huge logistical challenges and allegations of vote rigging and other unfair prac-tices. Many of the opposition parties have rejected the results proclaiming incumbent president Kabila as the win-ner of the November 2011 elections. The DRC has been in turmoil since the 1990s, where millions of people have died, cen-tral government control does not span the whole country as rebel forces terror-ise people could easily descend into

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“elections are a neces-sary but not sufficient condition for democracy, good governance and sustainable develop-ment”

Continues on page 4

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civil war again. The African Union and international community must do all possible to assist the DRC to remain in-tact and become a viable democracy. In South Africa the process of choos-ing candidates especially in the ruling party was controversial in some areas. For the first time there were contests in the primaries for the local government elections. Many people seeing the role of councillors as pivotal in the allocation of state resources sought office by all means necessary. There were complaints of corruption, people getting on the lists or being removed from them illegally. Party leaders insisted that the people have patience and that their complaints would be dealt with after the elections. Six months later virtually nothing has been done and is unlikely to be done;

well except a rise in service delivery pro-tests. The contests for posts in the ruling African National Congress, is becoming more violent, under pinned by accusa-tions of corruption and illegal use of state power and resources against oppo-nents. The ANC Limpopo provincial con-ference and elections exemplified the above activities and seem to be a precur-sor to more hotly contested elections leading to the 2012 ANC national confer-ence. Indeed the freeness and fairness of elections is more than what happens of voting day. Quiet often many observers only concentrate on the voting process which means the state of democracy in Africa is compromised. Elections are a necessary but not sufficient condition for democracy. Without sufficient rule of law; separate of power, with adequate checks and balances; strong institutions

and vibrant civil society and other condi-tions the foundations of democracy are weakened. These are areas where a lot more work needs to be undertaken and early, long before elections so that the right environment is created by the time the elections take place. In South Africa there has been a phenomenal rise in service delivery protests, but when elec-tions are held people do not utilise their votes strategically. Africans must continue to strengthen civil society so that governments can be held more accountable, while African states must do all in their power to en-sure that they develop the capacity to meet the commitments made in the vari-ous charters and protocols they ratify. As we enter 2012, the big question is whether there will be significant im-provements in economic, political and governance areas across Africa?

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‘Regional Integration in Africa: Bridging the North and-Sub-Saharan Divide’, this book was launched on the 16 November 2011 at the Department of Science and Technology in Pretoria with Mrs Phumelele Higgins, Deputy Director: Africa Co-operation at DST as the programme director. Dr. Hamdy A. Hassan, the editor of the book, who is also a Professor of Po-litical Science at the Islamic World Studies at the Zayed University in Dubai. The launched was attended by Ambassadors and High Commissioner from the Brazil, Chad, China, Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Germany, Kenya, Mauritania, Romania, Sudan, Senegal, Swaziland, Saharawi and Venezuela also participated in an open discussion debating the contents of the book and its relevance to the current political climate in North Africa and the rest of the continent. The book highlights the Afro-Arab relations, it came about as a research project by AISA in observing the North Afri-can countries’ multi-lateral relations with the rest of the African continent. The book looks at major issues involving Egypt, Libya, Tuni-sia, Algeria, Morocco and Mauritania. These countries, in most cases, have been treated as separate from sub-Saharan Africa. However, the historical reality and eco-nomic and political interests indicate that the North African countries have been and still are closely connected with the rest of the African continent. The book consists of two parts, the first part includes five chapters written in English and the second part of the book comprises six chapters written in Arabic.

Regional Integration in Africa: Bridging the North And Sub–Saharan Divide’ book launch

Book editor Dr Hamdy A. Hassan

Page 5

By Mpho Mutavhatsindi

C arbon dioxide (CO2) is a naturally occurring gas that is composed of two oxygen atoms that are cova-

lent bonded to a single carbon atom. CO2 can occur naturally through the process of carbon cycle and through human activities like burning of fossil fuel and cutting down of vegetation (deforestation). This article focuses on the use of geographic tech-niques (GIS) to present the increase, in amount of CO2 emitted by African coun-tries within five decades (1960-2007), objectively to analyse the action of Afri-can countries towards Greenhouse gases (GHG) and climate change. Impact of Carbon Dioxide (CO2) The increase in the amount of a GHG has marked a noticeably adverse impact on climate globally such as an increase in surface and atmospheric temperature.

When its atoms are bonded tightly to-gether, the CO2 molecule can absorb in-frared radiation and the molecule starts to vibrate. Eventually, the vibrating mole-cule will emit the radiation again, and it will likely be absorbed by yet another GHG molecule. This absorption-emission-absorption cycle serves to keep the heat near the surface, effectively insulating the surface from the cold of space, this lead to increase in temperature. Decrease of precipitation consequently results in drought. This increase in temperature has accelerated the melting of ice in arctic regions. The below maps represent the amount of CO2 emitted by Africa using dot density quantity symbology. A green dot in the left map represents the amount of CO2 in kilo-tons during the 1960s, it is clear that the amount of CO2 in the 1960s was much lower as compared to the map

of the 1970s and 1980s. The light green dots represent the amount of CO2 during the 1990s and they are less dense than the dots that repre-sent the amount of CO2 during the years of 2000 to 2007. These maps make it sim-ple to everyone to notice that the emis-sion of CO2 is increasing dramatically since 1960 to 2007. African countries are not seriously acting against CO2 emissions, and the solution to combat the increase of GHGs, which are the main cause of cli-mate change. Countries like South Africa, Nigeria, Algeria, Libya, and Cameroon are the top five CO2 emittes in Africa. Countries that do not have any dots have no recorded data.

Geovisualition of the amount of Carbon dioxide (CO2) emitted by African countries

The maps presenting increase amount of CO2 emitted by African countries, from 1960- 2007. Data acquired from World Bank.

Continues on page 7

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T he global political and economic arena has been dominated for decades by the US. One could call

the US the "Big Brother" of international relations. Recent events in international govern-ance have dulled, if not silenced, the euphoria expressed across the world at the prospect of a post-Bush Democratic Party government under Barack Obama. Obama has largely failed to keep his promises and, worse, has continued ex-erting unremitting US dominance on world affairs. In the same way that Americans claim they are "world champi-ons" in sports only they play, the US ap-pears to have an agenda not to play well with others when it comes to matters of interest to the world at large. It appears the US plays by its own rules, except when it comes to the rules of Israel. There are a number of examples of US arrogance that have been building resis-tance against the neo-imperialist stance of a country that does not seem to ever question its own moral authority, de-spite a history of failed intervention in, among others, Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq. It is its stubborn policy on Palestine that has caused the latest furore. On September 23, Palestinian Presi-dent Mahmoud Abbas submitted on behalf of Palestine an application at the United Nations (UN) General Assembly to recognise Palestine as a sovereign state. The US, Obama and Israeli lobby-ists managed to delay the proceedings by insisting on continued peaceful nego-tiations in the Middle East. This stance was expected, and the delays have been effective thus far, as it is well known that, despite strong support among UN Security Council members for the recognition of Palestinian statehood, the US would exercise its veto and that would be the end of it. No doubt realis-

ing that more effective diplomatic and political intervention was required to further the cause of Palestine against the might of Israel-America, Abbas then ap-plied for UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) member-ship. Unesco is responsible, among oth-ers, for providing clean water to the poor, advancing education and curricu-lum development, and managing a tsu-nami early warning system in the Pacific Ocean, projects that directly and indi-rectly further US interests. As Palestine is not yet a member of the UN, the Palestinian application had to receive two-thirds support from the Unesco meeting in Paris. On October 31, Unesco became the first international organisation to welcome Palestine as a full member. This victory (107 votes in favour; 14 against and 52 member states abstaining) took place despite threats by Israel and the US of withdrawing fund-ing. It transpired that this was not an empty promise, and the following day the US Congress confirmed that it would withhold about $60m. This extreme re-action is most likely based not only on adherence to US legislation that does not allow the US to fund political bodies that accept Palestinian membership, but also an intent on the part of the US to deter any other bodies of the UN and other international nongovernmental organisations from doing the same. The question, however, is whether Unesco can strictly be described as a "political" body. The US is fast running out of good-will, which is more of a threat to its na-tional security than displeasing Israel. Sympathy for 9/11 is waning as the US continues to strike out mercilessly more than 11 years later in an endless cycle of retaliation and revenge. It appears that security concerns are an excuse for al

most anything: the killing of civilians in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya, and the use of military might to assassinate despots before they can be tried in a court of law. But then, the US has refused to be-come a member of the International Criminal Court to escape the global criminal justice system. Unesco probably continued with the process of allowing a vote on Palestine well aware of the fact that should there be more than two-thirds support, it would have to face the wrath of Israel and the US. Withdrawal of financial sup-port was probably not too much of a surprise and it seems that Unesco will continue its work and try to raise funds elsewhere. Israel described the acceptance of Palestine as a member of Unesco as "tragic". US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has expressed her dissatisfaction. But this is not a tragedy, it is merely a sign that democracy is becoming more embedded in global decision-making and that power shifts are creating a more egalitarian political and diplomatic envi-ronment. This article was first published in Business Day on 2011/11/03. Available. http://www.businessday.co.za/articles/Content.aspx?id=157754

Limits of Goodwill to US Exposed by UNESCO The US appears to have an agenda not to play well

with others when it comes to matters of interest

to the world at large, such as funding Unesco

Prof Narnia Bohler-Muller, Director of Research: Social Science

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Deforestation Deforestation is the removal of a for-est or stand of trees where the land is thereafter converted for a non-forest use. Forests act as the major storage or consumer of the CO2 from the atmos-phere through the process of photosyn-thesis, to produce carbohydrate, fats, and protein that make up tree. When a forest is cleared and burned, it increases the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere. A decaying forest also releases gases like Methane which is the second largest contributor to GHGs after carbon diox-ide. Deforestation results in an increase of GHGs that have a negative impact on climate change. Deforestation has many negative effects on the environment. The most adverse impact is a loss of habitat for many species. National Geographic shows that 70 per cent of Earth’s land animals and plants live in forests, and many cannot survive the deforestation that destroys their homes.

The map below present the rate of deforestation and increase in forest cover in Africa, a negative number for ‘Forest Annual rate of change’ indicates the deforestation rate and positive num-ber indicates the increase rate of forest cover. The small tree symbols represent deforestation and the big tree symbols represent increase of forest cover in the country. The maps below show decrease rate of deforestation and increase rate of forest cover. This can be easily noticed by comparing the size of trees in the map ‘forest annual rate of change in 1999- 2000’ and ‘forest annual rate of change 2000- 2005’. The first map of 1999-2000 have more smaller trees than the second map of 2000-2005. The geovisualised data provide evi-dence of CO2 emissions and deforesta-tion in Africa. It is pretty clear that the CO2 emissions have increase since 1960 to 2007 in many African countries where as the deforestation rate seems to have also decreased. Deviating from power energy to sustainable renewable energy and promoting greening is highly recom-

mended as a way to effectively mitigate this issue of CO2 emissions and defores-tation as well as their adverse impacts on

climate change.

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Map showing forest annual rate of change percentage in Africa from 1999 to 2005. Data acquired from www.mongabay.com

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By Justice Mkhabela

O n the 10th of November 2011, the Africa Institute of South Af-rica together with Tshwane Met-

ropolitan Municipality co-hosted the Am-bassadorial forum titled ‘The Impact of European Union Membership Condition-alities on Romanian Politics’, presented by H.E. Dr. Radu Gabbriel Safta, the Ro-manian Ambassador to the Republic of South Africa and Ambassador Thomas Wheeler, Research Associate from the South African Institute of International Affairs. Romania has been the first among the Central and Eastern European coun-tries to acquire the European Union membership. Diplomatic relations be-tween the country and the European Union Community began as early the 1990s witnessed by the signing of a Trade and Cooperation Agreement in 1991. Ever since these positive develop-ments, Romania’s connection to the EU strengthened from one aspect to another with the commencement of the ‘Europe Agreement’ in February 1995 and Roma-nia’s temporary application for EU mem-bership on July of the same year (1995). However, deliberations to grant the country an EU membership began on the

15th of February 2000. Eventually, Romania was admitted to the EU member of countries seven years later-the 1st of January 2007. Although Romania is currently an EU mem-ber, the ambassador mentioned that acquir-ing an EU membership was a process with con-ditions, “the EU’s 1993 Copenhagen Summit (EU Council), which

acknowledges the fact that , conditionality requires an EU candidate to have: stable institutions that guarantee democracy, the rule of law, human rights and respect for and protection of minorities, a functioning market economy, as well as the ability to cope with the pressure of competition and the market forces at work inside the Union, the ability to assume the obligations of membership, in particular

adherence to the objectives of political, economic and monetary union”. Thus in order for a country to become an EU member state, the prospective member will have to promote the rule of law, human rights and also maintain

functional economic institutions; actually acquiring an EU membership goes hand in hand with negotiation. Romania had to sacrifice some of its laws in favour of the EU ones; Romania’s parliament mirrors the EU’s. In line with the mother body’s requirements for the recognition of minorities, five political parties represent minorities in the Romanian Parliament. The EU and South Africa Despite the 2008 global financial cri-sis, the European Union continues to be South Africa’s most important trading partner-about 35 percent of South Af-rica’s imports originate from the EU trade bloc while on the other hand 28 percent of the country ‘s exports target EU markets. It is submitted that the 2008 global financial crisis impacted negatively on the economy of the EU with 4 percent of the region’s GDP lost as a conse-quence. As a member state, Romania also did not escape the effects of the crisis witnessed by a 25 percent cut in public sector wages and these only re-covered by 13 percent as the economy rebounded since the beginning of 2010. Lessons to be Drawn In contrast to the African Union, the European Union has consistently kept strict entry requirements. This however is not the case with the African, Union (AU). As a result the Union ended up ab-sorbing non-democratic African states into its ranks of which are non-desirable. In this regards, the African Union still has to learn from the EU’s absorption re-quirements.

Ambassadorial Forum: ‘The Impact of the European

Union’s Membership Conditionalities on Romanian

Politics’

H.E. Dr. Radu Gabbriel Safta, the Romanian Ambassador to the Republic of South Africa

Ambassador Thomas Wheeler, Research Associ-ate from the South African Institute of Interna-tional Affairs.

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By Otsile Malebaco

C limate change is the shift of weather conditions, resulting in extreme and unpredictable

weather around the world such as the drought in Somalia. Climate change is a threat to nature and humanity and the greenhouses gases (GHG) such as carbon dioxide, which trap heat in the atmos-phere and regulate the climate, but hu-mans have added more carbon dioxide by burning fossil fuels for energy (coal and oil) as well as cutting down trees. Since greenhouse gases trap more heat, average temperatures around the world have and are still rising. Simultaneously, the Earth’s oceans are also absorbing the extra carbon dioxide, making the waters more acidic for sea life. As we work to reduce emissions, we must begin to adapt to the increasing impacts of climate change. One single act can influence the rest, help save the planet by being eco-friendly. Green Tips for the Office from World Wildlife Fund (WWF): The dark side: Always turn off unneces-

sary lights during the day and turn off all lights at night. Lighting an empty office overnight can waste the amount of en-ergy required to heat water for 1000 cups of coffee! Shut down: Shut down computers over-night and use power saving options. Turn off unused machines at the plug. Appli-ances continue to draw electricity on standby. Virtual travel: An initial investment in tele- and video-conferencing facilities will reduce the need for flights saving money, time and carbon emissions. Print less: Always print 2 pages per sheet or print on both sides of the paper. Go to Print, click on Properties, and choose Page layout: 2 pages per sheet OR go to Print, click on Properties, click on Finish-ing and choose Print Style: 2-sided print-ing. Optimize paper use: Change the margins on your word documents for more words on a page. Click on File, and choose Page set up and change the margins to 2 cm. Buying power: Only buy recycled paper or paper from FSC certified sources. the FSC label ensure that the paper comes from responsible sources.

Clean travel: Organise a car pool to work, or even better, cycle to the office. Water wise: Don’t serve bottled water at meetings. It takes 3 litres of water to produce 1 litre of bottled water. Promote tap water. 'Green' procurement: As far as possible choose eco friendly products or services that aim to have the minimum impact on the environment. Read more about Climate Change athttp://www.wwf.org.za/what_we_do/climate_change/

Going Green in your Office Space

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By Nomasonto Magano, Vincent Mnisi and Otsile Malebaco 194 parties came together in Durban at COP 17 to discuss issues of climate change as well as to reach an agreement. An agreement was reached even with political differences, socio-economic dif-ferences, different views of climate change and not forgetting the language barriers. After nearly 14 days, the confer-ence ended with an agreement to start discussing a new accord that would put all countries under the same legal frame-work that will enforce these countries to commit to reducing their greenhouse gases. Currently only the developed countries are legally binding to reduce their emissions under the Kyoto Protocol, which expires next year. This commit-ments to reduce emissions will however be extended for another 5years under the accord that was adopted on Sunday, the 10th December 2011. The new accord will be discussed in 2015 and will be op-erational from 2020, it is said that the new accord will be a prime weapon to fight against climate change. A “Green Climate Fund” was also launched by the world forum; this fund is a pledge of up to $100 billion a year by 2020, the pledge is funded by rich countries to aid poor countries that have been affected by climate change. On the 28th November 2011 in Durban, while discussions were under way, Africa Institute of South Africa (AISA) in associa-

tion with the Erusmus Mundus, and the Department of Science and Technology hosted a successful two day Emerging Scholars Sympo-sium on Transdisciplinary studies on Climate Change and Green Economy in Africa, the symposium created a platform where issues pertaining to climate change were discussed with Miss Yolanda Mokoena, Assistant Editor (AISA) being the programme director. The opening and welcome ad-dress was given by Mr Fadl Nacero-dien, who is the chief director of

the Policy, Research and analysis unit (PRAU) at the Department of Interna-tional Relations and Cooperation of the South Africa (DIRCO). This was followed by an opening address by Public Diplo-macy officer from European Union, Mr Frank Oberholzer. The Emerging Scholar symposium presentations were informa-tive and relevant to the issues of climate change, the topics presented included issues of energy security, renewable en-ergy, food security, indigenous knowl-edge systems, water just to name a few. Professor Lukhele-Olorunju pointed out, “the fact that we successfully hosted an Emerging Scholars Symposium in partnership with Erusmus Mundus, a development programme that is being implemented by the European Union indicates that we have managed to extend our partnerships beyond Af-rica. Our future plan is that we follow the process of climate change negotiations and remain relevant to it. It is for this reason that in our book launches we partnered with institutions like UNISA and the IGD. The aim is to develop part-nerships that will enhance our visibility and reputation in the subject of climate change” Mr Cosmas Komabt, who is the vice president of the Erasmus Mundus African Chapter, gave a presentation to explain the postgraduate scholarship opportuni-ties in Europe that are offered by Eras-mus Mundus, for more information re-garding these scholarships visit http://

eacea.ec.europa.eu/. Professor Lukhele-Olorunju added “What I found exciting about our event is that participants came from as far as Germany, Denmark, Ethiopia, Egypt, Zim-babwe and Ghana. This is in pursuit of our strategy of collaborating with inter-national authors”. The day ended off with a Gala Dinner and Dr Thokozani Simelane, A chief re-search specialist at AISA was the director of the programme and had a keynote address by Chief Director of Multi-lateral Cooperation and Africa of DST, Ms Mam-pei Mabusela. This was followed by a wonderful meal as well as dessert and closing remarks from Professor Phindile Lukhele-Olorunju, the director of the natural science cohort at AISA. The following day, AISA in partner-ship with the institute of Corporate Citi-zenship (UNISA), Institute for Global Dia-logue (IGD) and solarhybrid launched three books pertinent to issues to be discussed at COP 17.

AISA at COP17

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“AISA is one of the research council that reports the Department of Science and Technology and when we had that COP17 was coming to South Africa we began to make preparations to partici-pate in the conference in 2010 and it was agreed that we were going put together a book that focuses of climate change and the book was Energy Transition in Africa we were going to launch it at the event,” said Professor Phindile Lukhele-Olorunju. She added that the process of commissioning chapters and finding au-thors was started and completed in time for the 2011 COP17 event, The books are Green Economy and Climate Mitigation: Topics of Relevance to Africa, Overcom-ing Barriers to Climate Change Adapta­tion Implementation in Southern Africa, and Energy Transition in Africa. The day was divided into three ses-sions where authors from each of the 3 books did presentations to explain their book; each session was chaired by the editor of the respective book. After the many discussions and workshop presen-tations of the 3 books, AISA and solarhy-brid hosted the official book launch with cocktail. Dr Matlotleng Matlou, the CEO of AISA, welcomed everybody to the offi-cial launch of 3 books. The opening and welcome was followed by a presentation by Mr Tasniem Jawaid who is the Direc-tor of International Business develop-ment at Solarhybrid, the presentation was to explain what Solarhybrid does and how they do they work. Professor Lukhele-Olorunju said AISA

was very delighted with the book launch attendance and she was also humbled by the distinguished scholars who pre-sented the various book chapters and the positive feed-back that followed. “We had a lot distin-guished guests that including our council member Dr Sipha-mandla Zondi, Ms Mmampei Mabusela

the Chief Director of Multi-lateral Coopera-

tion and Africa at the Department of Sci-ence and Technology who was quiet ex-cited about what AISA is doing is very relevant to the DST ten year plan and that was a really positive massage for our team” The closing remarks were then given by Dr Siphamandla Zondi, the Director of IGD and AISA council member then shortly after it was the cocktail. “it was important for AISA to partici-pate in confer-ences like COP17 because of the visibility it gives to the institution and it can become one of AISA’s flag ship projects that really lift AISA up to a lot of people. “It was also gratify-ing for DST to see how AISA at work and we really look-ing at leveraging platforms like COP17 and our upcoming Africa Expo event in May because they af-ford us an opportu-nity to show the rest of the world what we are capable of doing,” concluded Lukhele-Olorunju.

COP17/CMP17 brought together rep-resentatives of the world's governments, international organisations and civil soci-ety, parallel to COP17 /CMP17, There was Climate Change Response Expo (CCR expo) an initiative by the Department of Environmental Affairs, “showcasing the climate change mitigation work of na-tional, provincial and local government as well as the private sector, it profiles environmentally responsible initiatives and solutions from local and interna-tional companies and organisations with operations in South Africa”. The Expo was open to the public, to experience and being informed of climate change initiatives. Africa Institute of South Africa exhib-ited at the CCR Expo, under the Forest Olive Marquee, showcasing the AISA’s Books, brochures with the Department of Science and Technology as well as AISA partner solarhybrid.“Lastly, I think it worth noting that our exhibition stands

Emerging Scholars Symposium presenters

Department of Environmental Affairs Climate Change Response logo

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attracted the attention of the Minister of Science and Technology–Ms Naledi Pandor as well as the Minister of Energy -Ms Dipuo Pe-ters. I must say we were very lucky with these visits on our exhibi-tion area,” added Professor Lukhele-Olorunju.

Honourable Minister, Energy, Ms Dipou Peters and Mr Zibusiso Ncube

Honourable Minister, Science and Technology, Ms Naledi Pandor and Mr Zibusiso Ncube

Dr Siphamandla Zondi (third from left)and Ms Mampei Mabusela with Emerging Scholar Syposium presenters and Mr Shingirirai Mutanga (second from right)

Mr Tasniem Siegfried Jawaid from solarhybird

Authors of Green Economy and Climate Change Mitiga-tion

Authors of Overcoming Barriers to Climate Change Adapta-tion Implementation in Southern Africa.

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Facebook.com/africainstitutesa

Youtube.com/aisavideos Twitter: @aisa_research

linkedin.com/company/africa-institute-of-south-africa

africainstitutesa.tumblr.com

Dr Matlou, Prof Lukhele-Olorunju, Mr Shakespeare Mudombi Ms Mampei Mabusela and Mr Ricky M Mukonza.

AISA stand at the CCR expo

Authors of Energy Transition in Africa

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By Laurette Mkhwebane

T he Africa Institute of South Africa (AISA) is an Indispensable African voice on African Affairs, this in-

stitution is mandated to produce rele-vant research products aimed at inform-ing sustainable political and socio-economic development in Africa. These entails researchers going to the field, collecting data and information, coming back and disseminating this data and information in a form of seminars, cam-pus lectures and then publishing the information collected. On the 8th November 2011, after a com-prehensive research study, conducted by Mr Neo Lekgotla laga Ramoupi pre-sented a seminar titled “The Educational Philosophy of Nyerere: Curriculum and Content Lessons for South Africa from Tanzania - Changes and Reforms in the Tanzanian Education System during in-dependence". The seminar was part of his research study project in the Unit of Knowledge Transfer & Skills Develop-ment. The focus of this research study is on the “African – centered Education,

Curriculum and Content in Africa”. This seminar was graced with the pres-ence of the high Commissioner of Tanza-nia; Ms Radhia N. M. Msuya, High Com-missioner of Jamaica; Ms Taylor Roberts, Delegation of EU in South Africa; Dr Berene Kramer and guests from differ-ent institutions. Prof Narnia Bohler- Muller, a Research Director – Social Sci-ences chaired the seminar, and Prof Phindile Lukhele-Olorunju, Research Director- Natural Sciences gave the clos-ing remarks to the seminar. Karibu – which means “Welcome” in Kiswahili, an official language in Tanza-nia, this is what Mr. Ramoupi said as he was starting with his presentation. He was presenting about the lessons learnt from the Educational Philosophy of United Republic of Tanza-nia’s founding Presi-dent Mwalimu J.K. Nyerere after inde-pendence, in particu-lar his policy of “Education For Self Reliance” (ESR). As well as the conflicts that are brought about by the current directives of global-isation and its free market forces in edu-cation, not only in Tanzania; but all over Africa, including South Africa. Mr. Ramoupi learnt about Nyerere and other African liberation leadership at the age of 10, at his home from his brother, Sello Ramoupi, who was a po-litical activist in the 1970s. unfortu-nately, when he entered high school and university, these African knowledge pro-duction was absent in the curriculum of education in South Africa. That is why he is passionate about the theme of this research, African-centred education and curriculum. Nyerere’s vision of educa-

tion was liberatory; and there are rich lessons for South African education that has not transformed in meaningful ways to reflect our liberation as a nation. The objective of socialism in the United Republic of Tanzania is to build a society in which all members have equal rights and equal opportunities; in which all can live in peace with their neighbours without suffering or impos-ing injustice, being exploited, or exploit-ing; and in which all have a gradually increasing basic level of material welfare before any individual lives in luxury. (Nyerere 1968: 340) Mr Ramoupi’s research focuses on South Africa, but because the mandate

of the Africa Institute of South Africa is the African continent, he conducts field-work in Africa, to learn the successes and failures in education policies. To countries that were liberated earlier, so that South Africa can learn. He is inter-ested in the issues of curriculum and content in education; how that has changed or has not changed over the years so that our education system can reflect tangible and meaningful transfor-mation of curriculum and content that is inclusive of all the citizens that make up South Africa.

The Educational Philosophy of Nyerere: Curriculum

and Content Lessons for South Africa from Tanzania.

Some of the Tanzanian books promoting African Centred Educa-tion.

Mr Neo Lekgotla laga Ramoupi , Research Specialist: Knowledge Transfer and Skills Development.

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HakiElimu, which means the “Right to Education” in the Kiswahili language; asks the pertinent questions such as ‘which education?’; ‘education for whom?; and ‘for whose benefit?’ These are some of the questions that were posed to him by various stakeholders that he interviewed, who are involved in curriculum development and design and teaching in schools and universities. Almost everyone Mr. Ramoupi inter-viewed recognized the irony of the Kiswahili language that is spoken by eve-ryone in the country. This is a language that the government declines to make a medium of teaching in the schools and

universities, even when both education systems- students and teachers use Kiswahili as the medium of communica-tion. Others felt that Tanzania was not the right country to learn lessons of edu-cation from that would inform South Africa’s education transformation from because Tanzania’s education is cur-rently disappointing. The research findings of education of the three case studies of Ghana, South Africa and Tanzania were presented at the Conference on Higher education: Beyond the Apartheid University? Inter-rogating the transformation of the South African Higher education landscape, at

the University of Fort Hare. Mr. Ra-moupi is also writing a book/documentary entitled “History Locked in our Songs: 100 years celebration of the African National Congress, 1912 – 212. A Study in Culture History.” Help people to make their own deci-sions, and to implement those decisions for them. (Nyerere 1978: 29, 30)

By Godfrey Malatji

A frica Institute of South Africa Library Document and Service (LDS) division hosted 30, Grade

8 – 11 learners from SA College High School on the 24th - 26th October 2011. Their visit was part of LDS Schools Outreach Programme, whereby the LDS creates awareness on African affairs. This is also an opportunity to showcase the library’s services and products. The LDS consulted Dr Pieter Van der Merwe who is the Principal at SA College High School, explaining the aims and objec-tives of this initiative. Dr van der Merwe

was very happy to realize that doors of learning were opened to learners of his school. He took note of the fact that the whole nation is responsible for the suc-cess of learners. And this success can come from any angle. The LDS Manager, Mrs Molamu acknowledged the role libraries have to play towards education by making information accessible to learners. She further said that it is ironic for SA College to struggle with informa-tion while they are very close to the AISA library. During the visit all learners were welcomed and taken for a Library orientation by Mrs Molamu. She also introduced them to the Library reading

room and Media room and exposed them to library services and facilities such as the reading room, internet and media resource centre. The learners also got the opportunity to view DVD docu-mentaries on African Affairs and Educa-tion. As part of their tour the learners also met Mr Zibusiso Ncube Geographic In-formation System (GIS) specialist at LDS who showed the learners how Geo por-tal system is used to develop geo-spatial database for Africa. Mrs Elize van As also shared Cartography information with them, which is more of developing and designing maps. Learners showed great interest and ex-citement about all the products and resources that were introduced to them and added that they will start making use of all the Library resources available to them going forward.

LDS SCHOOL OUTREACH PROGRAMME

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From the Archives:

Swaziland: One of the world’s oldest monarchies is fighting for survival

BY Elize van As

S waziland is in turmoil and on the edge of revolt against the last absolute monarch in Africa. Although political parties have been banned since 1973, more than 30 protests occurred this year of which most ended in tear gas. For years Swaziland was an oasis of stability, while civil war, unrest and apartheid surrounded the tiny landlocked

country. It even gained the title of ‘the Switzerland of Africa’.

The beautiful landscape of Swaziland

While tensions are rising in Swaziland, King Mswati III seems to remain totally disconnected with the situation in the country. King Mswati III (born Makhos-etive Dlamini on 19 April 1968) is one of the many sons of king Sobhuza II and the only child of Ntombi Tfwala, one of King Sobhuza’s younger wives. King Sob-huza II reigned the country for nearly 83 years, making him the longest ruling monarch in world history. At the time of King Sobhuza’s death, Prince Makhosetive, only 14 years old was unexpectedly chosen to succeed his father. Some sources however claimed, that two years prior to the death of King Sobhuza in 1982, he has indicated to the Loqoqo that he wanted his son by Ntombi to succeed him to the throne. Other sources however rumoured that Ntombi took advantage of the power vacuum to manoeuvre her son into power.

King Sobhuza II at the age of 80

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Queen Regent Ntombi

For four years, Swaziland was ruled by Queen Dzeliwe Shongwe (1982 – 1983) and Queen Ntombi Tfwala (1983 – 1986) who served as regents while the young prince completed his education in England at the Sherborne School. On 25 April 1986, at the age of 18 years and 6 days, Prince Makhosetive Dlamini was crowned King Mswati III to rule jointly with his mother.

The crowning of King Mswati III

At the time of his death King Sobhuza had 70 wives, 210 children and 1000 grandchildren. But not withstanding his wealth, he was re-nowned for frugality and sensitivity to his subjects needs. He used to wear an old blanket and ferry his family around on a bus. Forty three year old Mswati III has now reigned for 25 years, but it has not been as glorious as that of his father. The lavish spending of the royal family headed by Mswati III has sparked a lot of criticism. He banned the photography of his fleet of luxury cars, following criticism. While approximately 34 per cent of the people are unemployed, 70 percent of the people live on less than a dollar a day (making it one of the poorest countries in the world) and about 49 per cent of adults living with HIV (the highest in the world, that has brought the life ex-pectancy in Swaziland down to 33 years from 60 years and orphaned one-third of the children), millions were spent towards the refurbish-ing of his numerous wives’ luxury mansions. The King’s wives also un-dertake regular shopping sprees abroad. Swaziland’s economy is collapsing so fast that it is effectively bankrupt

– streetlights switched off, schools closed, pensions stopped – to

name but a few. Bloody conflict can still be avoided if only Mswati III

will adhere to opponent’s call for a change to a British style constitu-

tional monarch rather than a republic. The crowning of King Mswati III

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AISA’s Corporate Values: PRIDE

Participation Responsibility Integrity Development Excellence

By Katlego Moledi

T echnology has proved to be an important part of many organisations and this was evident recently when Research in Motion (RIM) the infrastructure

the company behind Blackberry suffered a server melt down which left millions of people across the world. This is a clear indication of how important to have backup when using technology. Computers are very useful, but they are not 100% reliable as they can crush or connection can be lost and files can get corrupted at any time. Unfortunately this can result in organisation losing a lot of important data which has taken a lot of years and hard work to acquire . The Information Technology (IT) industry has over the years developed solutions that assists organisations to de-

velop data Backup systems that combats the loss of valu-able information, they also recover and restore data regu-larly to avoid unnecessary loss of information. There are many ways of backing up information in a company and this depends on their IT policies. Some or-ganisations use a secondary storage system of setting up a backup storage device inside each employees computer. In others organisation, file backup is done from an employee computer to a secondary storage file like a local server. Depending on that organisation, data backup can run online or by recording information on a storage media, such as tapes or discs they then store the data in a safe for later use if need be. Backup can also be done automatically, where backup is done daily, weekly, or monthly or any specified time, preferably after working hours so that everything can be on the backup. Importantly, information cannot be recovered if not saved in backup systems. For further information on how to backup information you may contact the IT division.

Information Technology Backup

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South Sudan Referendum Discussion Forum

The Policy Research and Analysis Unit, Institute for Global Dialogue and AISA partnered for Discussion Forum, on the 24 February 2011 at the Department of International Relations and Cooperation, OR Tambo Building. The forum discussed, what needs to be done now that the Referendum has been held in South Sudan and will become an independent country.

The Archie Mafeje Memorial Lecture On the 9th of March 2011, the Africa Institute of South Africa (AISA) and Walter Sisulu University (WSU) co-hosted a memo-rial lecture in honour of Professor Monwabisi Archiebald Mafeje at the Umtata campus of WSU. Dr Matlotleng Matlou opened the memorial lecture by commemorating the life and works of Archie Mafeje, an African anthropologist.

AISA Through the year

Minister Naledi Pandor Lauds AISA During

Visit

The Minister was addressing a full complement

of AISA staff at 1 Embassy House in April, which

included a presentation on AISA’s new Geo-

portal by Research Specialist Shingirirai Mu-

tanga. The minister, who was accompanied by a

high-level delegation that included Director Gen-

eral Dr Philemon Mjwara, said she believes exis-

tence of institutions such as AISA provides South

Africa with a platform to support Africa to grow

and stand on its own intellectual feet. The minister said, “For too long we have been relying on others to pro-

vide us (Africans) with intellectual knowledge about ourselves. AISA should endeavour to be an authoritative

source, to actively intervene on scholastics and political tasks”.

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AISA Media Star Rising

five social media accounts were created, which will be populated with AISA events information, still photo al-

bums, videos, blogs, new book notifications/reviews, our researchers’ upcoming interviews in traditional me-

dia, polls, discussions and links to relevant online content on African affairs. These platforms/widgets will also

be incorporated into AISA website ai.org.za. AISA’s Facebook, Twitter and YouTube accounts are already active

and live.

Africa Expo: Taste and feel The Inaugural Africa Expo hosted by AISA along with Sta-tistics South Africa, there was a bright light shinning as Africans came together to foster new networks; trade, tourism and investment opportunities with each other. Africa was placed in the forefront of discussion as there were a number of distinguished guests in attendance from the academic community, business community and the diplomatic missions in Tshwane including three local high schools.

AISA’s Outreach Project to Magau Community Projects

on 22 August 2011, AISA embarked on a journey to Atteridgeville to visit a drop-off centre in Phomolong which is the Magau Com-munity Project. AISA staff volunteered and donated money, gro-ceries, clothes, linen, a stove, a mattress, books, a fridge, paint, computers and gave their time as well as hands to the commu-nity. The donation drive began two weeks before visiting Magau community Projects. In creating interest, each floor had to bring their donations and then on the day of the charity drive, there was a competition to see which floor contributed the most.

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EBSCO host

Library and Documentation Services (LDS) purchased one of EBSCOhost’s products, namely Political Science Complete (PSC). “This database contains full text for more than 530 journals and indexing and abstracts for over 2 900 titles (including top-ranked scholarly journals) many of which are unique to the product. The database also features 340 full-text reference books and monographs, over 38 000 full-text confer-ence papers and includes a thesaurus with over 17 500 terms, to provide subject searching guidance to researchers.” The Africa wide information database, which LDS contribute to, is also available through EBSCOhost.

This database is compiled by NICS and is an essential resource for those with an interest in African research and publications.

Cooperative Diplomacy, Regional Stability and National Interests: The Nile River and Riparian States. The book was edited by Korwa Adar, the previous Research Director at AISA and Nicasius Achu Check, a Research Specialist in the Peace and Security Unit. Unfortunately Prof Adar was unable to make it to the launch.

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EDITORIAL CREDITS

Editor-in-Chief

Yvette Francis

Editor

Otsile Malebaco

Contributing Editor

Vincent Mnisi

Associate Editor

Nicol Olivier

Editorial Committee

Brenda Modisaotsile

Godfrey Malatji

Justice Mkhabela

Katlego Moledi

Lindokuhle Khumalo

Nomasonto Magano

Laurette Mkhwebane

Mpho Mutavhatsindi

Contributors

Elize van As

Contact AISA Focus

t: +27 12 304 9751

e: omalebaco@ai.org.za

w: www.ai.org.za

PUBLICATIONS

Subscriptions Enquiries

Rosemary Lepule

t: +27 12 304 9743

e: rlepule@ai.org.za

LIBRARY

Info Desk

t: +27 304 9748

e: library@ai.org.za