Times Of Swaziland: FEDERATION OF AZANIA (SADC) AND THE FUTURE

FEDERATION OF AZANIA (SADC) AND THE FUTURE
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Sabelo Gabs Nxumalo on 19/11/2024 08:44:00


One of the most powerful countries on earth is still in the future, called the
Federation of Southern African States, using its post-colonial name, Azania.
We have experienced conflicts within the Southern African Development Community
(SADC) that the SADC Troika cannot resolve because it currently lacks the power
to do so. The United States of America is the most powerful country in the world
because, at some point, its founding fathers realised that they needed to unite
and form one massive country. As Southern Africans, we have more in common than
we realise. The rest of the world sees all Africans the same, regardless of
which part of Africa we come from, let alone which part of Southern Africa. The
sad reality is that black people are discriminated against everywhere in the
world. We are hated and ill-treated in every corner of the globe.
We even hate ourselves and feel inferior to others because we are divided.
Africans must be very strong to survive such discrimination in every aspect of
life for centuries. The darker the skin, the harder the life in every part of
the world. It is disheartening that we cherish our little countries’
boundaries, which serve to imprison us, divide us, and foster hatred towards
each other, our culture and our traditional leaders.
The importance of unity
Why is it so important that we unite? The answer is simply globalisation. As
many small, divided countries, we are weak and cannot economically compete on a
global scale. Divided, we do not have a strong domestic market to build our
industries. We need millions of people domestically to sell to and trade with in
order to develop the global capacity to trade. Many trade laws make it
impossible to trade within Africa.America has a strong domestic market of 300
million people, while countries like China, India, Indonesia and Vietnam are
seeking markets of at least one billion.
The European Union (EU) population was estimated to be 449.2 million people on
January 1, 2024, benefitting from the same trade laws with no borders. The
future of industrialisation and manufacturing lies in global trade, of which
Africa accounts for less than 5 per cent.Investments flow to where there are
markets, and if we remain small, like Eswatini, we must specialise in a few
products and excel at them so that the world will take notice. Like small
Switzerland, which decided to focus on finance (Swiss banks), Swiss watches,
Swiss chocolates and later expanded into manufacturing, gold trading, and
pharmaceuticals, they have become the best in the world at these products.The
five largest food and beverage companies in the US and Canada remain PepsiCo,
Tyson Foods, JBS USA, Nestlé and Kraft Heinz. They control most of what we
consume around the world. To compete with them, we need a strong domestic market
because they are so large that they can dump products, undermining any small
industry that is starting up.
The Tower of Babel
I am convinced that the Tower of Babel was in Africa because we have the most
diverse continent in the world, with more languages than any other region. There
are approximately 3 000 languages in Africa, compared to around 300 languages in
Europe (24 official languages) for perspective.  The Tower of Babel is a
biblical narrative found in Genesis 11:1-9. They decided to build a great city
and a tower that reached the heavens. However, in verse 6, the Lord expresses
dissatisfaction, stating: “If as one people speaking one language, they have
begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them.
Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each
other.”
The key point here is that nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them.
Africans hold the key to success, which is speaking with one language, requiring
unity of deeds and purpose. We need to speak one language as Southern Africans
through the formation of the Federation of Southern African States, with one
federal political leadership, one currency and one passport. Most importantly,
we need one name: Azanians, with different cultures and traditions but united as
one Black people.
Southern African Development Community (SADC)
Africa may have been divided, but it is slowly coming back together. The
population of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) currently stands
at approximately 340 million, including 16 member states: Angola, Botswana,
Comoros, Democratic Republic of Congo, Eswatini, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi,
Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, United Republic of
Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Excluding Tanzania and the DRC, which are
joining the East African Federation, which has progressed much further in its
reunification than SADC, the population is reduced to 162 million people.
Imagine freely deciding to work in Angola or Mauritius, study in Namibia, or
holiday in Seychelles as a fellow Azanian.
The East African Federation
The East African Community (EAC), or East African Federation, is ahead of SADC,
with a regional intergovernmental organisation of eight partner states already
in place. These are Burundi, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Rwanda,
Somalia, South Sudan, Uganda and Tanzania, with its headquarters in Arusha,
Tanzania. The EAC Summit of Heads of State admitted the Federal Republic of
Somalia into the East African Community on November 24, 2023. Subsequently,
Somalia signed the Treaty of Accession to the EAC Treaty on December 15, 2023.
Somalia became a full member upon depositing its instrument of ratification of
the EAC Treaty with the EAC Secretary General on March 4, 2024. The EAC is home
to an estimated 302.2 million citizens, with over 30 per cent of the population
living in urban areas. With a land area of 5.4 million square kilometres and a
combined Gross Domestic Product of US$312.9 billion, its realisation bears great
strategic and geopolitical significance and prospects for a renewed and
reinvigorated EAC.
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