Mbeki's brother blames elite for poverty.
iol.co.za
London - The increased aid for Africa that British Prime Minister Tony Blair is seeking at the G8 conference will make a difference only if it is directed at the continent's people rather than its governments, President Thabo Mbeki's brother said on Thursday.
Moeletsi Mbeki, a businessman and think-tank deputy director, said in an interview that Africa's political elites were largely responsible for the continent's poverty. They have sent much of its cash overseas, spending money on foreign imports and stashing it in overseas bank accounts instead of using it to help farmers and business, he said.
"The structure of power in Africa is so heavily weighted in favour of the elite and against the people, that the elite exploit the productive sector of the economy to their benefit... for private consumption, not for investment," he said.
"The aid, in my view, whether it's doubling or tripling or whatever it is, should be directed not at governments... it should be directed at... the people who actually produce in Africa, which is the private sector, especially the small-scale farming sector," Mbeki said.
'Power in Africa is so heavily weighted in favour of the elite'
Blair has been pushing for months to achieve a major deal on Africa at the G8 summit.
He hopes to help put African economies on their feet by getting wealthy countries to double aid and cut trade barriers that hinder Africans' ability to sell their goods overseas. G8 finance ministers agreed last month on a plan to forgive billions of dollars of debt owed by poor countries, including many in Africa.
Mbeki, who is deputy director of the South African Institute of International Affairs at the University of the Witwatersrand, said the Africa Commission which Blair set up to recommend ways to boost the continent had focused almost exclusively on working through governments.
He argued that non-profit groups and farmers' co-operatives could better invest new aid money.
Donors should also focus on building democratic institutions that have withered under decades of dictatorship in many African countries.
Funnelling money to trade unions, student unions, women's organisations and other civic groups will help build a democratic infrastructure necessary to begin making African leaders accountable, Mbeki said.
Without accountability, African governments would not take the steps needed to make their economies productive and pull people out of poverty, he said.
"African governments have been in power for 40, 50 years in Africa and they've failed to do so," he said. "Giving them more money will not make them do it."
The funds Blair is proposing "could make a huge difference" if properly directed, Mbeki said.
"It makes very little difference when you give it to 53 African governments for their own budgets, but if you give it to the producers it makes a big difference because it becomes seed money." - Sapa-AP |
