Coordinator's Note: The Pan African Agenda at a time of COVID-19

We bring to you here Vol 6, Issue 3 of our flagship publication, the Zimbabwe Briefing, from the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition’s Johannesburg based Regional Information & Advocacy hub. This is a special edition focusing on Africa Day, which we commemorated on Monday, the 25th of May.

This edition comes at a time when the continent and world at large is grappling with the deadly, Covid-19 pandemic which has claimed thousands of lives. Africa has had its share of the pandemic, however with fewer deaths and infections recorded. While many African countries have imposed lockdowns as a measure to control the spread of the virus, it is worrying to notice an escalation of human rights abuses and the shrinking of civic space in the process of enforcing the lockdown regulations.

We urge African governments to stop the abuses and respect human dignity as enshrined in their constitutions.

Thus, the coalition, under the auspices of the Southern African Peoples Network (SAPSN) cluster on Democracy, Human Rights and Governance facilitated a virtual regional conference and as part of the resolutions urged governments to demilitarize lockdowns and ensuring that law enforcement agencies uphold human rights-based principles of policing. The conference also called on SADC to support and guarantee dialogue to resolve the impasses in troubled hotspots namely, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Lesotho, SADC the respective countries to ensure peace and stability in the region.

As part of the Africa Day commemorations, the regional office collaborated with the Action Support Centre (ASC) to host a virtual discussion on the status, challenges and prospects of the Pan African Agenda at a time of COVID19.

Thus, this edition’s main focus is on the Pan African Agenda at a time of COVID19, with articles from different countries in Africa. Dr Bob Wekesa, from the University of the Witwatersrand in his illuminating piece titled Pan Africanism and the question of ideology opines: “Essentially, the understanding is that Africanness is not to be confused with residence on the continent. Rather, it is the association of whatever kind, with the continent. “Global Africa” is, therefore, emerging as a new dimension of Pan-Africanism.”

Decoloniality scholar, Dinizulu Macaphulana argues that “settler colonialism turned nativists into black colonialists in Africa.”

In this edition, we have also borrowed Justice Henaku of the Socialist Forum of Ghana interview with Kambale Musavuli of the Pan-Africanism Today Secretariat on the significance of African Liberation Day for the African continent, the African world and the entire world. The interview touches on the political, historical, and cultural importance of African Liberation Day for the people on the African continent, of the African diaspora and across the world.

Enjoy the rest of the articles.

Mayibuye iAfrika

Tiyende Pamodzi nimu ntima umo

Mbele Na Afrika

Pamberi ne Chimurenga

Aluta Continua