With so much pain, suffering and hardship witnessed in Africa for so many years it is quite saddening that a continent and great a people as Africans have not found a way to tackle the problems faced by Africa. With so much resources and land, why have we not been able to bring ourselves out of dependence from American, Europe and Asia? Are we short of great leaders? Or are we short of influence & inspiration? I truly believe it’s the letter. We need to have a paradigm shift. A new and fresh outlook of who we are and what capabilities we wield. We have to have confidence in us, in what we can achieve as a people and in what we dream for.

“Africa needs back its economy, its politics, its culture, its languages and all its patriotic writers” — Ngugi wa Thiong’o

How can we achieve greatness as Africa and as a people? By sharing and believing in an ideal quite old; Pan-Africanism! What is Pan-Africanism? It is an ideal of African unity. An ideal through it, we can bring Africa to her greatness and the ideal should not start in political and administrative unity. It has to start at the bases of interactions between Africans. To respect, love and be in unity with the next African brother and sister. To understand that Africa is for all who share the pigmentation of her soil and all who call it home. We have to rejoice in finding ourselves in Africa and rejoice in being African.

“Never be afraid of being African!” — Thomas Sankara

Pan-Africanism is said to be the one thing that can bring Africa and her children to the global greatness that she’s promised. A united Africa would mean less dependence on Asia, Europe and America. Pan-Africanism asserts that the unification of Africa and her children is vital to social, political and economic progress. In its core, the ideology is a belief that people of Africa, in Africa and in the diaspora, share not only a common history but a common destiny. When we unify, the successes of any African, any African entity and any African country will bring a sense of pride and belief in the African spirit and its potential for greatness

“It is better to die for an idea that will live, than to live for an idea that will die” — Steve Biko  

“To ensure national unity, there must be no Shonas in Zimbabwe, there must be no Ndebeles in Zimbabwe, there must be Zimbabweans. Some people are proud of their tribalism. But we call tribalists reactionary agents of the enemy!” — Samora Machel

This September South Africa is celebrating Heritage month. A month meant to remind us of who we are as Africans. To celebrate our diverse cultures, languages and our Rainbow Nation. It is a stand point where we reflect of where we come from, where we find ourselves, to find a way to move forward and to remember what we have inherited from our forefathers. An inheritance of great, sought after and favored prominence with its colors, nature and great potential. You should feel proud dear brother and sister, you’re great. Unify and conquer!

“We regard it the sacred duty of every African state to strive ceaselessly and energetically for the creation of a United States of Africa from Cape to Cairo and Madagascar to Morocco” — Robert Sobukwe

“Being Part of all these people, and in the knowledge that none dare contest that assertion, I shall claim that – I am an African!” — I Am An African Speech – Thabo Mbeki

Writer: Monde Loni