On May 25, Namibia like other members of the African Union celebrated Africa Day that marks the founding of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) that was set up in Addis Ababa in Ethiopia in 1963. The OAU is the forerunner to the present African Union (AU).
On this day, leaders of 30 of the 32 African countries that were independent at that time signed the founding charter in Addis Ababa.
In 1991, the OAU established the African Economic Community and in 2002 the OAU established its own successor, the AU.
However, the name and date of Africa Day have been retained as the celebration of African unity.
It should be pointed that Namibia is among a handful of African states that celebrate Africa Day as a public holiday, others being Ghana, Mali, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Among the main objectives of the AU and its predecessor the OAU have been to promote unity and solidarity among African states and eradicate all forms of colonialism in Africa.
Colonialism usually manifests itself in different forms, and governments in Africa should ensure there is genuine economic empowerment for all Africans. The founding fathers of the OAU, renamed the AU, included as their objectives the betterment of the lives of all Africans.
Investors flock to Africa in search of copper, cobalt, diamonds, gold, platinum, coal and oil among many other resources too numerous to mention.
But investment across the entire African continent be it in mining, fishing, processing, pharmaceuticals, car assembly and the whole lot should be on the basis of win-win partnerships.
Africa should move away from the current trend where its resources are exported in raw form only to create jobs that do not benefit its people.
The African cake is just too big and should enrich all and sundry as poverty breeds instability and never-ending civil strife.
African countries should ensure Africans on the continent and even in the Diaspora benefit and are genuinely economically empowered and not cosmetically, as this will defeat one of the founding principles of the AU/OUA.
The clarion call by a group of traditional leaders in Erongo Region for preference to be given for a local stake in a gold mine in Erongo is in the spirit of genuine empowerment.
The stake by locals in this venture deserves precedence otherwise Namibians will always make do with crumbs falling from the dinner tables. We should not submit to the proposal that the gold mine be sold to yet another foreign firm at the expense of Namibians.
All progressive Namibians should give the necessary support to traditional leaders in Erongo to give locals a chance in mining.
If we ignore this appeal from Erongo we would have failed in one of the crucial principles of the AU, whose founding we hold so close to our hearts as a nation.