South Africa President Jacob Zuma has urged African leaders to join hands to improve roads, rail and air travel on the continent.

“We want an Africa with modern infrastructure, where one can fly from one country to another within the continent, without having to go via Europe,” said Zuma.

The President made his remarks at the Africa Day Gala Dinner in Cape Town on Wednesday evening.

“We want an Africa where people are able to drive or ride by rail from one country to another with greater ease.
It is for this reason that we are working, under the auspices of the African Union, to build infrastructure that will boost economic development in our continent.

“We are also working to achieve regional integration and to promote trade amongst ourselves as Africans, as intra-trade remains very low, standing at a mere 11 percent,” said Zuma, who noted that it has been 53 years since the establishment of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU).

The OAU was transformed into the African Union (AU) in 2002 in Durban.

The Gala Dinner was attended by cabinet ministers, ambassadors and High Commissioners as well as captains of industry.

“We are delighted to share this 2016 celebration of Africa Day with all of you,” said Zuma.

“We are celebrating the day under the theme ‘Building a Better Africa and a Better World’ which is the goal of our government and our nation, to contribute in whatever small way we can, to improving our continent and to building a better world.”

Zuma said African leaders realised that without unity, Africa would not move far in achieving her goals.

“On Africa Day we celebrate the triumph of the African peoples against slavery, colonialism, apartheid and other political ills and forms of subjugation,” said the President.

“We are also celebrating the progress we are making in building a better Africa working together within the ambit of the African Union.

Africa has partners in all the regions of the world – Asia, North America, South America, the middle East, New Zealand and Australia and indeed all over.

“Together with our partners in these regions, we seek to build a better, and more just world, and to build a prosperous Africa, free of poverty, unemployment, disease and underdevelopment.”

Zuma said: “In this regard, we envisage concluding the negotiations for a Continental Free Trade Area next year”.

Kwame Nkrumah, who led Ghana from independence, outlined the vision of a prosperous Africa at the founding of the OAU in 1963;

“We shall accumulate machinery and establish steel works, iron foundries and factories; we shall link the various states of our continent with communications by land, sea, and air,” said Nkurumah.

“We shall cable from one place to another, phone from one place to the other and astound the world with our hydro-electric power; we shall drain marshes and swamps, clear infested areas, feed the undernourished, and rid our people of parasites and disease.”

Zuma said “it is up to us now” to work harder than ever, to achieve this vision that was outlined by the founding fathers of our continent.

“The African Union socio-economic blueprint, Agenda 2063 perfectly captures the vision of where we want to take Africa and to build the Africa we want,” said Zuma.

There is synergy between Agenda 2063 and the Sustainable Development Goals that we adopted as member states of the United Nations in September last year.

“We cannot continue to be producers and exporters of raw materials. We need to strengthen the manufacturing capacities of our national economies through industrialisation,” said Zuma.

“More importantly, the beneficiation of our raw materials remains of paramount importance. The mineral wealth of Africa must help eradicate poverty in the African continent. And we do have the mineral wealth in abundance.

Kwame Nkrumah pointed out in 1963 that: “It is said, of course, that we have no capital, no industrial skill, no communications, and no internal markets, and that we cannot even agree among ourselves how best to utilise our resources for our own social needs. Yet all stock exchanges in the world are preoccupied with Africa’s gold, diamonds, uranium, platinum, copper and iron ore”.

Zuma said Africa cannot be left behind in the age of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

“The sustainable development we seek will come about through the use of modern technology, and also through improving education in the continent,” said Zuma.

“We must take advantage of the global digital revolution so as to create employment and better the lives of our people. The situation which we find ourselves in can be changed.

“We are a very youthful continent and investment in education and skills development will take Africa closer to the goals of sustainable development and an end to hunger, disease and deprivation.

“Furthermore, our energy needs in the continent have increased. According to the International Energy Agency, sub-Sahara Africa witnessed a 45 percent rise in energy needs since the year 2000.”

The President said the electrification of the continent remains a key priority, and one of the most important infrastructure goals.

He said remarkable advances have already been made in solar and wind energy, among others. These efforts will not only enable us to satisfy our energy needs in the foreseeable future but will also assist us to reduce carbon emissions.

“We can achieve all these goals. We need to draw inspiration from the word of our iconic leader Nelson Mandela who said: ‘It always seems impossible until it’s done’,” said Zuma.

“We can confidently say that Africa led the way with practical actions towards the realisation of the December 2015 Paris Climate Agreement, long before the said agreement was signed in April 2016.

“We are proud of the contribution of the COP17 Climate Change conference in Durban, as the Durban Platform of Action led the way towards the signing of the agreement in Paris. This was significant progress by the African continent.

“We also need to diversify our economies in order to be globally competitive.

“I do believe that unlocking the full potential of Africa’s ocean economy is overdue. South Africa is already investing in the ocean economy in a big way. We have already unlocked R17-billion worth of investments in the ports and other aspects of the oceans economy,” said Zuma.

Agenda 2063 is very clear about the importance of our ocean economies and states that Africa’s Blue economy, which is three times the size of its landmass, shall be a major contributor to continental transformation and growth.

Pockets of conflicts in the continent have potential to limit the realisation of our socio-economic development goals. It is for this reason that the AU has prioritised peace and security.

“We have taken a resolution that the guns must be silenced in the continent by 2020. We want an Africa that is at peace with itself. An Africa where women and children live without fear of attacks.”

Zuma said there should not be a reason for displaced people and refugees in Africa.

“The continent is doing something to end the conflicts. What has been of concern is the ability of the continent to respond with speed when conflict breaks out in order to protect lives.”

He said the African Capacity for Immediate Response to Crises which was established in November 2013 to fulfill this goal will remain in place. This mechanism will be replaced by the African Standby Force at a time to be decided by the continent’s leadership.

“While we work hard to address challenges faced by the continent, we cannot turn a blind eye to challenges faced by humanity in other parts of the world,” said Zuma.

“We are thus troubled by the tragic migration crisis in Europe which is being exploited by criminal elements to commit various crimes.”

The European Union (EU) Commission recently released a report, which links increased human trafficking to the current migration challenges in the region.

Zuma said the seriousness of this matter requires our urgent collective action.

“I am certain that we all have realised that there is a need to resolve the challenges in countries where migrants come from. We will be shortsighted to believe that migration crisis can only be managed, whereas it can actually be prevented,” said Zuma.

“As Africans we have the responsibility to move Africa closer to the goal of prosperity. We are making steady progress towards that goal, with the support of development partners from all over the world.”