Human Rights Activist, Sipho Mantula, has called for this year’s Africa Day to be used to honestly reflect on the state of affairs on the continent.
Mantula’s call comes as recent data by the United Nations Humans Rights Commission revealed that hundreds of people have died in West Darfur, while at least 60 000 people have crossed into Chad since violence erupted in Sudan earlier this year.
The latest bout of violence has forced nearly 850 000 others to flee their homes.
Mantula says this day must also be used as a way to look how far South Africa has come and where it is headed.
The remarks by the Human rights activist come as the continent marks 60 years since the establishment of the Organisation for African Unity (OAU).
The organisation was a result of a Pan-African vision for a united Africa that’s independent and in control of its own destiny.
He says the day should be set aside as a public holiday for public and collective consciousness.
President Cyril Ramaphosa delivered South Africa’s keynote address on the day’s celebrations at the Cradle of Humankind in Krugersdorp.
He spoke on the progress of the continent and also used his speech to take aim at those pressuring South Africa to abandon its non-alignment policy on the war between Russia and the Ukraine.
President Ramaphosa says African nations will no longer be used as pawns by Western powers.
Mbeki recited the I AM AN AFRICAN poem on behalf of the ANC in Cape Town on 8 May 1996, during the adoption of South Africa’s new Constitution, two years after the end of apartheid.
Mbeki was then the Deputy President of South Africa under Nelson Mandela’s administration.
