Cape Town – US President Barack Obama called on young Africans to rise to the challenge of shoring up progress on the continent that rests on a “fragile foundation”, summoning them to fulfill the legacy of South Africa’s beloved former leader Nelson Mandela.

In his own effort to carve out a piece of that legacy, Obama announced a new US-led initiative to double access to electric power across Africa, vowing to help bring “light where there is currently darkness”.

“Nelson Mandela showed us that one man’s courage can move the world,” Obama said during an evening speech on Sunday at the University of Cape Town.

Obama’s remarks capped an emotional day that included a visit to the Robben Island prison where Mandela spent 18 of his 27 years in prison. The 94-year-old anti-apartheid hero has been in hospital for most of this month and is said to be in critical condition.

In deeply personal remarks, the US president spoke of standing in Mandela’s cramped prison cell with his two young daughters, Malia and Sasha.

“Seeing them stand within the walls that once surrounded Nelson Mandela, I knew this was an experience they would never forget,” he said. 

“I knew they now appreciated a little bit more that Madiba and other had made for freedom,” Obama added, referring to Mandela by his clan name.

‘Ripple of hope’

Obama address came nearly 50 years after Robert F Kennedy delivered his famous “Ripple of Hope” speech at the same university, an address that Obama aides said helped inspire the president’s remarks. 

Kennedy’s speech, delivered soon after Mandela was sentenced to prison, called on young people to launch a fight against injustice, creating ripples of hope that would “build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance”.

Laying out his own vision for development on the continent where his father was born, Obama said the US seeks “a partnership that empowers Africans to access greater opportunity in their own lives”.

He dismissed the notion that the US sought to meddle in Africa’s affairs, saying his country would benefit from the continent’s ability to manage its own affairs – economically, politically and militarily.

“Ultimately I believe Africans should make up their own minds about what serves African interests,” he said. 

“We trust your judgment, the judgment of ordinary people. We believe that when you control your destiny – if you got a handle on your governments – then governments will promote freedom and opportunity, because that will serve you.”

The White House says Obama’s electricity initiative, dubbed “Power Africa,” symbolises the type of cross-continent ventures the president seeks. 

Backed by $7bn in US investment, the power programme will focus on expanding access to electricity in six African countries: Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Nigeria and Tanzania.

Private companies – including General Electric and Symbion Power – will make an additional $9bn in commitments. 

However, those contributions fall well short of the $300bn the International Energy Agency says would be required to achieve universal electricity access in sub-Saharan Africa by 2030.

The funds are aimed at expanding the reach of power grids and developing geothermal, hydro, wind and solar power.

AP

Fifteen people were killed when a bakkie and bus collided on the R510 on Sunday, the North West public safety department said.

Department spokesperson Simon Mmope said paramedics confirmed that 10 men, two women and three children, aged between 8  and 12 were killed in the crash, which occurred between Northem and Rustenburg.

“According to traffic authorities the bakkie was overtaking when it collided head on with a bus. All people in the bakkie died on the scene,” said Mmope.

A number of the bus passengers were injured. They were transported to a local hospital.

The road linking the North West to Limpopo was closed for several hours after the crash but it had since been re-opened.

SAPA

Harare – President Robert Mugabe has become Zimbabwe’s sole law-making authority until the next elections are held following the automatic dissolution of parliament, his justice minister told state media on Sunday.

The country’s legislature was dissolved on Saturday after completing its five-year term.

According to Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa this left veteran leader Mugabe as the only law-making power until new elections, for which no clear date has been set yet.

“There is no authority with the power to make legislation except the president,” the Sunday Mail newspaper quoted Chinamasa as saying.

“The executive will be left legally limping because it needs the legislature for it to be fully functional,” he added.

Mugabe and his long-time rival Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai disagree over the date for upcoming polls that would end their power-sharing government.

Mugabe unilaterally proclaimed 31 July for a presidential and parliamentary vote, but mediators have since pressured him to apply for a two-week delay.

Tsvangirai has filed an appeal, arguing that the proposed delay was too short to implement key reforms in media and the security forces.

This will be the longest time since 1980 independence that the country is run under presidential decree after the dissolution of parliament, according to Chinamasa.

“Normally parliament is dissolved the midnight before elections,” he said.

Mugabe and Tsvangirai formed a power-sharing government four years ago to pull the country back from the brink of conflict.

New elections were due 18 months after the formation of the government, but disagreements over the reforms have derailed the vote preparations.

AFP

Cape Town – US President Barack Obama warned on Sunday that Africa could only fulfil its rising potential with leaders who serve their people, not tyrants who enrich themselves.

In a strident call for democratic change and good governance, Obama used the political legacy of ailing Nelson Mandela and South Africa’s emergence from grim years of apartheid as proof that freedom will ultimately prevail.

“In too many countries, the actions of thugs and warlords and human traffickers hold back the promise of Africa,” Obama said at a speech at the University of Cape Town.

“America cannot put a stop to these tragedies alone, and you don’t expect us to. That is a job for Africans. But we can help you and we will help you,” he said, announcing major new US programmes to boost electricity and health care.

“History shows us that progress is only possible where governments exist to serve their people and not the other way around,” said Obama, in a line that drew loud and prolonged cheers from his audience of more than 1 000 people.

The speech was delivered from the same spot where American political icon Robert F Kennedy delivered his famous “ripple of hope” speech in 1966, which called on students to decry the “racial inequality of apartheid”.

Obama’s goal was to inspire a new generation of Africans with the belief that they could ignite political change and the potential of their continent.

He slammed leaders who “steal or kill or disenfranchise voters”, saying that the ultimate lesson of South Africa was that such brutal tactics will not work.

“So long as parts of Africa continue to be ravaged by war and mayhem, opportunity and democracy cannot take root,” said Obama.

“Across the continent, there are places where still, fear often prevails,” Obama said, warning of “senseless terrorism” from Mali to Mogadishu.

“From Congo to Sudan, conflicts fester,” Obama said, hitting out at those who argue that American calls for democracy and freedom are “intrusive” or “meddling”.

He also condemned the rule of Robert Mugabe in neighbouring Zimbabwe, where he said the “promise of liberation gave way to the corruption of power and the collapse of the economy”.

Like the rest of Obama’s trip to South Africa, the speech was rich in emotion when he mentioned his hero Mandela, who lies critically ill in a Pretoria hospital.

“You have shown us how a prisoner can become president,” Obama said. AFP