DISCUSSION ON AFRICA

Press, Volume CV, Issue 31060, 16 May 1966, Page 19

DISCUSSION ON AFRICA

A panel discussion on Africa was held as part of the annual conference of the African Students’ Association in Christchurch. About 50 persons heard three speakers give addresses on Africa and relevant subjects.

Mir W. Rosenberg spoke on neocolonialism, Mr R. N. Kennaway on political aspects of Africa, and Mr M. Turay on the history of African states vis-a-vis the United Nations and their relations with one another. The chairman was Mr D. Wilder. On neocolonialism, Mr Rosenberg said in "dual society” colonies there was a small ruling class and a vast indigenous population. There were exclusive trading relationships with the colonising power. Since the Second World War the colonialist system had been replaced by a large number of so-called independent countries. New Zealand had been a colonial power in a small way as far as the Cook Islands were concerned. The islands had been given independence after a tremendous effort to throw off the yoke of overseas domination. At the time independence was granted the annual income of the European population was 12 times that of the Maori population. This was typical of such colonies. The whites—2 per cent of the population—got one quarter of the income. After independence the rule of the European civil service continued because there was no chance of replacing the Europeans with local people—there were not enough educated local people. The civil servants were paid £l2OO a year, compared with £5l for the average local resident—and, as it would be if New Zealand paid its civil servants about £20,000 a year, this was an uneconomic system. Consequently the civil service had to be paid with the assistance of subsidies from New Zealand which resulted in the people feeling their government was dependent on New Zealand. This aid was tying the knot again—and tighter than before. The only difference was that the mistakes could now be blamed on the indigenous government—they could no longer be shot home to the metropolitan power.

Political Instability Mr R. N. Kennaway spoke on recent events in Africa, concentrating in the main on Ghana. Recently the main factor of Africa had been its political instability. Speaking of the background to the troubles, he said the Left-wing party newspapers usually blamed all troubles on imperialism, colonialism and neo-colonialism. He suggested neo-colonial-ism was not a satisfactory explanation in many cases and was therefore dangerous because it tended to obscure the real reasons. At independence the countries in Africa had faced many major problems, and it had to be remembered that Africa as a whole was not rich, although there were rich areas. Many former colonies had had a good start to independence, although if the colonial powers had realised independence was coming so soon they might well have made better preparations. A major trend in Africa had been the move to the one-party State which was understandable in view of the problems ahead and of the danger that multi-party politics might merely be a vehicle for inter-tribal rivalries. But there were dangers in the one-party system in that the government tended to feed on itself and become increasingly intolerant, out of touch and sometimes corrupt. Mr M. Turay said that the recent coups in Africa were demoralising, and would give Africans serious food for thought. He spoke of the political progress of African countries and the United Nations.

After the addresses the audience asked questions of the speakers.

Anti • Communist Drive.— About 4000 Communists are said to be under detention in Djakarta and reports indicate that the nation-wide drive against the party is not yet flagging.—Djakarta, May 12.