Africa and Aid

The recent debt relief plan for developing countries, proposed by Tony Blair and supported, in some measure, by President Bush, is making headlines. Is this a breakthough towards reducing poverty? It could be.

If one goes beyond failed popstars' need for attention (http://www.makepovertyhistory.org/) and mainstream media disinformation campaigns (although there are also objective opinions), one could sense, perhaps for the first time, that these pledges are almost devoid of the "solidarity" rethoric so often invoked by the left and that has contributed so much to the rampant corruption of these countries.

Demanding that these countries, in exchange for debt relief and a steady flow of aid, as President Bush is doing, improve their democratic processes is the minimum we owe to their citizens and to ourselves if we really want to see results.

In his recent trip to Washington, Mr Mbeki was told in friendly but unequivocal terms what he must do if he wants NEPAD to take off; he was hoping to receive support and a large amount of cash but Mr Bush insisted on highlighting the two issues of AIDS and Zimbabwe, which Mr Mbeki has managed to mangle considerably during his presidency.

There has been a lot of speculation about Mr Mbeki's stance on these issues and one can only continue to speculate as it is extremely difficult to fathom the reasoning beyond his attitude. Is he promoting the theory that poverty is the cause of AIDS to promote his pet project, NEPAD? Or is he pandering to the sangomas? Is his Minister of Health telling people that AIDS can be cured by garlic for some nefarious scheme? Is he supporting Mugabe (his "quiet dipolomacy" is exactly that) so that South African companies can buy into Zimbabwe on the cheap? Or is he so afraid of the ANC that he cannot challenge publicly Mugabe's lies? Or, most important, is South Africa going the same way as Zimbabwe?

At the time of writing, Mr Mbeki has fired his deputy, Jacob Zuma (a staunch supporter of President Robert Mugabe), for corruption; one can only hope that Mbeki, in view of next G8 summit in Edimborough next month and World Bank new president Mr Wolfowitz's visit to South Africa, wanted to be seen acting against corruption.

Very little of what has been given in the form of aid has been used by the beneficiaries for its intended use; therefore this plan, which is meant to give them the chance of starting from scratch, without a heavy backload of debt, must be implemented, but - this time - not to appease our consciences or to make more or less shady business deals, but to see real progress on the ground while demanding good governance. The monitoring of how these funds will be utilized should become the first priority of donor countries.