Mbeki's brother says Africa was better off under colonialism
Jan Lamprecht | 06.07.2005 01:19 | G8 2005
The truth... from none other than President Mbeki's Brother! Too bad his brother won't be any different
BBC: Mbeki's Brother: Africa was better off in Colonial times
[The truth... from none other than President Mbeki's Brother! Too bad his brother won't be any different. Jan]
The average African is worse off now than during the colonial era, the brother of South Africa's President Thabo Mbeki has said.
Moeletsi Mbeki accused African elites of stealing money and keeping it abroad, while colonial rulers planted crops and built roads and cities.
"This is one of the depressing features of Africa," he said.
Moeletsi Mbeki also said that South Africa should support democracy in Zimbabwe, and not tolerate violence.
President Thabo Mbeki has been accused of being too soft on his Zimbabwean counterpart Robert Mugabe.
South Africa should "not tolerate use of violence, torture and rigging of elections and, if necessary, we should support the opposition," Moeletsi Mbeki said.
Downward spiral
He said that while China had lifted some 400,000 people out of poverty in the past 20 years, Nigeria had pushed 71 million people below the poverty line.
"The average African is poorer than during the age of colonialism. In the 1960s African elites/rulers, instead of focusing on development, took surplus for their own enormous entourages of civil servants without ploughing anything back into the country," he said.
In July, a United Nations report said that Africa was the only continent where poverty had increased in the past 20 years.
Moeletsi Mbeki was addressing a meeting of the South African Institute of International Affairs, which he heads.
He has frequently taken different political positions to his brother.
He has business interests across Africa.
Source: BBC
URL:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/3679706.stm
[The truth... from none other than President Mbeki's Brother! Too bad his brother won't be any different. Jan]
The average African is worse off now than during the colonial era, the brother of South Africa's President Thabo Mbeki has said.
Moeletsi Mbeki accused African elites of stealing money and keeping it abroad, while colonial rulers planted crops and built roads and cities.
"This is one of the depressing features of Africa," he said.
Moeletsi Mbeki also said that South Africa should support democracy in Zimbabwe, and not tolerate violence.
President Thabo Mbeki has been accused of being too soft on his Zimbabwean counterpart Robert Mugabe.
South Africa should "not tolerate use of violence, torture and rigging of elections and, if necessary, we should support the opposition," Moeletsi Mbeki said.
Downward spiral
He said that while China had lifted some 400,000 people out of poverty in the past 20 years, Nigeria had pushed 71 million people below the poverty line.
"The average African is poorer than during the age of colonialism. In the 1960s African elites/rulers, instead of focusing on development, took surplus for their own enormous entourages of civil servants without ploughing anything back into the country," he said.
In July, a United Nations report said that Africa was the only continent where poverty had increased in the past 20 years.
Moeletsi Mbeki was addressing a meeting of the South African Institute of International Affairs, which he heads.
He has frequently taken different political positions to his brother.
He has business interests across Africa.
Source: BBC
URL:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/3679706.stm
Jan Lamprecht
Comments
Hide the following 3 comments
Where Are the Protestors?
06.07.2005 16:12
But no destruction ever took place in Rhodesia. Rhodesia grew amazingly fast, despite total and complete world sanctions. Rhodesians, White and Black, never went hungry despite comprehensive world sanctions. Rhodesia had to export its beef and other products illegally, but both Blacks and Whites had food. They had more work too. Things were so much better back then - but everyone attacked the government of Ian Smith. And now? Mugabe is laying waste to the country and has been bringing complete ruin to it for the past 5 years. Yet, the world is silent.
Sanctions were employed only against White people in Rhodesia and South Africa - but when a Black Megalomaniac Dictator commits crimes ten thousand times worse than any White regime ever did, we hear only silence. Politically Correct hypocrites only see evil among Whites, but this Black man can do anything he wants, even to other Blacks. There is no evil too great.
Cecil
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06.07.2005 17:37
Bb
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06.07.2005 18:21
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