African leadership: Black skin, white masks

By Joseph TobiasThink of the famous "black" Wole Soyinka, Henry Luis Gates, Oprah Winfrey, Nelson Mandela, Desmond Tutu, African leaders like Alassane Ouattara of Côte d'Ivoire, Joyce Banda of Malawi, Jacob Zuma of South Africa, Paul Kagame of Rwanda, and others. There is one thing the majority of them have in common. They are all famous because they have been approved by the white power world to be notable "blacks". And this should be cause for serious concern. The icons are named and approved by the forces of oppression. They are commodities in the system of capitalism, and, African people didn't pick them; they were picked for us. Unfortunately, most do not see that very few of them are just representatives. So, they may look African, but it does not mean they are working for Africans. The role is to give the illusion of inclusion. The likes of Wole Soyinka are tools which are moved into place to give authenticity to whatever beef the West has with Islam, African politicians, homosexuality, etc. They have built up his bag of credentials so that he becomes iconised and sold off as authentic; even if he makes no sense, shows no impartiality, or serves no pan-African purpose. Henry Louis Gates Jr., is just a degraded version of Wole Soyinka located in the politics of the diaspora who is using his dark skin as a tool for bashing African Americans over the head. He is able to say all the things his pay masters wish they could say.They are tools of control, of seeding agendas directly into the African diaspora, a distraction, which Fanon described as Black Skin, White Mask. Even when they mean well, they are not qualified to speak. So, whichever way you cut it, how did they get to speak so loud? If it is between a real historian with something progressive to say and a diluted confused black historian, they prefer to give the career to the weaker one. So, when African history is being digested after 40-plus years, it still starts with slavery.And because people need to see "successful" images of them, most of us are desperate to absorb these people as icons. The sad news is most of them are famous because of their loyalty to white power structures. Some of them, namely people like Wole Soyinka have a career of insulting other Africans and as a result he is the West’s go-to to give black approval to everything they need said. You would struggle to see him insult the Eurocentric power structure - only other Africans.So, the loves (Mandela) and hates (Gaddhafi, Mugabe) of the white world are a reflection of the prejudices and preference of the African world. Because through the influence of the media, the European world has the power to tell African people who their icons should be and who they shouldn’t be. Meles Zenawi was an oppressive puppet of western imperialism, yet his obituary read out like that of a glorious king. He was called a visionary, a model for all of Africans to follow, a true friend of Zionist Israel, an inspirational spokesman for Africa. Meles was instrumental in giving support for everything the West wanted to do in Africa. Drones, Somali invasion, Africom, Gulf War support, support for Israel etc. Of course the Western papers would call him a "great man", great for them but not for Africa. His atrocities and brutal practice of killing his own people seemingly expunged from his record and the memory of Africans. I forgot how quickly Africans can be convinced by rumours. Some are so blinded they think a non-critical approach to their leaders is some sort of patriotism, some way of expressing national pride. It is not. Not to challenge the policies of leadership is to engage in passive tyranny and bring about the beginning of the end for African leadership.Whites have become blacks in different ways, through the economy and especially through the influential people in Africa and beyond. We are personally liberated and evidently free of colonialism but not collectively or theoretically free from the Western oppression - they still control us directly or indirectly. The instrumental way of doing this is by exploiting leaders. It’s not Africa that benefits, but the whites from the West. There is no denial that the problem of leadership is one of the major problems in Africa, if not in the entire world. Africa is a rich continent; we have the capacity to end poverty, hunger and develop our economies and match the economies of the Western world. What really is lacking is the will to do so. And that will is largely locked in the hands of those who call themselves leaders; business or political. And there is only one path, organise, use numbers to create civil societies that hold leadership accountable. Have clear policy pushed into government. Peer review your peers and peer review your leaders. Make it so that any leader that has a hint of corruption, tribalism, nepotism, cronyism, Western choir boy-ism, non-Pan-Africanism, or anti-Africanism on their breath has no hope of getting into office. The solution must come from the people. As Africans we do not understand what the criterion of leadership is. We do not know ourselves what is of our interest and what is not. So, we have a sellout giving our African leaders to the ICC. Would Israel do it? Would America do that? We need to first discuss the aims and objectives of Africa, then we know who is really a puppet (Joyce, Zenawi, Jonathan), a puppy (Jacob Zuma), and who is just a good old dictator (Bashir). And, dictators are better than puppets.*Joseph Tobias is a student in Department of Political and Administrative studies at the University of Namibia.

African leadership: Black skin, white masks

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Namibian Sun 2025-07-01

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African leadership: Black skin, white masks

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Namibian Sun 2025-07-01

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