Africa pins hope on Russia to beat poverty
Published 17 July, 2008, 05:03
As G8 leaders pledge to double aid to Africa by 2010, some people on the continent are pinning their hopes on Russia.
The Primrose squatter camp, just outside Johannesburg, is a short drive from the homes of the wealthy. But there, in the 21st century is the struggle against poverty, with no electricity or running water. It is a million miles from the dreams and rhetoric of the rich nations.
Three in four people who live in the Primrose squatter camp don’t have work. One of them is Johanna Makama. Her new-born twins are sick in a hospital not far away Johanna hasn’t seen them for days because she doesn’t have the taxi fare.
“I wake up in the morning, sitting down, nothing can work. If you want something, you can maybe go to your relative because there’s no-one that can give you food,” she said.
She has no money for paraffin to keep the bitter winter nights at bay. Like many there shivering in the cold, she's never even heard of the G8.
The G8 summit in Japan came and went like many before. It cost more than $US 500 million – more than enough to give Primrose in South Africa water and electricity. Critics say all these millions yielded was wishful thinking. This year the spotlight was on Africa. Again the promise was aid and the cancellation of debt.
But to understand the problems of Africa, the leaders of the G8 should not be meeting in Japan rather they should be coming to the poor townships of Johannesburg to understand how deep the poverty lies.
For years the G8’s been promising to increase aid to Africa, but critics say progress is poor. They say the countries have handed over a mere fraction of the $US 35 BLN they pledged.
African leaders also stand accused. Analysts say the continent's leaders are not doing enough to help their own.
“The amount of aid invested in Africa already, mainly from G8 countries, is already five to six times the Marshall Plan investments in Europe at the end of the Second World War. So the level of aid in Africa is probably there, the environment to invest it effectively to make a lasting legacy is arguably not there,” said Frans Cronje from the Institute of Race Relations.
This year again the G8 members said they'll double aid to Africa by 2010. The leaders also created new so-called “accountability” methods to check rich nations fulfil their promises. As one of the G8 states, Russia has a role.
“There is potential for Russia to emerge again because we do need a bipolar, multipolar world because the unipolar world we are experiencing now is not sustainable. If Russia can emerge and create a new relationship with Africa, it is likely to have a better relationship with it than Africa has right now with the United States and the United Kingdom,” believes independent political economist Dr Mohau Pheko.
Maybe the aid promised by the G8 to Africa won’t be quick to come and it’s unclear when running water and electricity become available in Primrose but people there still hope for a better life and say hope is anyway better than nothing at all.
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