Africans are susceptible to believing the worst about themselves and the continent, Foreign Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma said on Tuesday.
Delivering the keynote address to members of the African diaspora who have gathered in Paris, France, for a two-day regional conference, Dlamini-Zuma said one of the biggest challenges for the continent is to get its people to believe in themselves and Africa.
”It is our task to fight against these labels that dare to define us, these stereotypes and racist profiling that dare to define the African — all Africans — as less than human,” she said.
”Our task henceforth is to interpret ourselves, to define ourselves, to give shape to our own identity, to believe in our own ethics, to take responsibility for our own actions and to harness our capacity to overcome suffering and together boldly and fearlessly to pave the path to our destiny,” she said.
The purpose of the meeting in the French capital is to look at ways the diaspora can help in making sure more African voices are heard in world debates.
”Our deliberations here today must speak to what we, acting in unity of purpose, could do collectively and practically, to realise the African renaissance,” Dlamini-Zuma said.
The recommendations of the Paris conference will be added to those of other regions and form the basis of discussions at a ministerial meeting to be held in South Africa in November.
The outcomes of the ministerial meeting will feed into an African Diaspora Summit in 2008, where heads of governments are expected to endorse a declaration and programme of action. — Sapa