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Singer Yvonne Chaka Chaka says presidents who overstay their welcome as the heads of countries are “messed up” and “gross”.
Chaka Chaka and other prominent figures – including elder and former first lady Graça Machel – spoke about questionable leadership in Africa to a packed audience of students at a World Economic Forum on Africa event in Cape Town on Wednesday.
Machel smiled benevolently while sternly telling young people to stop complaining and make things happen.
Questions from the students reflected their anger about issues as diverse as the scandal surrounding President Jacob Zuma’s Nkandla home to Robert Mugabe’s almost 30-year presidential term in Zimbabwe.
Tendani Sidogi from Stellenbosch University sounded angry when she said: “We don’t want to partake in a government that is corrupt. We need leaders who lead by example, like [Nelson] Mandela.”
Chaka Chaka replied: “Our leaders have messed up. Our leaders don’t want to move office, and some of them are richer than their countries. Presidents who stay in office for decades – that is just gross!”
Her impassioned words had the crowd in stitches. Even Zanele Mbeki, wife of former president Thabo Mbeki, could be seen smiling in the front row.
“We want our leaders to tell each other: ‘This is wrong. Your people don’t want you any more; now please vacate the place.’ It is a pity that the [African Union]...” Chaka Chaka continued, then went silent.
Machel told students to set out clear goals, get organised and pursue them.
She added that generalisations should not be made, because not all African leaders were corrupt.
She said: “Look at our history to see what our leaders have achieved in the past decades. Think of the older leaders. There were wonderful leaders, about 10 of them ... If we sat around complaining that colonialism was bad, nothing would ever have happened.”
Chaka Chaka said: “Africa is for all the people who live in it. It is not the dark continent. It has minerals – you guys must use it. It is your Africa; be proud Africans, your dignity has been restored.”
