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Do you think that Green Capitalism is a satisfactory response from the status quo to address the challenges of climate change, peak oil and resource scarcity in Africa? YASH TANDON: I am afraid not. It does not solve the problem of the control of Africa`s resources – including oil, minerals, land, water and forestry – by global corporations.

I doubt that China and India are driven by the motive of “helping Africa to develop”. They are in Africa because they need Africa`s resources, and openings for investing their capital. Nobody from outside is going to develop Africa. That is Africa`s responsibility. Therefore African governments must negotiate trade and investment terms with India, China -- and others -- with knowledge, skill and shrewdness.

the SC seeks to provide a policy platform for the countries of the South to coordinate their negotiating positions on issues ranging from trade agreements to intellectual property, climate change, human rights, health and human security.

Nonetheless, there are policies that the present government has put in place that are sensible – for example, on putting limitations on capital account and ownership of banks – but Ethiopia is still too dependent on aid from outside. This constrains its ability to shape its own development path.

Development comes from a deep understanding of the situation Africa finds itself in contemporary times. Development is always self-development. It cannot come from outside. Pain and sacrifice are necessary ingredients of development, both for individuals and for nations. The “soft bed” of foreign aid is the road not to development but to slavery.

The ANC and SACP leaders seem believe that Numsa could genuinely disagree with ANC policies and is entitled to go its own way, that the platinum mineworkers are genuinely fed up with their living conditions and that a rebellion was bound to happen, and that the EFF’s strong showing in the election was due to genuine disappointment with the ANC. It would appear that if you find a way to knit up your critics into a neat conspiracy, it then happily excuses you from self-analysis of your role in creating a multiple backlash.

The one thing that the EFF, AMCU and Numsa have in common is that they know how to yank the ANC’s chains. The ANC almost always falls into the trap because instead of acting like the party in power, its default position is to behave as if it under attack and a victim of a conspiracy.

The level of mobilization and training of party guards currently exercised by the leading political parties in Tanzania especially in the mainland amounts to the breach of the constitution. The ruling party and government jointly shoulder the responsibility for failing to uphold the constitution. One sees an institutional weakness of a high degree in this matter.

Following the winds of change that blew across Africa in 1990s, just like in other parts of the world, Tanzania experienced the pressure to change accordingly. As a result, then President Ali Hassan Mwinyi appointed a commission headed by Judge Francis Nyalali and tasked it with looking into whether the nation should stick to the single party rule or adopt a multi-party political dispensation.[11] Among other findings, the commission recommended the adoption of a multiparty system and identified 40 laws which had to either be repealed or reformed to suit the new political arrangement. At this juncture, it is important to note that the establishment of the people`s militia had been commissioned by the ruling party (TANU) and there wasn`t a specific law in that respect. This didn`t sound legally awkward at the time possibly due to supremacy of the party but the Nyalali Commision Report (1992) hinted that, although the people`s militia was recognized by law, it was not legally established.[12]