Former South African President Jacob Zuma late Tuesday urged Africa to work toward adopting a common currency as a means to strengthen the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA).
Zuma said during the Annual Leadership Lectures at the University of Professional Studies in Accra, the Ghanaian capital, that Africa should take a cue from the BRICS countries and forge a strong common currency backed by the continent’s resources to break the dominance of Western currencies on the continent.
In the main lecture for the evening, read on his behalf by John Hlophe, the vice president of the uMkhonto weSizwe (MK ) party, Zuma contended that it was unacceptable that over 80 percent of African trade, even under AfCFTA, is settled in foreign currencies, compromising the goals of intraregional trade.
“Africa must stop being spectators. We must build our domestic systems, and our own platforms must be the arteries of the continent’s future,” he urged.
Zuma contended that a common African currency backed by its vast gold reserves would reduce costs, expand markets, and usher the continent into a true economic independence.
“Political independence without economic independence is slavery in disguise,” he contended, urging the continent to pursue an agenda of “one Africa, one currency, and one destiny.”
In the interim, the former South African leader said Africa must look in the direction of BRICS as the perfect alternative to break the Western financial colonization.
“BRICS, in my view, is a party that we need to look at. The Western countries have been around for centuries. But they will never help you. They will teach you their English, that’s all. But they will not go further than that in any way,” Zuma stressed in his concluding statement.
He emphasized that Africa requires trustworthy allies, but relying solely on the West can lead to a gradual decline, adding that when the opportunity came, he led South Africa to join BRICS to hold the door open for all African countries.
The former president stressed that BRICS is a success story that teaches Africa that its collective strength can defeat the global economic inequalities through unity and strategic partnerships.