Munir Zulu destroys Julius Malema in his speech
Guest of Honor, Honorable Mulambo Haimbe Minister of Justice.
Guest Speaker, Professor Patrick Lumumba.
All respected guests present, let me say all protocols observed.
I am here to discuss about challenges of youth leadership in Africa.
One of the most dangerous things to do – it seems in present day – at least in my country Zambia, is to aspire as a young person to play an active critical role in governance system.
Our society is organized in such a way that luxuries, opportunities, resources and responsibility are exclusively monopolized by elderly folks.
Elders willfully create and sustain environments where for most young people especially those born from underprivileged homes, it is almost impossible to aspire and be anything significant in society.
Young people are often wrapped under a blanket of condemnation as useless beings whose time to play any roles in society lies in the future. Hence, a tired slogan that “youths are future leaders”
Such slogans find expression in a notion that young people cannot think for themselves and must be led under captainship of elders. We see this kind of arrangement manifesting in our daily lives in many societies where even institutions that are established to attend to youthful matters are led by people who are not youths. Such arrangements are always unworkable. We all know that elders have a discriminatory view against youth participation in matter of significance. Therefore, to trust elders with youthful matters is like to expect goats to arrive at their intended destination when the driver is a hyena.
Youthful matters can only be handled by youths themselves because they are the ones who understand their own problems. This is not a request but our right.
Over time, we have lived under this veil that systematically put youths on the touchline as spectators in matters they should have a role. Currently, there is a paradigm shift. The August elections have given birth to many youthful leaders in Councils, Parliament and even in Cabinet, in Zambia.
Notably, most of the young leaders like me, confronted all the mechanism that were put before them by elderly folks to prevent them from playing any role in governance. Some of my colleagues like myself were not adopted by their respective parties only on account that they are young and nothing else. Our different abilities seem to be nothing worth looking at by these people.
I have no doubt that young people are beginning to realize that slogans such as “youths are future leaders” are meaningless. While there is still hesitation to allow young people to play roles in their own affairs, we are changing these dynamics. We shall not fold arms and watch such arrangements unchallenged.
Comrades, allow me to point out that not all those who claim they are youthful leaders should be taken serious because even among us, are sellouts and imposters. We must not be like Julius Malema of the Economic Freedom Fighters in South Africa who seem to be a champion of youthful affairs yet all he does it yapping around without any actions worth talking about.
As I depart from this issue, let me put it out that it is clear elderly folks suffer from Cenosillicaphobia which is the fear of an empty glass. They fear young people as if we have promised to drive them to sea when all we want is to have stake in our affairs.
Let me turn to one issue that is close to my heart, Pan-Africanism.
I am student of Pan-Africanism. My views are influenced and shaped by Pan Africanists like Kwame Nkhuruma, Nelson Mandela, Thomas Sankara, Julius Nyerere, Kenneth Kaunda, Patrice Lumumba, Steve Biko and many others.
I have read enough literature about different ideologies and I have fallen in love with the idea of Africans espousing their own norms. As Africans, our existence revolves around three influences; traditional norms, modernity and religion.
While Black Theology challenges religion in its present form, I wish to focus on modernity and tradition. It is clear that our African tradition is under heavy pressure from Modernity. Many societies in Africa have thrown on the window their respective norms in preference to modernity as conveyed by the West. That is why many African leaders are globetrotting in search for solutions of their countries in the west, forgetting that African challenges can only be sorted by Africans themselves.
As late Frederick Chiluba once said: “The West look at African countries to identify their puppets to divide nations and they identify genuine nationalists and pan-Africanists whom they must attack”
Chiluba has put it further that, once you see an African leader being extoled by Western elements, know that there is some sinister cooking against the people of that nation were such leaders come from. They will come with some of the most sweetened claims of offering financial and material aids but beyond what the surface suggests, they are nothing but wolves out to cut right on the throat of Africans with their sharp teeth.
We have among African leaders elements that are Western puppets. They gain power with the help of the West. The relationship between such is of father –son kind of arrangement. Whenever their African countries face challenges, they go to their Fatherly Westerner to beg for financial crumbs. Yet, the bullying father figure makes his wealth from the very African countries through stealing its resources. These western elements thrive where there is confusion. The wars and instability we see in many African countries is a direct consequence of Western forces. We fight among ourselves and they are busy stealing from us.
Comrades here and abroad, we must never believe in leaders who are puppets to the West. They are sellouts. We must remove such Western puppets because they are embarrassing us to our ancestors who think we are cowards.
We are prepared to walk into the footsteps of past African heroes who fought against imperials. We are prepared to fight against modern imperialism that hides in financial bail-outs and aid to African countries.
And as we commit to wage war against ideals that destroy Pan-Africanism, we are aware of the fact that our comfort is not compatible with our cause. These are things we will sacrifice for to ensure that we do not betray those that fought hard for our own sovereignty.
I am hereby waging a crusade against the unwritten West is Best school of thought and replace it with an Afro-Centric or even Zam-Centric maxim. I am against an attempt by the Western to alter Africanism by forcing unto us cultures which conflict human nature, such as Gay Marriages.
I want to put it out that, I have great respect for former President Edgar Lungu for standing firm against these western vultures when he refused to allow such unholy practices as Gay Marriages in Zambia. President Lungu’s stance may have cost him so much but it has earned him dignity and admiration in the eyes of true Pan-African champions. I want to also pay growing respect to the former president for conceding defeat and peacefully handing over power after the loss of the election.
In the same breadth, I congratulate Mr. Hakainde Hichilema for his victory in the previous elections.
I want to also thank Eden University for this wonderful program where ideas are shared.
Allow me to thank Kelvin Kaunda the CEO of Eden University. He is a youth but his achievements so far have demonstrated so much to learn from that young people should not be defined by their age but by their abilities.
I thank you.