The New Plan For Africa's Development (Nepad) is little more than recolonisation of Africa and is just an extension of Gear, protesters at a meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) at the International Convention Centre (ICC) in Durban said on Wednesday.
"The name Nepad is a myth - there is nothing new about it. It is just Gear for Africa and, just as Gear resulted in the loss of one million jobs in SA, so too will Nepad further plunge Africa into poverty," said Ashwin Desai of the Concerned Citizens' Group.
Desai said Nepad will leave African economies at the mercy of Western powers. "Nepad will deliver in Africa, but only to the elite. The poor will just get poorer. [SA President Thabo] Mbeki is looking after the interests of the emerging elite in Africa," he said.
Professor Dennis Brutus of Jubilee SA said the WEF is part of the global corporate process which is expected to support Nepad.
"We regard Nepad as a new form of colonisation with the consent of African leaders.
"The essence of the document is that Africa promises to obey all requests from the West and will submit to their demands, particularly in the area of investment. Africa will be enslaved to satisfy the demands of the West," he said.
Brutus said the Nepad document was drawn up and is being debated without the input of ordinary Africans, on behalf of whom it makes a massive commitment. "Nepad will lead to privatisation of basic services which will then be sold back to Africa at a profit."
Richard Pithouse from the University of Natal (Durban) criticised Nepad's aim of opening African markets to the West. "Nepad is not an African concept and will not benefit Africa," he said, adding Nepad will leave African people and their resources open to exploitation.
The 100 protesters were confined to Speaker's Corner, about 100 metres away from the ICC. About 30 later made their way to the ICC and began protesting peacefully on the courtyard, engaging passing delegates in friendly discussion on Nepad. Police swiftly removed them.
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