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The project, they argued, would allow South Africa to diversify its energy sector, move away from coal-based energy production and boost economic growth.But soon questions were raised about who this large-scale industrial project would ultimately benefit. Allegations have been made that public participation was being sidelined and that interested parties were colluding with the Russian government.
The controversial nuclear programme is just one example of the many economic policies that have shaped South Africa’s development along a clearly neocolonial path. Twenty-three years after the collapse of the apartheid regime, the country is clearly still in need of a wider decolonisation project to counter colonial economic legacy.
The East African
Wednesday January 27 2021
Slow Covid-19 testing causes truck pile up at the Malaba border point between Kenya and Uganda. PHOTO | FILE | NMG
Summary
Covid-19 has also introduced a new economic paradigm, with digital technology taking the lead to ease the safe flow of goods across borders.
By ERASTUS MWENCHA
Sixty years since most African States attained independence, the Covid-19 pandemic has shone a fresh spotlight on the folly of the haphazard colonial boundaries.
Long traffic jams at border posts across the continent, especially at the beginning of the pandemic, were the poster child of the non-tariff barriers that continue to hamper trade in Africa. These boundaries are the primary reason for the high cost of doing business in Africa and are the cause of low intra-African trade, investment, economic integration, and poverty.