07/01/2026
When one reflects on the speeches delivered on 25 May 1963 in Ethiopia, particularly that of His Excellency Emperor Haile Selassie, a consistent and deliberate message emerges. He acknowledged that African history is burdened with deep wounds, anger, pain, injustice, and the temptation toward vengeance. However, he cautioned that while these emotions are understandable, they cannot be allowed to define Africa’s future. The collective thrust of those speeches was not a denial of historical suffering, but a strategic call to rise above it by focusing Africa’s energy on nation-building and continental unity. The vision articulated in 1963 urges Africans to reject bitterness as a governing principle and instead commit themselves to the difficult but necessary task of building a united, self-reliant continent. This requires choosing what may be described as the “African road”, a path that had been disrupted by centuries of domination and exploitation, but never erased. That road is grounded in African principles, virtues, and ideals that long predate written history and have sustained African societies through generations. At the centre of this African path are values such as radical hospitality, communal responsibility, human dignity, and utu or Ubuntu, the understanding that our humanity is bound together. These principles affirm that Africans are capable, resilient, and fully able to shape their own destiny. By returning to and modernising these values, Africa positions itself not as a perpetual victim of history, but as an active author of its future. In this context, the struggle continues, Aluta continua, not as an expression of resentment, but as a disciplined, principled commitment to progress, unity, and self-determination. By choosing construction over vengeance and vision over bitterness, Africa ensures that it will ultimately prevail in every circumstance.
ZB Magqaza
