COMMONWEALTH Secretary General Patricia Scotland (R) in conversation with Britain's King Charles III during the opening ceremony for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Apia, Samoa, on October 25, 2024. The Commonwealth therefore stands the distinct chance of becoming a relic of the past, says the writer. Picture: Fiona GOODALL /AFP
Dr. Wesley Seale
“I DON’T get the sense the Commonwealth means much to African youth,” Kenyan publisher of the online magazine ‘The Elephant’, John Githongo, is reported to have said.
If we were to ask South African youth what the Commonwealth means to them, the answer we’ll probably get is: “The common what?”
With the topic of British reparations for slavery, estimated by International Court of Justice judge Patrick Robinson to be in the region of 18 trillion British pounds (R412 trillion), squarely off the table, the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) which took place in Samoa this week was given a miss by the big names in the Commonwealth.
Neither the heads of government of Commonwealth powerhouses South Africa, Canada nor India were in attendance, and neither was the prime minister of Sri Lanka; a country which has applied for BRICS Plus membership.
In the past few weeks, several Caribbean countries used the opportunity to lobby for the issue of reparations to be placed on the CHOGM agenda. For their part, no less than five British Members of Parliament (MPs) called on their Labour prime minister to address the issue of reparatory justice for colonialism and slavery.
One of the MP’s, Bell Ribeiro-Addy warned that the “Commonwealth will crumble” if the British government was not willing to open dialogue on reparations.
Downing Street insisted the matter was not on the agenda. Yet it is not only around reparations that the group has lost its effectiveness.
With the association and its head, the British monarch Charles III, being unable to intervene in the diplomatic spat that has been going on for several months between Canada and India, the association’s efficacy has simply evaporated.
In contrast, BRICS Plus nations saw a breakthrough in the impasse between China and India this week. The association portrays itself as a champion on the issues of human rights, climate change and justice.
An interpretation of human rights by no one else but John Locke and his insistence on political and civil rights while climate change has been championed by several other fora.
This is in contrast to the BRICS Plus meeting which also hosted the leaders of 34 countries in Kazan, Russia this week, where critical but practical issues such as the BRICS Pay system were discussed.
Little wonder, the South African government deployed the Deputy Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Thandi Moraka, to the Samoa gathering.
The Commonwealth therefore stands the distinct chance of becoming a relic of the past and without the late Queen Elizabeth II no longer being around, serious issues and spats will certainly continue to linger.
As South Africans, we can certainly acknowledge the courage of the late queen in taking up the fight against apartheid in contrast with her then-emboldened prime minister, Margaret Thatcher.
Whether King Charles II will have the courage of his mother and raised the serious issue of his government selling arms to Israel, which may be perpetuating genocide in Gaza, we will not know until many years to come from now.
However, the group’s newly elected secretary-general will certainly have their work cut out in ensuring that this body either crumbles or becomes relevant.
It is Africa’s turn to hold the secretary-general position.
Our continent fielded three senior candidates including the foreign ministers of Ghana and the Gambia and a Commonwealth bureaucrat from Lesotho.
Having served as a senator and minister of trade and industry in Lesotho, Joshua Setipa was the Southern African Development Community (SADC) candidate for the position.
Hitherto, Setipa has served as the senior director for the strategy, portfolio, partnerships and digital directorate of the Commonwealth.
Setipa has prioritized three pillars in his campaign for the secretary-general of the Commonwealth: sustainable development, inclusive growth and governance.
A lawyer by profession, Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey has been the Foreign Affairs Minister of Ghana since 2017.
Her previous roles in government included being the Deputy Foreign Minister and Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry.
She also prides herself on playing “an active role in the efforts to prevent coups in the [ECOWAS] region, and reform of the institution’s Supplementary Protocol on Democracy and Good Governance.” She did this while being the chairperson of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Council of Ministers.
Ayorkor Botchwey has six priority areas in her campaign: democracy, trade and investment, youth and education skills innovation, climate change, small island developing states and small states, and managing resources for an effective Commonwealth.
Africa’s third candidate for the position of SG of the Commonwealth was Dr Mamadou Tangara from the Gambia. He has served his country as foreign affairs minister for the last six years.
The Gambia has had a very interesting relationship with the Commonwealth withdrawing its membership in 2013 citing “neocolonial” reasons. It rejoined again five years later.
Civil society and non-governmental organizations are said to be one of the areas that Tangara would concentrate on.
Yet many Africans, especially their leaders, continue to be sceptical about the role played by CSOs and NGOs in fronting foreign influence.
The Commonwealth has played an important role in the past especially in building partnerships among member states, ensuring youth development and, in our case, fighting apartheid.
Yet unless its new head, King Charles III, and the new African secretary-general elected yesterday can reinvigorate the institution, it may just become a relic of the past.
* Dr. Wesley Seale is a Chevening scholar.
** The views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of The African.