WHAT OTHERS SAY: Come on, let the Africans who wish to kiss Trump’s ring be

Mr Charles Onyango-Obbo

South African billionaire Patrice Motsepe seems to have been carried away, or perhaps he wasn’t, when during a dinner at the just-ended World Economic Forum event in Davos, Switzerland, he lathered US President Donald Trump with praise.

“Africa loves America. Africa loves you... we want America to do well. We want you to do well,” Motsepe told Trump.

Africa came down on Motsepe like a tonne of bricks, denouncing him for praising a man who has said nasty things about Africa, including his infamous statement that several African nations were “shit hole countries”. Motsepe was also slammed for appointing himself a spokesperson for Africa.

To make matters worse, as Motsepe pampered Trump, reports emerged that he was set to roll out new visa restrictions for some African countries, including Nigeria and Tanzania. A bruised Motsepe, tail between his legs, has now apologised for his Trump serenade. However much one disagrees with Motsepe’s praise of Trump, surely his retreat has been an even more tragic event than his initial remarks.

There is a rising dangerous trend in Africa in which everyone is expected to have a single view on the rest of the world, including fellows like Trump who have become popular hate figures. It’s driving us not just in very municipal and parochial views of the world, but crowding out more thoughtful voices about how to engage with the world, and get a better deal for ourselves.

And it also works the other way, especially in the west – there are certain positions that if a European public intellectual took on Africa, they would be accused of racism, or being in the pockets of an African strongman.

Former South African president Thabo Mbeki was a much-criticised figure in the west over his controversial views on HIV/AIDS, but he also did wonderful things for South Africa and Africa. But in his last years, it was a career death sentence for anyone in the west to say anything positive about Mbeki. There are many who now miss him. Today, the same thing happens with Rwanda President Paul Kagame. Rwanda still has some ways to go, but its achievements since the genocide are remarkable. But there is a whole industry of Kagame hate in the west, even to mention the sharp drop in child mortality in Rwanda, will get you run out of town as an apologist for despotism.

On the other hand, too, there are African figures they can’t criticise. Nelson Mandela was a great human being and leader, but he was not superman. However, a European or American journalist, especially one touting himself as a liberal/progressive criticising Mandela would be crucified. I am a big fan of Archbishop Desmond Tutu, but I will still sleep soundly if he was attacked in a dinner by some mzungu. But for the mzungu, she could be jobless the next day.

So back to Motsepe. Okay, he is not the Chair of the African Union Commission, but he does business in Africa and is an African, so he should be able to speak generally for Africa without getting us all enraged. It does not imperil Africa in any way for him to do so.

The more harmful thing is this idea that Africa should be a herd where there is no diversity of opinion, or dissent, in our view of the world. It is all part of a wider touchiness and prickliness, that is taking us to unpleasant places. Every so often, a white model or actress, will wear braids or kitenge dress.

Hell will break out, with armies of Africans on the continent and in the diaspora, throwing everything at them and accusing them of cultural appropriation, cultural theft, and disrespect. People will fume over a braid and kitenge dress, more than they will get outraged over a massacre in South Sudan, a mass killing of innocent people by extremist militia in the Sahel, an African strongman’s theft of an election, and the pillage of hundreds of millions by officials.

An American dancer shakes a leg in a video in an “African way”, and the cultural brigade will be out in droves accusing him of stealing the “gwara gwara” and not giving Ghana or South Africa credit.

An offensive story in a British or American newspaper, now with social media helping amplify it, gets Africa totally consumed with venting for a week. In the process, outsiders control us even more, as we give them the leverage to decide what annoys us.

When did we get so thin skinned? The answer is to just do better, so we are able to shrug off a Trump insult or praise without a second thought. An annoying CNN story? What does it matter if a pan-African TV channel has reported the more compelling story and the world takes it more seriously?

If Motsepe kisses Trump’s ring, he doesn’t owe Africa an apology - especially if he has also made some money doing business in America.

-The author is curator of the “Wall of Great Africans” and publisher of explainer site Roguechiefs.com. Twitter@cobbo3