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The African Opinion Leader Survey on Nepad and AU-2002
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4. Knowledge of the African Union and NEPAD
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At the outset of this study it was important to ascertain exactly how informed African elites were about the AU and NEPAD, in order to get an idea of the extent to which these concepts have become part of the continental political discourse
4.1. The African Union
As mentioned in the opening paragraphs, the African Union was implemented in July 2001 through the Constitutive Act of the African Union, which would ultimately replace the OAU Charter of 1963. The Constitutive Act of the African Union lists 14 African objectives and includes a commitment to accelerate the political and socio-economic integration of the continent and to support the promotion of peace, security and stability of the continent. The Act ultimately aims at the establishment of a common defense policy for Africa, and is based on the principles of respect for democratic values, human rights, the rule of law and good governance.
When asked to indicate their level of knowledge (Figure 1) regarding the African Union on a scale of 1 (nothing at all) to 5 (a great deal), only respondents from Zimbabwe and Algeria displayed a below average knowledge. Respondents from South Africa (3.62) and Senegal (3.56) expressed slightly higher mean values than that of the other countries, followed by Kenya (3.24), Nigeria (3.16), Uganda (3.09), Zimbabwe (2.99) and Algeria (2.50).
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4.2. NEPAD
The results of a Markinor survey conducted in the months of April and May 2002, suggest that knowledge levels pertaining to NEPAD are extremely low amongst the general South African public. Significantly, only 14% of interviewees were aware of its existence, while 80% of respondents possessed no knowledge of NEPAD at all. This is a disturbingly low figure for a country where one of the principal architects of NEPAD, Thabo Mbeki, hails from.
In the light of this low awareness of NEPAD amongst the public, elite respondents were asked to rate their knowledge of NEPAD on a scale of 1 (know nothing at all) to 5 (know a great deal).
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According to Figure 2, elite respondents in South Africa, Nigeria, Senegal and Uganda indicated that they possess an above average knowledge of NEPAD. Elite respondents in Zimbabwe reflected an average level of knowledge surrounding NEPAD, while elites in Algeria reflected slightly below-average knowledge of the policy. As expected, elites in the initiating countries (South Africa, Nigeria and Senegal) displayed relatively higher levels of knowledge surrounding NEPAD, when compared with elite respondents in Uganda and Zimbabwe (outside countries). Interestingly, Algeria- one of the key drivers of NEPAD - also reflects relatively low levels of knowledge regarding the policy.
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