South Africa to showcase "indigenous technologies" during COP17 in Durban



Minister intends to promote "indigenous technology which has helped us grow food and live our lives. This would do away the western influence which has dominated our history."


The soon to open COP17 meeting in Durban will be a "showcase" for the "potentials of African business and technologial prowess to the world", if we are to believe South Africa´s Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Mrs Maite Nkoana-Mashabane.

Mashabane recently described the Afican "technological advancements" that are going to be showcased in Durban:

According to the Minister, “we have been handed with the opportunity to rewrite our history and we would make good use of it. There are some local sciences and technologies which aided our forefathers and our great grand mothers in both farming and general living, those technologies we will present to the world”
She added that “Africa would showcase the indigenous technology which has helped us grow food and live our lives. This would do away the western influence which has dominated our history. At least you are aware that African rural women, even the illiterate ones, have sound science sense which tells them what time to plant whatever crop they want to grow and when to make a bountiful harvest. They also know when to get the best yield from the soil. At least no foreign science tells them that. These are the cases we have to make of our continent before the world.

Read the entire article here

It will certainly be interesting to see examples of the "indigenous technologies" that have created the "bountiful harvests" for South Africa.

Meanwhile the country´s white farmers, who have suffered attacks for years now, are welcomed by other African countries, which probably are not quite as convinced of the "indigenous technologies" as Mrs. Mashabane is:

They are calling it the next great trek. Almost two centuries after Boers hitched their wagons to oxen and headed inland to establish the South African republic, they are on the move again. This time they are flying – and their destination is the whole of the African continent.

White South African farmers are now being courted by the north, by countries who believe their agricultural expertise can kickstart an agrarian revolution across the continent. They are being offered millions of hectares of allegedly virgin rainforest and bush, as well as land already farmed by smallholders or used as pastures by herders.

In the biggest deal to date, Congo-Brazzaville has offered South Africa farmers long leases on up to 10m hectares of land, an area that includes abandoned state farms and bush in the remote south-west of the country. The first contracts, which put 88,000 hectares in the hands of 70 farmers, were signed at a ceremony in the country last month.

Read the entire article here

PS

Maybe Mrs Mashabane has an "indigenous technology" in store to solve the gas shortage that threatens the wellbeing of the more than 20 000 "delegates" and other participants attending the Durban climate jamboree? 1250 restaurants in SA have already had to close because of the shortage, according to newspaper reports:

Durban hotelier, Mike Jackson, meanwhile says with the climate change talks in Durban coming up, the shortage is of great concern.

"We have six kitchens here that run off gas, so we are very concerned about this talk about a gas shortage. What with the huge COP 17 conference just a few weeks away we are very concerned, we are staying in touch with our gas supplier and we are just hoping that this gas shortage that everyone is talking about can be resolved quite quickly."