Italian philosopher Antonio Gramsci wrote that the crisis of the time circa 1930s was that the old world was dying, but the new one could not be born.
The current political, cultural and racial fissures that pit different parts of the world against another are a reflection of the reluctance by leaders of a dying era to accept the change and the ambitions of heralds of an era that is pushing to be born.
The principal players of this fight are the US (leader of an increasingly uncertain status quo), and China (the emerging giant of an incoming era).
This inevitably harks back to the days of the Cold War, wherein Africa was left worse off, its importance relegated to which side it chose in the titanic battle between the capitalist West and socialist East.
The US and the West, in general, are unnerved by multilateral-ism and are thus becoming increasingly inward looking.
This will have devastating consequences on Africa, a continent whose trade is mostly with non-African economies. The spread of coronavirus and the racial undertones surrounding its origin have added fuel to a fire that is already raging.
Hitherto, Africa has not been severely hit when compared, for example, to certain single non-African countries. Africa has about 480000 cases, while the US has almost 3 million.
These statistics mask a not so safe reality for Africa. With countries such as Burundi and Tanzania refusing to yield to conventional and scientific reason in order to stem the tide of coronavirus, the reported numbers are apocryphal, and the spectre of a future spike cannot be ignored.
This said, the task ahead for the AU is Herculean. As 2020 Chair of the AU, South Africa naturally will have its tenure assessed on how the continent at large will cope with coronavirus.
The implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) was supposed to inject energy into Africa’s Pan-Africanist ideals and in spurring growth in the lethargic intra-African trade.
Another milestone that the AU eyed for 2020 was silencing of the guns. Current circumstances preclude this milestone from being reached. Conflict in Libya and the rise of terrorist insurgency in Mozambique have compounded Africa’s challenges.
Against this backdrop, Africa needs a concerted voice in order to mitigate what could be long-term problems for the continent. In the global context, Africa should not have to be played against global superpowers, to the detriment of the continent’s wellbeing.
Unlike the West, though, Africa should embrace the emerging global order. That the world is becoming more integrated is unavoidable, and the continent should capitalise on the upside to this trend.
However, as charity begins at home, Africa will have to be more integrated as a continent in easing a lot of historical barriers that block the easy transfer of goods, services and people. The coronavirus has shown that what happens in one part of the globe affects all others.
This will be the case for Africa as it grapples with myriad challenges, from coronavirus, unhelpful costs of doing intra-African business, to the successful implementation of the AfCTFA.
* Monyae is the director for the Centre for Africa - China Studies at the University of Johannesburg.
** The views expressed here are not necessarily those of IOL.