Swakopmund — Botswana vice president Ndaba Gaolathe has challenged Africans to reclaim ownership of their narrative, saying the continent’s greatest communication challenge is not a lack of achievement but a failure to tell its own stories.
Gaolathe was speaking during the official opening of the second Effective Communicators Conference in Swakopmund, hosted by the Namibia Press Agency (Nampa) last week.
Addressing hundreds of African and international communication practitioners, he said Africa has no shortage of success stories but has failed to communicate them with confidence and authenticity.
“The Africa I know has no shortage of achievement. It has suffered a shortage of authorship – authentic authorship. We must tell our story with discipline, dignity and the confidence of a continent that knows what it has endured, what it has achieved and what it intends to become,” he said.
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Held under the theme ‘Communication Reconsidered – A Driving Force for Constant Progress’, the conference brought together government communicators, media professionals, academics and public relations practitioners from across the continent.
Gaolathe said effective communication begins with integrity rather than publicity.
“Attention can be manufactured. Trust has to be earned. Noise may trend for a day, but truth acquires a life beyond its author,” he said.
He added that history remembers leaders whose character matched their words, stressing that integrity and humility ultimately speak louder than carefully crafted messages.
“Who we are eventually speaks louder than what we say,” he said.
Gaolathe further called on Africans to celebrate their own products, cultures and intellectual contributions instead of allowing others to define the continent.
“We produce wholesome foods, indigenous fruits and traditional healthy drinks, yet heavily processed products with powerful global brands receive the attention. Our food belongs at the world’s table. It carries flavour, memory and meaning but lacks the force of a confident African brand,” he said.
He then pointed out that many African literary classics remain unknown to young Africans despite their global significance.
“A child in Southern Africa should encounter East African imagination. A West African leader should know the voices of the North, and Central African stories should find a home on every African shelf. When these words fail to travel, we weaken our inheritance,” he said.
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On regional integration, Gaolathe said communication should extend beyond speeches and be reflected through infrastructure projects that connect African economies.
He cited the Trans-Kalahari Corridor and Botswana’s dry port at Walvis Bay as examples of regional cooperation that demonstrate Africa’s commitment to integration.
“The roads, the ports and the partnerships communicate because they are real. They show regional integration, leaving the communiqué and entering the concrete,” he said.
He urged governments to communicate honestly while listening to citizens.
“Wisdom does not carry a title, and insight does not require appointment. The voice from the village must reach the highest office,” he said.
Gaolathe also encouraged journalists and communication professionals to prioritise accuracy, solutions and African perspectives.
“Write audiences first. Write solutions first. Write the truth first. Tell Africa for Africa, then tell Africa to the world,” he appealed.