[FULL LETTER] Africa wants to help itself, says Ramaphosa ahead of Africa Day

Ramaphosa made the comments during his weekly newsletter on Monday. 

The continent is preparing to celebrate Africa Day on Tuesday. 

"As Africa, we want to help ourselves and not be told what to do.

"The principle of ‘nothing about us without us’ should be applied. It is important that we affirm our sovereignty as free and independent states capable of determining the destiny of our continent," he said.

Ramaphosa called for levels of investment on the African continent to increase to allow their economies to be the next champion of global growth.

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"We welcomed the steps taken by financial institutions like the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) to support low- and middle-income countries, and called for further measures to support vulnerable countries.

"African leaders have however argued that an amount of $33 billion, while welcome, is not sufficient to meet the challenges that the continent faces. As the more developed economies are set to receive much of the $650 billion of Special Drawing Rights to be issued, we believe that 25% (which equates to $162.5 billion) should be made available to African countries."

"As we observe Africa Day, let us deepen our efforts to achieve a sustainable and lasting social and economic recovery for the citizens of Africa. Ours must become a continent that is thriving and prosperous, not one from which its people are dying in an attempt to leave."