{{The crime rate in Africa in has risen to deplorable heights in the recent past. Indeed, violent crimes of varying degrees have become synonymous with the continent, from the family to regional levels.}}
Every day we wake up to shocking horror and terror in our neighbourhood of individuals killing their wives, children and/or neighbours in cold blood.
The length and breadth of Africa – from South Africa to Libya, Sierra Leone to Sudan, Liberia to Somalia as well as Rwanda to Congo – have all had their moments of despicable madness and senseless ethnic pogroms.
One question that boggles minds in and outside the “dark continent” is why Africa.
Anzetse Were has studied the African scene widely and deeply enough to offer some interesting insight into the nature and cause of violence in Africa.
In the book, Drivers of Violence: Male Disempowerment in the African Context, Anzetse lays bare the vicious web and cycle of violence in Africa.
She not only blames the male African for most of the physical and verbal aggression but also delves deeper into the cause of such violence.
Police and other official records have indicted men as the major perpetrators of assault, rape, robbery and murder both in the family and society.
The book, published by Mvule Africa, introduces the concept of male disempowerment and establishes a veritable link between it and all forms of violence in Africa.
Many African men, the author says, are disempowered to the point of their own destruction and that of others. This is a flip side of the female disempowerment that we have hitherto been accustomed to.
{{Maladjusted adult}}
Over the years, woman’s marginalisation and disempowerment by their opposite gender has been hyped much to the exclusion the men.
Yet the real or perceived disempowerment of women and girls in Africa stems from the unaddressed disempowerment of the men.
Anzetse suggests that society should acknowledge existence of male disempowerment in their midst and address it accordingly.
She adds that the single-minded focus on women disempowerment alone will not achieve an empowered existence since they are surrounded by disempowered men.
In a trip reminiscent of Chinua Achebe’s “where did the rain start beating us?” Anzetse traces male disempowerment in Africa to various social, cultural, historical and economic factors.
Some of these emanate from African communities while others are from external or global forces.
The author looks at the main forms and stages of the male African thus literally and figuratively separating the boys from men and isolating the males too.
She establishes a natural order in which the boy child grows progressively from boyhood to malehood and ultimately manhood each with distinct characteristics and age bracket.
A delayed or stunted graduation from one stage to another results in a maladjusted adult.
Accordingly, most of the violence and aggression occur at the malehood stage, where the individual is under the influence of his primitive instincts.
Interestingly, the book finds patriarchy and masculinity as some of the major obstacles to the empowerment of the African man.
This is contrary to popular view that the two practices are the main tools that African men use to oppress their women.
{{Slave trade}}
Patriarchy fosters male domination and superiority over females. But the same power trades with subtle yet stringent responsibilities and expectations from the same man.
The same patriarchy confers upon men a false sense of power and invincibility to conquer all odds.
For this privilege, it sets high standards for achievement and judges the men harshly by equating failure with weakness and less manliness.
Slave trade was one of the most oppressive and disempowering events in Africa. Between 1400 and 1800 AD, Arab and European slave traders brutally raided Africa villages for slaves, mainly strong men.
Where slave trade left off its cruelty, colonialism took over treating Africans, particularly men, as sub-humans to be subjugated.
Throughout the continent, African resistance to colonial rule was violently broken further traumatising the men.
Modern economic factors have continued to entrench the male African’s powerlessness and vulnerability.
Ironically, they are considered heads of households when indeed they are rated as the poorest in the world.
Anzetse states that African men are unable to feed, educate or provide shelter for themselves and their families.
Consequently, they resort to violent behaviours often with addiction to sex, alcohol and drugs.
They use violence to express their disempowerment which paradoxically perpetuates and intensifies their cycle of disempowerment.
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