The current crisis in Zimbabwe, and the reaction of African leaders to it, suggests that democracy itself is in danger on this poor but important continent. Why? you ask, isn’t that an exaggeration? Well, no, it’s not.

Here’s why: the crisis in Zimbabwe isn’t just limited to… Zimbabwe. It’s about something more, it’s about something bigger. It’s not a Zimbabwean problem, it’s an African problem. Zimbabwe isn’t the only country currently crisis, far from. The current crisis in Zimbabwe and its effects can be seen throughout Africa.

The reason is simple; Africans are demanding increasingly more of their government, but their government “can’t deliver.” They want ‘ jobs, economic opportunities, access to justice and equity. Yet most governments have failed to deliver these things.’ If that’s not bad enough, said governments are even ‘indifferent to the expectations of their citizens.’

Such an approach, this chaos, can only result in one thing; Africans will lose faith in democracy. ‘Citizens will increasingly find refuge in tribalism, violence or religious fundamentalism. Many, too, will give up and migrate.’

Both will obviously be bad, for Africa and the rest of the world. If Africans want to migrate, they will increasingly do so illegally. This creates problems in Western countries. If they ‘find refuge in tribalism, violence or religious fundamentalism,’ more wars can be expected in the coming years - more civil wars especially - which will logically result in chaos and a tremendous loss of human life. Some countries will be transformed into safe havens for terrorists. These terrorists will strike against the West. And if they don’t strike against the West, they will do their best to take over other African countries.

In such a scenario, Africa will turn away from the West.

Africa needs leadership. And good leadership at that. It has never been more important for the West to step up, and to support Africa in every possible way. If we do not, we will lose this continent that gave birth to mankind.

But Africa also needs Africans to step up to the plate. They can’t rely on the West entirely. Sooner or later, African leaders have to push through Democratic reforms and take their citizens and their concerns serious. People have to be enabled to participate in the economy; they need to be able to improve their lives. For this, a whole lot of things need to change.

As John Githongo and William Gumede point out for the Financial Times, ‘the most appropriate tool available is the African Union. The African principle of non-interference in the affairs of neighbours was shaken by the Rwanda genocide. It still partially informs the AU, which has been reluctant to intervene forcefully in misgoverned nations. The unravelling of Zimbabwe is changing that. The crisis in Zimbabwe must also change another cardinal African principle – the inviolability of colonially inherited borders. Migration, urbanisation and the free flow of information mean that borders are increasingly meaningless.’ The AU should accept reality and deal with it accordingly. Borders are becoming fluid. Take an African, not a national approach to the problems currently plaguing the continent.

To make the AU more relevant, Africans must set minimum requirements of democracy and good economic governance for membership. Now, gangsters sit alongside leaders with serious democratic aspirations. Repressive laws in member countries will have to be scrapped. Member countries must establish credible democratic institutions, especially judiciaries and electoral commissions. There need to be effective pan-African institutions, such as a continent-wide supreme court and a constitutional court. These courts should be independent and have jurisdiction over prescribed areas in member states, so that when tyrants like Mr Mugabe emerge, they can no longer depend on the support of fellow rogues.

The AU’s charter must be changed from protecting the sovereignty of individual countries to protecting Africans themselves. A citizen from a member country must have recourse to the AU if he or she is brutalised or discriminated against on the basis of race, ethnicity, creed or gender. There will have to be a transparent procedure to impeach leaders who begin as democrats but become tyrants.

In other words, citizens have to be the focus of the AU from now onwards. Not presidents, not leaders. No, leadership is needed that will give power to the people, emancipate them, and encourage them to participate in the political process.

This also means that the West, or the developed world as a whole, has to change its approach to Africa. When a government is democratizing, when a government is improving the economy, invest. Help it out. But when a government refuses to democratize, when former heroes turn into tyrants, they should receive nothing. The driving force of Western diplomacy should be emancipation of Africans. Nothing else.

Lastly I’m in complete agreement with both men when they write:

Unless we act now, Africa may never catch up with the fast growing economies of the east and west. This is perhaps our best chance since independence to reorganise, consolidate and move to the next level. The democratic recession across Africa can cause us despondency or force us into action.

The forgotten continent can’t be ignored much longer. Or… it shouldn’t.