EAST LONDON - One of the biggest disgraces in Africa was that the majority of its people were worse off now than they were under colonial regimes, according to the brother of President Thabo Mbeki.

Addressing the local branch of the South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA) here last night, SAIIA board member Moeletsi Mbeki said in his view African leaders were not serious about the economic welfare of their own people and South Africa had to guard that it did not become another Burundi.

Mbeki pointed out, however, that he was not arguing for a return to colonial rule.

The failure of the system had, however, become a major challenge to South Africa.

There needed to be a distribution of power, said Mbeki.

Elections were a good start but that was not the end of the process.

"We need new types of democracies which take into account for example the voices of the small farmers," said Mbeki.

He said there will be more demands on South Africa in future to invest on the political and diplomatic fronts.

"It seems to me that today the only country which could bring about change on this continent is South Africa."

Mbeki said the conflict on the continent is as a result of the lack of balance of power between the big corporations and small business.

"The concentration of power is in the hands of the non-producers.

"Africa is a unique continent. It has no landlords and where there are no landlords you do not have political representation," he said.

Mbeki said there was a need for radical political change. Producers should get the political power to control their own savings.

Speaking at the same meeting, De Beers Consolidated director Jonathan Oppenheimer said solutions were needed to solve the problems, which had been identified. It was necessary to change the mentality of merely identifying the problem.

Oppenheimer said the goal should be to consider which countries have been successful and what the common criteria is in these countries.

"One fundamental was the political and economic alignment with civil society in those countries.

"It was critical to build a common data set," he added.

Oppenheimer said it was important to unpack and assemble data sets and understand it.

"If we want to be African we need to go through that process. South Africa has started it. I am committed to Africa," he said, adding that he was willing to run the race for Africa. "Please join me."

SAIIA director Greg Mills said the answer for South Africa was to insert itself into the global supply chain.

He cited DaimlerChrysler as an example. "I don't think Africa must wait for investors. We must target them, otherwise we face a bleak future."

Mills said the key to Africa's prosperity was for aggressive growth strategies to ease the burden of redistribution.

"It is much easier to redistribute the economy where the rates of growth are more than 10 percent.

Mills said to do so Africa needed to move away from the aid support mentality.