By Mwalimu George Ngwane
The concept of “Wise” in the traditional African point of view is linked to how age and experience relate to the ingredients of wisdom and counselling. Equipped with foresight, moral authority, respect, self discipline and moderation, wise connotes a high sense of maturity often attributed to the Elderly and a high flavour of human glue needed to bond conflicting parties. The concept dates back to the village male chauvinist tradition whereby old men were required to sit under a tree during moonlight to take decisions on the village often by consensus in what is now called “the palaver theory”. The proverb ‘what an old man can see seated, a young man cannot see standing’ lends credence to the confidence bestowed on the elderly in Africa hence the motivation of the African Union to establish an institution known as The Panel of the Wise (The Panel) within the Peace and Security Council and the fundamental urge to solve African problems through African solutions.
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