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Sheila Bunwaree, Faculty of Social studies and Humanities, University of Mauritius

"I could not resist purchasing Dambisa Moyo's book "Dead Aid" when I stumbled on it in a bookshop in Cape Town some months back.

The book had a special attraction since it is authored by a bright young female African economist with a PhD from Oxford. This gave me the impression that the book had a lot to offer.

The book's central argument is that despite billions of dollars having flown in as aid to the global South, particularly Africa, the latter is still poor and unable to get out of its malaise of underdevelopment. Sadly Dambisa Moyo pleads in favour of stopping aid. I was shocked and disappointed to see an African woman economist making such an argument, especially at a time when the world is going through a multiplicity of crises, and there is a growing feminisation of poverty, thus making it even more difficult for the continent to catch up and integrate the global economy effectively.

I wish to therefore caution against such an approach not because I believe that Africa should be aid dependent but rather because Dambisa Moyo's book can easily comfort those who believe that they are already giving too much to the South.
The book can easily provide ammunition to those who are skeptical of international responsibility and are keen to ensure their own comfort and perhaps even greed in some instances rather than addressing the asymmetry in the distribution of entitlements between the North and the South.

The history of Africa has been one of exploitation and unequal exchange. Slavery, colonialism and the world bank/IMF structural adjustment programmes have contributed to the depletion of African resources and in many ways rendered the continent poorer. It is wrong to be historical when analysing African development.

Placing the burden of development on African leadership and suggesting that combating corruption will help to bring development are certainly necessary but not sufficient. The continent definitely needs more aid and a host of other measures both local and international to ensure that its people can be lifted out of poverty.

The book is an important read since the angle adopted by the author will no doubt stimulate a lot of thinking and responses that can contribute not to allow the likes of Dambisa Moyo control development thinking in these very critical and uncertain times."