"YESTERDAY cannot be revised. But the pages of tomorrow are blank, and you hold the pen. Make it an inspiring story", so began Grand Pa Samji, wishing me a good morning on August 7 2023, as Zimbabwe's approaching Heroes Day and Defence Forces Day holidays taunted and mocked our generation's conscience.
The reason for the taunting is easy to see: The non-performing economies in the Southern African Development Community (Sadc) and the East Africa Community (EAC) groups of nations.
The pen feels heavy in my hand as I really have no inspiring story to paint in spite of tomorrow's blank canvas.
The old adage "if wishes were horses, beggars would ride" unhelpfully comes to mind raising the level of self-pity, despair, shame and depression.
I seek refuge from the sensation of sinking by evoking the memories of the giants amongst our liberation War Heroes. These giants come no bigger, of course, than Kenneth Kaunda, fondly referred to as "KK", the late president of Zambia, and Tanzania's first post-colonial president, Julius Nyerere.
Later, Samora Machel of Mozambique, and Agostinho Neto of Angola, joined their ranks. Their countries and people sacrificed their fragile economies by hosting liberation movements and their freedom fighters, who freed Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Angola and Namibia from colonial rule. May their souls rest in eternal peace.
Thinking about these great and good sons of Africa, among the first and finest crop of post-colonial Africa Heads of States, proves therapeutic.
By the end of August 2023, after voting in Zimbabwe's general elections I get the urge to pen an inspiring story, notwithstanding the bad news all around.
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South Africa, the leading and biggest economy in Africa has been falling apart over the past two to three years, hit by an unprecedented electric energy crisis. It has been following rapidly in the footsteps of the seemingly mortally-wounded Zimbabwean formal economy.
This begs the question: What is it Southern and East African contemporary leaders are doing wrong? Are there any lessons to be learnt from the selfless first post-colonial African Heads of States afore-mentioned?
Nyerere, as you all know, had the concepts of ujama (brotherhood) and harambe (let's pull together) as his philosophy for the socio-economic development of Tanzania.
His unwavering and unconditional support to Southern Africa's liberation movements confirmed beyond any shadow of doubt those guiding principles went far beyond Tanzania's borders.
It was the same story with Kaunda. The Zambian president's well known philosophy of "humanism" (ubuntu/hunhu) underpinned his ideology for the socio-economic development of Zambia.
It, too, went beyond the borders of Zambia, past the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers, all the way to the "fairest Cape of all".
Hunhu/ubuntu is a word from the Bantu / Vanhu language with no direct single English word translation. It easily encompasses the four cardinal values of courage, prudence, justice and temperance, plus the three Biblical ones of faith, hope and love.
As you know, or may have guessed, it is written: ...of which love is the greatest of them all. It is the bond that binds those that paid, or are /were prepared, to pay their taxes in blood to liberate, or now protect Southern Africa, from the yoke of colonial rule.
By definition, also included in the meaning of humanism/ubuntu /hunhu is subservience to the 10 Commandments.
To help me answer these searching questions, on the change in the leadership qualities, octogenarian Wilson Mukasa, a native of Uganda, graduate of the Nairobi Polytechnic, who worked and married in Zambia and now a retired Zimbabwean, comes to the rescue.
He forwards me a YouTube link to a lecture by Professor Patrick Loch Otieno Lumumba, delivered a few years ago at the University of Dar-es-Salaam's Nkrumah Hall.
The lecture was at a conference in memory of Nyerere. The theme of the conference does justice to the above questions. It was The Rise or Fall of Africa on Account of the African Politician.
With the eloquence of a salesman, the Professor traces African history from the years of slavery and slave trade, through the partitioning and colonisation of Africa before decolonisation saw the emergence of the first post-colonial African independent States, besides Ethiopia.
A good number of founding African leaders, like Nyerere, Nkrumah, Patrice Emile Lumumba, Kaunda and Samora Machel, had genuine saintly qualities. Professor Lumumba notes, with pride, that this crop of leaders was committed to the emancipation of Africa as a whole, and not just their own countries.
He further notes, Nyerere was prepared to delay Tanganyika's independence so that Uganda and Kenya would join it in independence, as one country.
But, alas, Milton Obote of Uganda and Jomo Kenyatta thought differently, and the three sister states attained independence as separate nations.
In May 1963 in Addis Ababa, at a conference chaired by Emperor Haile Selasie, and attended by 30 other African Heads of States and Governments, both the Emperor and Nyerere emphasised the need for African countries "to pull together".
Nkrumah, according to Professor Lumumba, went a lot further, calling for a United States of Africa, with one army, one central bank, one currency and one federal government.
But this ambitious project did not materialise, and the leaders, instead settled for the formation of the Organisation of African Unity - the OAU.
To re-cap, taken together these three ideas of ujama, harambe and ubuntu should have freed us from "having to look into the rear view mirror for inspiration. What formidable challenges sprang into the paths of these freedom loving icons, and in particular their successors?
The long sought "accelerated socio-economic transformation", or African Renaissance, in President Thabo Mbeki's words, has proved rather elusive.
In calling for a United States of Africa in May 1963, Nkrumah warned his African brothers that size matters. Professor Lumumba quotes him saying: "It was the only way to immunise Africa from the diabolic machinations of erst-while colonizers".
But Africa "listened to him not", and was soon over-taken by an era of neo-colonialism, That subsists, in one form or another, to this very day. In its early form the neo-colonialists sponsored military coups that saw the iconic leaders like Patrice Lumumba replaced by such devils as former presidents Mobutu Sese Seko (Democratic Republic of Congro), Idi Amin (Uganda) and Jean-Bédel Bokasa (Central African Republic).
This crop of politicians was ruthless and selfish. It looted state coffers on an industrial scale to the benefit of other continents. According to Professor Lumumba these power hungry devils also suffered from what he called the "martyr syndrome and the Messianic complex" — two deadly diseases that have cost Africa a lot.
In his lecture titled The Magufulification (Sanitisation) of Africa, delivered in Nkrumah Hall, Professor Lumumba celebrated the emergence of a third crop of leaders like then President of Tanzania John Magufuli, who shunned corruption and were committed to service delivery and national development.
Paul Kagame of Rwanda, and Ian Khama, then president of Botswana are the other examples of leaders, the Professor equated to a breath of fresh air on agenda Africa.
Hakainde Hichilema of Zambia would no doubt fit the bill. And so does, of course, a whole host of other former Tanzanian presidents after Nyerere. The likes of William Ruto, and Uhuru Kenyatta, both of Kenya, Joaquim Chissano of Mozambique, Goodluck Jonathan and Obasanjo, both of Nigeria are some.
To some extent, Yoweri Museveni of Uganda does fit the bill too, as does João Lourenco of Angola. The longer the list grows, and the longer the time passes, with little progress in Africa's fight against poverty, the more one realises that mere sanitised leadership is not enough if Africa's so called Vision 2063 is to be realised.
Embracing evidence-based leadership
Case studies of successful economies reveal the following:
Take Israel, for instance. What appears a small nation at first sight, becomes a giant brotherhood (and sisterhood!) When global Jewish reach is taken into account.
The Communist Party of China plays the same role of brotherhood in the World's biggest developing economy.
Hindu nationalism, a solid form of brotherhood, has now fired rapid economic development in India.
The elite in Western Europe (Oxbridge Free Masons, Ivy Lesgue, Skulls & Crossbones Military & Industrial Complex etc) need no introduction. Throw in their financial Sectors and Intel Communities and you have formidable nations that, most importantly exhibit total seven sovereign intellectual and industrial Capability.
To be continued next week
- Nyandoro is a pharmacist by training. He holds a Pharm (Hon) degree from the University of Zimbabwe. These weekly New Perspectives articles, published in the Zimbabwe Independent, are coordinated by Lovemore Kadenge, an independent consultant, managing consultant of Zawale Consultants (Pvt) Ltd, past president of the Zimbabwe Economics Society and past president of the Chartered Governance & Accountancy Institute in Zimbabwe. — [email protected] or +263 772 382 852.
