By Bernard Bwoni
The African continent has no choice
but to completely divorce itself from the disastrous and dependent construct of
‘just surviving, merely existing’ and indefinitely root itself into the real
and tangible trajectory of living, the reality of a dignified lifestyle. The
day-in-day-out toil for barebones survival, the contentment with the ‘beggars
and burgers theory’ is just unacceptable right here in the meaty-beefy, resource-laden
continent. The ‘cradle of mankind’ is well-endowed with abundant natural
resources, raw beauty and manned by extraordinary social engineers with the
African cause which was stubbornly self-tattooed at the inception of existence.
This is a continent with a cause, a just cause, a bona fide blue-print for its
re-ignition, its re-organisation and intended dignified re-emergence. These
social engineers are not new and we have witnessed their emergence before in
the form of Kwame Nkrumah, Thomas Sankara, Cabral and Patrice Lumumba just to
name a few and the idea has historically been frustrated and countered with
colonial coercion and more recently neo-colonial craftiness. The defining
feature about these unique social engineers in spite of the persistent pressure
to asphyxiate the cause is that new and more robust ones always emerge and the
cause stays alive. The engineers at the nucleus of the conscious and righteous
quest for the African regeneration and fusion are still alive, have been born
and are still to be born. Robert Mugabe is alive to that cause; Julius Malema
has been born with the Mugabe vision permanently inked to his spirit and more
are still to be born to that continent-defining outlook.
The African quest to dissociate itself
from the one-sided and overly dependent relationships must not be viewed as
pursuing an isolationist course but a positive move towards mutually favourable
development partnerships. There is need for mutually beneficial engagement with
development partnerships in particular with China and of course continued
engagement with traditional development partners from the West. However
engagement with traditional development partners must be mutually advantageous.
The concerning thing is that over fifty years of post independence engagement
and development partnerships with the West has seen minimal in terms of
tangibility. Pre-independence the colonial settlers focused on development to
cater for a small and specific target group and post independence the
traditional development ‘partnerships’ from the West have seen very little in terms
of tangibility and solid evidence of economic progress on the continent. China’s
engagement with Africa on the other hand has in fact resulted in real and concrete
productive assets such as infrastructural development. What remains on the
continent from engagement with the traditional ‘partners’ from the west is what
they built pre-independence and very little post independence. The empirical
evidence on the ground clearly shows that Africa’s engagement with the Chinese
is about productivity, economic transformation and real development whereas the
engagement with traditional western ‘partners’ has mainly been about less
tangible and soft surface issues such as Millennium Development Goals,
democracy promotion, proliferation of NGOs which foster more of dependence as
opposed to innovation and self-sustenance. The engagement with China seems
genuinely based on mutual respect and mutually beneficial outcomes are intended
and evidenced. There is concrete, visible and tangible evidence of the roads
and other infrastructure that China is building in Africa whereas engagement
with traditional development ‘partners’ continues to witness conflict after
conflict in any area of resource-abundance. It would be dishonest to suggest
that partnerships with the West have been exclusively disastrous however it
seems their presence unfortunately seems to invite conflict whereas Chinese
presence seems to bring positive economic progress for the continent. The mutually
respectful Chinese approach and the West’s ‘saviour attitude’ is what separate
these two development partners. There is nothing called charity and both
partners are in it for themselves, but mutual respect is crucial to any
relationship.
More Malemas and Mugabes will continue
to be churned endlessly as long as the same reasons that agitated Lumumba,
Nehanda and others remain unresolved and continue to inflict the African
continent. The illusion that once people have ‘food on the table’ and then the
agitation will stop is just but what it is an illusion. The very reason why
President Mugabe’s name is synonymous with the pessimistic prophets who wish to
extinguish his visionary flame is the very reason they will perennially
construct and reconstruct his end year in, year out. The people of Zimbabwe,
the people of Africa subscribe to this vision and what they all see in the
Mugabe vision is the very same thing the architects of his customary yearly
demise and resurrection see as well; the threat to their historical cushioned
and pampered ‘living’ as opposed to ‘just surviving’ which has historically and
continues to come at the expense of the unfortunate inhabitants from the cradle
of mankind. Africa is on a journey, an African journey and a journey that requires
Africans and them alone to carry them forwards. Don’t be fooled by superficial
seals to the cracks with illusory promises from Alienville, Africa is alone in
this quest and no charitable champion is going to command the survival of the
continent with no motive of their own.
The perennial repertoire of analyst
after analyst wishfully clamouring for the demise of President Mugabe can only
tell you three things the man must be doing something right, is doing something
right and has done something very right!. The regurgitation of the national
leader’s supposed end is not only morally-offensive, it is irresponsible,
immature and imprudent. No amount fabrication will quell the inevitable quest for
that morally-thick formula to genuinely upgrade lives is clear testimony to the
unquenchable craving for that enduring reality of dignified ‘living’. Only
Africa can develop Africa. No philanthropic knight in shining armour is going
to come and rescue Africa from this permanent predicament that has historically
stalled the continent’s long overdue development.
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