Africa must redeem itself

The latter appears to speak volumes for modern-day Africa. Africa is undoubtedly still the richest in natural resources — in spite of their systematic plunder during decades of foreign rule and yet, paradoxically, the continent remains a Cinderella in the world in terms of development.

The underdevelopment of the continent could get worse if nothing is done by Africans collectively to stop erstwhile foreign rulers coming back in a vengeance to try to complete the unfinished job of cleaning out the continent of even those resources that God had hidden away underground while foreign ruling cultures remained in force on the continent.

This greater threat maybe decided from an address by President Mugabe to the conference of Intelligence and Security Services of Africa in Harare recently in which he called for the use by Africa of her natural resources, now exploited by foreigners, to benefit Africans and end conflicts arising mostly out of want.

Once Africans are in control of their natural resources they will add value to the raw materials by processing them into finished products before export, and this means secondary industries will be established to process the raw materials, creating more employment in the process.

But while other speakers at the conference also decried the rampant exploitation of Africa’s natural resources concomitantly with foreign exports of violence and similar conflicts by big powers to destabilise Africa and make it vulnerable for political and economic exploitation, no indictment of Africa over its inability to resist foreign influences was heard, and this suggests that Africa succumbs willy-nilly to exploitation by powerful nations.

Indeed, one might go further and say Africa as a continent lacks the will to resist foreign influences and power hunger appears to be at the core of the failure by African countries to stand together as an indomitable force against foreign intrusion politically or economically hence Africa’s continued underdevelopment.

The continent might therefore wish to learn something out of a recent call by United States President Barrack Obama for the Americas — North and South — to stand together by integrating their policies and development initiatives as a region; otherwise they risked lagging behind developments taking place in other regions of the world.

Mr Obama’s call appears to be the right point of departure for regional groupings in Africa towards the continent’s development as a whole.
But today Big Brother politics stands as the Achilles’ heel in different economic regions of Africa pooling their economic, social and political resources to become powerhouses of development so that as a totality the regions merge into a continent much more developed than is the case at present.

Unfortunately, however, a country touting itself as an economic giant in a region appears keen to continue to feel big if neighbouring countries wallow in relative poverty. That lack of social, economic and political solidarity opens the way for opportunists to engage in reciprocal love affairs with Africa’s enemies.

The existential nature of political sell-outs translates into “give us money and help us to get into power and we will put our country at your political and economic pleasure”, for instance.

Zimbabweans and no doubt Africans elsewhere, on the continent, will profess to the existence of such inverted patriots in their own countries.
But luckily for Zimbabwe, the country has in President Mugabe and his colleagues in Zanu-PF, people with an unflinching intrepidity and a clear vision, thanks to the armed revolution which has resulted in land and minerals being exploited to benefit Zimbabweans who claim common ownership of these resources, with land a continuing inheritance for future generations until the end of the world.

Foreign exploiters use their dirty money or religious extremism to stir up and perpetuate conflicts in Africa as cat’s-paws in their obscene quest for Africa’s abundant rich resources.

The writing certainly appears inscribed in bold letters on Africa’s board: “Africa is for Africans, but if you sleep foreigners will put you in harness to control you again.”

So the time is long overdue for Africans to combine rhetoric and action to reverse unfortunate bromide whereby the continent continues as a playground for exploiters of resources that should feed Africans while serving also as a fillip for economic and social emancipation in a world where the havens continue to run riot with their exploitative tendencies.

The above is an impassioned plea by this pen to the African Union whose predecessor, the Organisation of African Unity, successfully prosecuted the liberation struggle on the continent to now marshal developmental initiatives in all of its member states into a bold march to catch up developmentally with the rest of the world so that hunger and insecurity give away peace and stability. Put in a nutshell, the EU should not labour under some illusion that a Good Samaritan will happen on the African scene to muster a coalescence of fragmented developmental policies and initiatives in order to give the continent a new lease of life.

In this regard the onus remains entrenched within the auspices of the continental body to pull Africa out of its rut, as articulated by President Mugabe and the other speakers at the Conference of Africa’s Intelligence and Security Services.

The alternative is obviously ghastly to contemplate as individual countries will continue to huff and puff in an unending marathon after ever receding mirages in the form of full bellies and peace and stability and national security.