|
Korean Job Discussion Forums
"The Internet's Meeting Place for ESL/EFL Teachers from Around the World!"
|
| View previous topic :: View next topic |
| Author |
Message |
thepeel
Joined: 08 Aug 2004
|
 Posted: Tue Jun 12, 2007 8:01 am Post subject: Mugabe is not Zimbabwe |
 |
|
| Quote: |
HARARE � Either we Africans are blind, selfish and greedy or something worse is holding us back. As a Zimbabwean, I have seen my country turned from breadbasket to basket case and I can tell you that our educated and hard-working people are not fools, but victims.
Although we are an extreme case, these oppressive economic and political policies are not exclusive to Zimbabwe.
The fallacy of Ghanaian Kwame Nkrumah's African dawn of self-rule has been exposed by the brutal failures of governments with a revolutionary history. Julius Nyerere, Kenneth Kaunda, Milton Obote and perhaps even so-called models of excellence such as Yoweri Museveni and Thabo Mbeki all espoused Nkrumahism, meaning state control of the economy and even of society.
Just down the road from where I live, there is President Robert Mugabe, who was not only a student of Nkrumah's but taught and married in his country.
Many Africans believe we should co-operate with each other instead of overseas markets to achieve the economic, political and cultural integration that could raise our continent to the level of Europe or the United States. The challenge, however, is not co-operation but how we should learn from history.
When Zimbabwe overthrew white rule in 1980, a pothole on the highway was a disaster. A late train would cause a public outcry. Now we have unfinished roads, bulldozed neighbourhoods and hyperinflation, while our dictator blames the West.
Why is it that when the white man handed over Air Rhodesia to a black manager, the airline had 30 airplanes but now there are only three left? Why is it that before 2000 there were only 4,000 white commercial farmers in Zimbabwe and we were the breadbasket of Southern Africa, yet now there are 40,000 black commercial farmers and we have to import maize from poor Malawi?
I know. There is a fine line between self-criticism and self-loathing. But our problems are not caused by our being black but by authoritarians with incompetent and even murderous policies.
Today, Zimbabwe's health system has totally collapsed. Our main university once had 1,000 staff; now there are 300. A typical high-school teacher now earns about $20 (U.S.) a month. As you read this, my car is grounded due to lack of petrol. Service station owners cannot sell it for the controlled price of 450 Zimbabwean dollars ($1.85 U.S.) a litre when they have to buy it for between Z$30,000 ($125) and Z$40,000 ($165).
My home has neither running water nor electricity. Mr. Mugabe's ZANU-PF government inherited one of the most sophisticated hydroelectric power plants in Africa, Kariba. But because of a gluttonous army, expensive anti-riot gear and military adventures in Mozambique and Congo, Mr. Mugabe has failed to maintain Kariba. It is about to stop completely.
Hwange Colliery Mine has some of the richest coal deposits in the world, yet the thermal power station across the road does not have enough coal because the railway has collapsed.
In Harare, raw sewage flows openly in residential areas, contaminating scarce treated water because of rotten pipes inherited from the white regime 27 years ago.
No private radio or television station is allowed to operate in Zimbabwe, while it is almost impossible to register a private newspaper.
Yet Mr. Mugabe masquerades on the regional stage as the spokesperson for the beleaguered citizens of Zimbabwe. He has absolutely no right to speak on our behalf: Those who do are the citizens protesting in the streets and some judges and lawyers struggling valiantly to hold together the shreds of the rule of law.
The lessons of history include the basic principles of good governance: There are plenty of examples for us to emulate, but the Mugabes of the world ignored them in favour of ideology.
Africans need each other in order to develop, but our ability to learn from each other's mistakes is miserable.
Even our neighbour, the democratically elected South African President Thabo Mbeki, repeats with nauseating frequency that Zimbabweans have the capacity to solve their own problems. But during Mr. Mbeki's protracted struggle against apartheid, he had the front-line states � Zimbabwe, Zambia, Botswana, Mozambique and Tanzania � backing him.
Today, Mr. Mbeki and his ilk treat Mr. Mugabe like a hero but Zimbabweans like dirt. South Africa goes on military "peacekeeping" forays to faraway Sudan and Burundi � why does Mr. Mbeki not believe those countries can solve their own problems?
We Africans will remain smothered in self-deceit until this generation of Nkrumahists, the greedy, the corrupt and the accidental democrats, has expired. Then African citizens may become free to co-operate with each other, economically and politically.
The one form of co-operation we need right now is world pressure on Africa's democratically elected leaders, not the avoidance seen at this week's G8 summit. Only then might they face up to their moral, political and economic obligations to embrace freedom and boot out the gangsters.
Rejoice Ngwenya is a Zimbabwean columnist. |
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070608.wcomment0608/BNStory/International/home/
Excellent article.
Decolonization has been a total disaster for Africa. This, not because Africans could not manage their own affairs but because the Europeans left behind structures of power, without power. The vacuum was filled by the most ruthless. The worst rose to the top.
We have to be aware of these facts. When our governments give these governments aid and assistance, you are strengthening the very structures of power that keep Africa so disgustingly poor. |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
Tony_Balony
Joined: 12 Apr 2007
|
| Posted: Tue Jun 12, 2007 5:35 pm Post subject: |
|
|
The article was pretty good until the blame Whitey part. Black Africans messed up Black Africa. Whitey has been steadily divesting and fleeing Black Africa for some time due to security and ethical reasons. It doesn't matter what Whitey did or didn't do, they are gone as is their meddling. They left everything intact enough. Reasoning in this fashion makes it look like the Africans need to be spoon fed. The West sends Peace Corps, NGO, advisors and aid. Thats plenty.
The more explaining of this nature, the more useless the act gets. The bad guys now are the Yellow man or are they off limits for criticism? |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Mosley
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
|
| Posted: Tue Jun 12, 2007 11:32 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| Yeah, good article. Where does the writer "blame Whitey"? |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Tony_Balony
Joined: 12 Apr 2007
|
| Posted: Wed Jun 13, 2007 1:47 am Post subject: |
|
|
| Quote: |
| The one form of co-operation we need right now is world pressure on Africa's democratically elected leaders, not the avoidance seen at this week's G8 summit. |
Blame Whitey. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
thepeel
Joined: 08 Aug 2004
|
| Posted: Wed Jun 13, 2007 3:48 am Post subject: |
|
|
Shall we just forget European colonialism in our discussion of Africa?
Shall we also simply forget that every cent our governments (our = Western) send to African states furthers the oppression of the African people in dozens of states?
There is lots of blame to go around. But blame won't fix Africa. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Tony_Balony
Joined: 12 Apr 2007
|
| Posted: Wed Jun 13, 2007 6:44 am Post subject: |
|
|
| Quote: |
Shall we also simply forget that every cent our governments (our = Western) send to African states furthers the oppression of the African people in dozens of states?
|
The US is tightfisted now with its Africa programmes. It would be even less if it weren't for the likes of Bono. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
W.T.Carl
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
|
| Posted: Wed Jun 13, 2007 1:22 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| Mugabe was left with a country that was a net exporter of grain well on the way to 1st world status. Now it is a total basket case that will take decades to repair. European colonial rule? For the vast part of Africa it didn't begin until the late 1880's ( South Africa excepted). It was most over by the 1960's. True the Berlin West Africa Conference did draw lines on the map with out regard to ethnic concerns. But to blame the West ( or America) for the fact that most of the continent is a wreck beggars the fact that Africans have been in control for about the last 50 years. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
|
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
|
|
FAQ
Search
Memberlist
Usergroups
Register
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
