eBusiness Weekly
Clifford Shambare
“When you replace negative with positive thoughts, you start having positive results.” (Willie Nelson).
The flipside of this quote is by Walter D. Wintle. It says, “If you think you are beaten, you probably are”.
The lesson to be learnt from these quotes is that one’s state of mind usually determines their fate in life.
That said, if you continue to be satisfied by feeding on one diet, your capacity for creating new recipes is very likely to decline in the process. In this respect, can you imagine one country in which the people have been feeding on one diet — a diet of negativity — for nearly twenty years? That country is Zimbabwe.
In this country our efforts on the economic front are now proving seriously inadequate for our requirements, both in the economic and other aspects of development. Our population growth rate and the quality of life we have become used to, demand much more and much better than this.
In this respect, do you remember what I said about having several alternatives to one’s organisational strategies? I believe now is the time to use such an approach. As far as this matter is concerned, we are lucky — or shall we say blessed — to have the potential and the environment to do so even though most of us do not appear to appreciate this fact.
In fact, we have been there before, and actually did quite well when Jonathan Moyo the former minister of information introduced the 75 percent content rule in music played on local media. Now that our musicians are doing so well, we have forgotten about the matter.
Today one cannot help observing that among Zimbabweans generally, there is that mentality of expecting something to happen sooner or later. Sadly, it is not easy for one to tell the nature of that something — whether it will be good or bad for us. To me, this is not a healthy situation; it is like a curse on us! And whoever has caused it to come about must be very good at their job!
To add to this confusion, many “experts”, largely from outside the country — some of whom seem to have an interest in our affairs for their selfish agenda — have been continually reminding us that Zimbabwe has got “great potential”. To me, this is a form of enticement to drive us to do something that we may regret in future. It is as if they want people to revolt against the system.
I say this because the status of black people in this country is not that different from many African countries. As an example, quite a few indexes today show that our Human Development Index (HDI) is not any better or worse than those of our neighbours. But of course, this is not to suggest that the status quo is good for us; in fact the opposite is true here. That said, still, one cannot deny that this potential exists.
Today in this country, the former Rhodesians are straining to get back to their former farms to farm while most of us continually moan and groan about how bad our situation has become.
Personally, I meet a few whites here and there and whenever the situation allows me, I make a serious effort to have a chat with some of them, in the process comparing their attitude(s) with ours. Interestingly, their attitude(s) can be divided into two major categories. Some of them have developed what seems to me, to be sarcasm that sometimes borders on cynicism regarding our times.
On the other hand — although sometimes expressing exasperation with the current conditions — some of them nearly always express a generally positive attitude. But one thing is common among all of these people — most of whom are farmers. They are not sitting on their laurels; they have better focus, they are united and hardworking.
In our case, however, the story is different. Sometimes we support one another when we are in, or outside the country, but I feel most times, we don’t.
Personally, I feel that our biggest challenge today, is the concentration of our black youth in the urban areas where they are involved in all sorts of activities, some positive, others not so positive. This is so in spite of the findings by economists so far, that the concentration of people in one place stimulates economic growth and development.
This latter situation may explain why Zimbabwean youth today, are at their historical best regarding economic activity, even though most of this activity is geared at short term survival.
This is a positive sign that challenges the system to create an enabling environment for these active young people to innovate meaningfully. In this case do you remember those youth development programmes for which some in high office pilfered the funds? Only the latest Old Mutual funded one east of Eastgate in Harare survived the said shenanigans!
On the other hand, a considerable proportion of our attitudes and behaviours has largely been shaped by our history. This situation has rendered us passive economic participants today. I feel it is largely responsible for our current predicament of frustration with our Government, our dysfunctional politics and our rather exceptional rate of exodus to other countries.
I want to posit that our restless search for “greener pastures” has been a drag on our economic development efforts. Sadly, it is the artisans and professionals — those people who should be the drivers of our economic development endeavours — are the ones who are often the first to leave the country whenever they perceive that their situation is no longer sustainable.
Zimbabwe’s case is unique in a number of ways. For example, Zimbabweans are known to be quite creative and industrious, so much so that their services — whether manual or professional — are highly sought after wherever they have been, be it on the continent or overseas. But sadly, they are leaving the country in droves all the same!
In the past they said they were running away from “Mugabe’s oppressive rule”, now they say the times are too hard for them to stay. But compare these attitudes with those of the Americans during the economic depression of 1923. They did not emigrate, but fought on.
That said, are you aware that most Zimbabwean adults have been emigrating to South Africa in search of jobs since the 1940s or thereabouts? This implies that this country has never been able to create enough employment for its people — particularly black people. This means that we have to go the extra mile to even ameliorate this challenge.
Now our situation has become more complicated than before. And ironically, black rule seems to have compounded the problem. You see, before independence, blacks endured a lot of hardship — including unemployment — without complaining. After the attainment of political — but not economic independence — they largely celebrated their new status of “freedom”.
But among them were those who harboured ill feelings with the nationalists with whom they had fallen out for a number of reasons, the main one of which was the former’s anti-revolutionary thoughts and behaviour.
The way I see the matter, there is still a residue of this phenomenon among us today. Again the way I see it, these ill feelings against black Government are the major source of the current discord in our economic development efforts. I want to argue that their elimination — one way or the other — will contribute in no mean way in the said efforts.
On the other hand, if one looks closely at the progression of events over all these years, they will come across an interesting scenario. On their part, the nationalists were quite sincere in whatever they were doing. But as should be expected, in the process, they succeeded in some cases while they failed in others.
At this point allow me to dwell on the crucial aspects of the matter only, since if we are being sincere with ourselves, we know a lot of the good that they did.
For example, they tried to eliminate racial segregation from all walks of life in the country. And again, as can be expected, they succeeded in other areas while they failed in others. To my mind, our youth development institutions — that is, the schools, technical training centres and colleges — are the aspects in which they scored the most success. And the results are there for all to see.
But ironically, this success has spawned dissatisfaction through lack of jobs. Interestingly, however, as I have just said, this challenge is not new, it has only changed in nuance, and the age of the people involved has fallen over the years. Though in way desirable (see above) the current high rate of urbanisation has only exacerbated the situation!
The way I see the matter, we Zimbabwean blacks are in a way, trying to avoid responsibility for our own situation. In this case, some attributive attitudes (among us) are showing up here; one of the reasons being advanced by the public is that Government is failing to deal with corruption.
Paradoxically, today this attitude has rightly placed this scourge in our collective focus as a nation. And the Government cannot deny this fact with a straight face. Again the way I see the matter, any positive action by the latter can only serve as an impetus on the nation to move forward.
So its current failure to effectively deal with corruption has now become the major challenge. In this respect personally, I have quite a few young relatives living out of this country who are not impressed with the way the government is handling this issue.
Most of them would wish to return home to start new enterprises if corruption were eliminated in the country. In their argument for the possibility of eliminating this scourge, they cite John Magufuli, “the Bulldozer”, the current president of Tanzania, as one African leader who so far, has managed to effectively deal with the scourge in his country.
Considered from a more positive perspective — this action by Government, if taken, can actually be converted into a financial benefit — but how, you may want to know? For example that said US$2,4 billion annual loss from corruption activities, is a case in point.
In addition to this amount, there is that 4 billion dollar ( denomination not specified) tax default case in last week’s issue of this paper. In this case, consider that this sector is the main contributor of Government revenue!
In this case, it cannot be far-fetched to posit that this company (probably among quite a few) is behaving the way it is doing because it has discerned some weaknesses in our systems?
This is a sad case in which our justice system — according to Faith Mazani the head of ZIMRA — is failing to enforce some vital tax laws. Even though I am not a lawyer myself, I feel this is a situation that raises eyebrows regarding our justice system today.
So on looking at our situation more positively, we can safely assert that if we were doing things the right way, with consensus among all stakeholders, co-ordinated (economic) strategies, political will, and all — more investments would most probably be attracted to the country from FDI and the diaspora. In addition, if realised, such an investment has the potential to bolster indigenous empowerment on the economic front, thus enabling SMEs to thrive. Consequently, our economy would start growing from a local capital base — itself a good thing for sustainability.
The way I see the matter, most of the ingredients are here for us to mix into a delicious and nutritious meal; what is left is for us to mix and cook them properly. It goes without saying that this action needs loads of political will on the part of the authorities.
Clifford Shambare is an agriculturist cum economist and is reachable on 0774960937.
