By Dr Tony Monda

NATIONS are no longer being valued in terms of population, geographical landmass or mineral resources, but on the organic mass of knowledge in its population.
New technology and creative enterprise can be used as tools to enhance national competitiveness and socio-economic development through the instruments of intellectual property rights.
Art, culture, literature, inventions, technology and intellectual property systems have been recognised to be among the foremost important factors in nation-building and wealth creation.
September 13 has been assigned by African leaders as a day for the commemoration of the role of technology and intellectual property in achieving sustainable development on the African continent in order to promote technological self-reliance, sustainable socio-economic and industrial development.
Ideas and knowledge are increasingly becoming an important factor in international trade relations as codified in the Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property (TRIPS) under the World Trade Organisation (WTO) agreement of which Zimbabwe has since become a signatory member.
The ability to absorb new technology has become a vital component for Zimbabweans in today’s knowledge-based economy and globalised business environment in order for them to compete and survive on the market place.
According to Professor Jonathan Moyo in an article penned in The Sunday Mail on June 2 1985:
“Enlightened societies are those that design, implement and promote policies which bring about scientific development.
“There is no doubt that the material development of the West and that of some Eastern European countries had inextricably paralleled and followed technological advances.”
With reference to the above, we cannot underestimate the necessity for intellectual property awareness, scientific development, creative enterprise and education in the development our nation.
Intellectual property is generally characterised as non-physical property that is the product of an individual’s original thought.
Legal protections for intellectual property stretch back to ancient Greece and Rome.
One of the first known references to intellectual property protection dates from 500 BCE, when chefs in the Greek colony of Sybaris were granted year-long monopolies for creating particular culinary delights.
In general, rights do not encompass the abstract non-physical entity; instead, intellectual property rights pertain to the control of physical manifestations or expressions of ideas.
Intellectual property law protects a content-creator’s interest in her ideas by assigning and enforcing legal rights to produce and control physical instantiations of those ideas.
The Roman author, architect, and civil engineer during the First century BC, Marcus Vitruvius Pollio (257–180 BCE), is said to have revealed intellectual property theft during a literary contest in Alexandria.
While serving as judge in the contest, Vitruvius exposed the false poets who were then tried, convicted, and disgraced for stealing the words and phrases of others.
From Roman times to the birth of the Florentine Republic, however, there were many franchises, privileges and royal favours granted surrounding the rights to intellectual works.
Statutes not only recognised the rights of authors and inventors, but also the resulting products of their intellectual efforts.
In the context of Africa, particularly, Zimbabwe, intellectual property rights were normally attributed to expert craftsmen and thinkers who were accorded the status of humhizha – conceivably equivalent to a Master of Arts standard during the times of the Munhumutapa Dynasties.
Part of my research during my course of Post-Colonial heritage studies took into account an analysis and evaluation of the ownership and the subsequent repossession of our heritage vis-à-vis current legislation and intellectual property.
The worldwide emphasis to establish intellectual property rights and its secondary rights as a body of discourse across the African continent has brought to light many disparities and the urgent need for Zimbabwe to research and adopt intellectual property as an economic and cultural asset.
The recognition which the world accords Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) and technology should therefore be fully appreciated in Zimbabwe.
It is clear in the context of current global developments that the endowment of natural resources is no longer the prime source of national wealth or prosperity.
Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) have become the key driving force for propelling national economies; to which we must add arts, culture, botany and traditional knowledge (TK).
The role of intellectual property rights in our reclamation of indigenous creative inventions, ideas, creativity, traditional knowledge and its cultural and commercial sustainability in contemporary times cannot be underestimated.
In order for us to anchor and protect the sources of our creative economy, it is important that we adopt a strong drive for publication and documentation of our creativity and intellectual property.
Intellectual property is the core component of creative production in all the art forms.
African legislators should be examining and analysing and countering past colonial legislation which was the biggest legal factor that effected indigenous ownership of land, belief, culture and language.
Legislation pertaining to the rights of ownership was stripped from the African man and we have not taken into consideration the effect of these issues, when recording what took place during the colonisation of our land.
Colonial legislation was the biggest factor that effected indigenous ownership of our land, beliefs, culture and language.
Colonial legislation, its connotations, congruencies and trajectories were devised in such a way that it stripped the African of the rights to own ourselves and our heritage, to the extent that even our mighty Mosi-oa-Tunya were named ‘Victoria Falls’, after British Queen Victoria.
Africa has been overtaken by time and has to look at the past as much as the future in order to come to terms and to account for much of its intellectual property from pre and post-colonial times.
Currently in Southern Africa, Zimbabwe lags behind Namibia, Tanzania and Botswana in implementing intellectual property legislation that not only protects our heritage, but the intellectual property of its citizens.
Complete ownership of our land and its sovereignty should also embrace the ownership of our intellectual property.
Nation-building and socio-economic and political development can only be complete if we take stock of our property.
It is much more righteous and profitable for policymakers to dedicate themselves to nation-building and socio-economic and socio-political development, which can only be complete if we take stock of our intellectual property.
Comrades, patrons and patriots, let us not be found snoozing any longer.
Intellectual property is a matter that requires our urgent attention.
Despite our rich culture, we are last in the region to attend to what rightly belongs to us.
African ineptitude in post–colonial times should be a thing of the past.
Art Consultant, Artist and lecturer Dr Tony Monda holds a PhD. in Art Theory and Philosophy and a DBA (Doctorate of Business Administration) in Post-Colonial Heritage Studies. He is a writer, musician, art critic, practising artist and Corporate Image Consultant.
For views and comments, E-mail: tonym.MONDA@gmail.com