IN the previous episode, we showed that science is not the preserve of Western societies.
Europeans may have discovered some things that Africans marvel at, but equally Africans have discovered natural phenomena that Europeans, unable to comprehend, dismiss as ‘magic’.
By dismissing the African science as magic or mere superstition, the Westerners are admitting that the science is way above and beyond their comprehension.
‘Magic’ is supernatural, which places it above mere mortals: it belongs to the gods!
But there are so many African scientific phenomena that if we label them as ‘supernatural’, we are admitting to the superiority of the African intellect.
Much of African science can be attributed to divine mystic power, but more of that in another episode of our discussion.
Notorious for their refusal to acknowledge African superior brain power, Westerners (Europeans) hide behind stigmatisation as a strategy to marginalise our indigenous knowledge.
This strategy works on the basis of degrading the human factor.
Put simply, if you think you cannot, then you will not.
When people believe they can do something, then they will work hard and succeed.
So in this episode we want to look briefly at the situation where science alone is not enough to make things happen, where the human qualities become paramount in achieving set objectives.
In all cases where science is deployed to solve human problems, we see that human beings must deliberately act to bring about the desired change.
It is not enough that science or technology exists or is well catalogued in a manual.
It is not enough either that science is known by certain individuals.
If the individuals possessing the relevant knowledge do not stand up and act, nothing will move.
What makes an individual stand up and act?
He acts out of conviction that his action is necessary and desirable for the good of the society or community, and secondly for his/her own good.
He acts because he is motivated to so act.
Human progress is characterised by purposeful action.
The concept is referred to as the human factor in development.
When individuals or collective communities fail to act purposefully, development is hampered.
The central ideology of unhu/ubuntu dictates that we all act to preserve the interests of the collective and then ourselves.
Each one of us is there because all others are. Western ideology says you act in your individual interest.
When some members of African societies adopt the individualism of the whiteman, the fabric that binds society is raptured.
Community cohesion is lost first at the extended family level and then at the clan or dzinza level and finally at the national level.
In all cases, the human factor dictates whether the group moves purposefully forward or not.
So we come back to the idea that science on its own cannot solve our problems.
The human factor content is critical.
The human being must be imbued with the values of unhu/ubuntu.
S/he must be committed, dedicated to act in the best interests of the family/community/nation.
This propensity to act in the interests of the group is only possible if the individuals have been brought up and educated to embrace the values of their community.
If they have been brought up to believe they can work for anyone as long as the pay is good, they will sell out and sup with the enemies of the people.
They will join non-governmental organisations (NGOs) who are working to effect regime change.
They will not work to domesticate Western science, but to create an exclusive exploitative niche for it.
In these circumstances, we are then faced with human factor failure.
You can liken the human factor content to the software of a computer programme.
You can liken Western education to a virus.
When a virus infects a host cell for example, in our body, it directs the host cell to reproduce viral components which create millions of new viruses.
Can the reader see the implications of our systems being infected with foreign ideas (viruses)?
We proceed to reproduce clones (identical copies of Western human factors).
Each student, though black in colour, is packed full of anti-African science and propaganda.
In computer language they talk of ‘GIGO’ which stands for: ‘Garbage In, Garbage Out’.
If anti-African ideas are injected into our youth, and we call that education, then our educated people grow up to reject things African, to reject their own culture and traditions.
The whiteman does not have to sit there and monitor, the virus spreads itself synchronously with each child that we send to school.
Coming to science then, it is not enough that we have people who are trained; if they do not stand up and act, society will stagnate.
We are saying that all activities require that the human factor content be correct and active.
We are talking about ideology here.
Thinking and acting in an Afrocentric way is pan-Africanism.
It is an ideology possessed by those who see themselves and Africa as being the centre of human existence.
In the context of agriculture for example, we complain that yields are far lower than the genetic potential of the crop varieties being grown.
In Zimbabwe, national maize yields average a miserable 1 to 1,5 metric tonnes per hectare.
Maize varieties available on the local market can yield between 8 and 18 metric tons per hectare.
So where is the problem?
Many will argue that the farmers are letting us down.
We need to look at the human factor in agriculture.
Is the answer to pump more money into agriculture or to import more equipment?
Equipment hairime, chinorima vanhu!
There again is the human factor.
So science alone will not develop and take Africa out of poverty!
Until we correct the human factor content of the African, s/he will continue to multiply into millions of anti-African clones that work to keep the black man down; a kind of self-destruction.
The human factor is at the centre of our existence!
We shall explore this phenomenon further in the next episode as we show that it takes more than science, whether Western or African, to develop Africa.
The struggle for our economic liberation continues!