IT has been over seven years since the assassination of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi by the President Barack Obama administration of the US. 

Gaddafi was the leader of Libya in its prime. 

He saved his nation from the ills of colonisation, capitalism and imperialism.

Amidst the imposition of economic sanctions by Europe and the US, Gaddafi successfully implemented some indigenisation and nationalisation programmes that made his nation internationally recognised as a model of civil prosperity.

Libyans lived model lives that were envied by all nations East and West.

Labour was sourced externally, particularly from sub-Saharan Africans. 

Libyans were too wealthy to work menial jobs and this gave job seekers from neighbouring and distant nations the chance to find employment.

Libya became a paradise owing to Gaddafi’s programmes which brought water to the desert for drinking and irrigation purposes.

Although the nation was wealthy owing to its huge oil reserves, the country desisted from using their national revenue for vain purposes like constructing the highest buildings establishing fastest trains. 

Rather, the Gaddafi administration focused on making better the standard of living and social welfare of the citizens.

Babies were born in government-subsidised hospitals as healthcare was free for Libyans. 

Married couples received US$50 000 for accommodation. 

Students received scholarships and pocket money for schooling from the government.  

In universities around the world, Libyans received about US$2 000 pocket money every month.

Besides Libya, Colonel Gaddafi as he was affectionately called, took a great interest in the development of the rest of Africa as a whole.

Unlike many Arabic-speaking African nations, like Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco and Egypt, that often look upon blacks with prejudice, Gaddafi respected sub-Saharan Africans.

He called Africans his brothers and identified with them regardless of the racial differences between them and his people.

He pushed for the unity of Africa, the breaking of borders and the establishment of a system and currency (gold dina) that would be common throughout the continent, as a means of countering the US, EU, NATO and other Western conglomerations that worked against the interests of Africa.

Gaddafi wanted the wealth of Africa to benefit Africans first, then the rest of the world.  

This he had achieved in Libya and was sure if African leaders followed his model of development, their people would prosper. 

This essentially involved nationalising each country’s oil or mineral resources and using the revenue from sales to take care of the nation’s citizens through indigenous privatisation.

This is the opposite of imperialism which involves the host country letting Western companies mine resources for themselves and export them raw to Europe or the US. 

The only rewards the host countries get are taxes and meagre wages. 

Such is modern day slavery which ensures that former colonisers receive their colonial benefits, regardless of independence declarations, at the lowest costs possible.

To add insult to injury, the same Western nations export minerals such as gold in the form of finished products such as jewellery and technological components. 

They then sell them at very inflated prices simply because they processed the raw materials they acquired cheaply from Africa. 

When Zimbabwe is at its worst, take a look at how much revenue foreign mining companies make in their financial year end.

In its last financial year, Anglo-American-owned Unki Mine, in Shurugwi, produced 75 000 ounces of platinum amounting to about US$60 million. 

It also produced about 65 000 ounces of palladium amounting to US$104 million. Zimbabwe, nay southern Africa, is ranked the highest in mineral reserves like platinum, copper, chrome and gold, among others, because of the high tonnages and figures registered annually from the mining and selling of these minerals. 

This is testament to how much citizens of the region are being robbed of owing to imperialism. 

Companies like De Beers are still largely functional despite having colonial origins in infamous adventurers like Cecil John Rhodes.

The land reform programmes should also apply to mines besides farms because minerals are found underground and mining predated the coming of Europeans in our land by well over 3 000 years.

King Solomon acquired the hardwood and gold he used to build his temple from Ophir, which was undoubtedly in Zimbabwe. 

Southern Africa was called the ‘land of Havilah’ and the place was known for plenty and good gold. 

Not too many nations on earth can fit this criterion, be it in past or present times.

If the principles of Gaddafi were to be implemented in nations like Zimbabwe, the vast mineral resources we have could be channelled into social welfare via subsidising healthcare, education, public housing, public transport, water, electric energy and so on.

Research and recycling programmes can be set up and a First World economy could be achieved right here in Africa. 

The market is certain as many of our minerals are rendered strategic by nations like the US. 

They need our gold for jewellery, chrome for weapons, lead for bullets, copper for technology and diamond for cutting purposes, among a host of other uses.  

We ought to focus our efforts on mining and beneficiating (processing) the minerals ourselves to add value before selling them to the rest of the world. 

Black people can do it with the right expertise and technology. 

The informal gold panners have proven that, even without machinery, as in the days of old, blacks can mine out minerals. 

With the Government backing such a tried and tested workforce with machinery and expertise, their legalisation and empowerment would undoubtedly benefit the nation. 

Government would also have successfully formalised the trade of minerals, like gold, which then would be sold to the rest of the world through designated companies like Fidelity.

This form of empowerment comes with a price we have already begun paying through the imposition of economic sanctions by the West after we procured ancestral land from white settlers for agricultural purposes.

These sanctions are to ensure we do not succeed, as other formerly colonised lands may emulate us. 

Regardless, Namibia and South Africa are already kick-starting their own land reforms and that is exactly what the West is worried about.

Agriculture produces raw materials for food, fuel and clothing. 

This can be done to a lesser extent in nations outside of Africa. But if the West was so angered by the taking away of farms, what more the indigenisation of mines containing minerals which they do not have in Europe and the US. 

Gaddafi was killed for his beliefs in pan-Africanism and the indigenisation of Africa’s resources. 

Thus, by definition, he is a martyr. 

He could have fled, but he chose to stay in his homeland to the point of his undignified killing. 

Even so, before his death, he identified his would-be killer, former US president Obama as his brother, simply because he had African paternal ancestry.

Gaddafi was killed after trying to re-engage the West. 

Therefore, we should be careful who we are dealing with as we re-engage the West. 

The white race differs from the black, not only in race but in character. 

Where one is a predator, the other is a herbivore. 

We watched the US and Europe destroy Libya, in the same way they destroyed Iraq. Now, the desert country is a war zone with the West looting its oil through warlords and puppet governments. 

It is far from the paradise it was a decade ago.