By Tawanda Chenana
WE, in the village, could not agree more with calls to re-imagine our economy.
It is the only thing to do.
We need a paradigm shift, new ways of seeing and thinking.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa stated it clearly: “The rains have favoured us.
This, alongside the extensive climate-proofing measures we have adopted as an agriculture-led economy, means we are set to have a good season, itself a key factor to our overall growth.
The mining and tourism sectors are doing very well, thus making our growth prospects not just good, but also quite sustainable.
Our banking institutions are in fine fettle.
Our financial market is growing in depth, with new instruments being brought to bear, and making any surpluses investible.”
We have everything required for massive growth in place.
Nothing is impossible.
Africans, black people developed the economies of the so-called developed-nations, so why can we not develop our own states?
It is no secret that African slaves transformed the untamed and seemingly wild West Indies into the legendary sugar plantations which dominated the economies of Jamaica, Trinidad, Haiti, Cuba, San Domingo and other islands then owned by various European powers.
History will show you that enslaved Africans were the technology which tamed the forests of the West Indies and transformed them into one of the most profitable networks of plantations whose sugar flooded Europe.
These plantations did not only create refinery jobs for poor whites in Europe, but made it possible, for the first time, for the general European population to drink tea and coffee which had been a preserve of the upper classes only.
The same African labour was also pivotal in transforming what appeared as underutilised wild forests of the US into what became known as the Cotton Belt of America.
Alabama, Arizona, Texas, Virginia and South Carolina were the places to rush to and settle in order to make fortunes, on the back of Africans.
This is the cotton which enabled the whole of Europe to clothe its poor and half-naked population towards the end of the 18th Century.
The same applied to the states of Virginia and the two Carolinas which became famous for growing virginia tobacco.
All European settlers who became rich and famous in the Americas owe their wealth to African labour which slaves provided.
If these Africans, our ancestors, could build Western nations under horrible conditions, why can we not build our own nations?
When scholars like Walter Rodney write about how Europe underdeveloped Africa they are stating the facts.
If you remove the contribution of African labour from the development of the US and Europe, both would not be where they are today.
My point being, we do not need the West to build the nations we want.
To fully develop we must look within.
Saying we do not need the West to develop is not arrogance but a fact.
Unfortunately, there are some among us who, due to a lack of confidence, do not believe or can imagine that we can do it on our own.
But let me ask, as far as Africa and Europe are concerned, who taught the other democracy?
Can we say the same Europe which fought hard to deny Africans their rights in Africa taught Africans democracy?
Is it not Africans themselves who fought hard to get rid of European dictatorship and brutality in Africa who brought about democracy in Africa?
If so, how come the same Europe booted out of Africa would now want to supervise African democracy which it fought hard against?
If we are to follow democratic norms, who elected the West to play a supervisory and patronising role in an African democracy which was fought for and won by Africans themselves?
Africa finds itself in an invidious position whereby former slave traders are now back in Africa dictating the need for Western sponsored democracy specifically concocted to replace our own memories about numerous struggles waged by our people which won them freedom and independence.
The objective is to erase these cherished memories of African struggles and the self-pride they engender in the minds of younger generations of Africans and make them believe that the only path to progress in Africa is to latch on to democracy and development as prescribed by the West.
But a Western-sponsored democracy in Africa not based on African choices and values can only be another form of colonial dictatorship.
Of interest to those who listen carefully to Western rhetoric on democracy in Africa is the serious avoidance of any issues associated with ownership of resources in our beloved continent.
Why does this rhetoric on democracy religiously shun talking about the need to empower the majority in Africa?
The unsolicited and embarrassingly unwelcome Western noise about democracy in Africa is very strong on political and gay rights, but not on economic rights!
Why?
Surely a political system which is democratic should not be underpinned by an economic system in which the majority find themselves structurally excluded.
Such a democracy is bound to collapse sooner rather than later.
This is why Zimbabwe embarked on a Land Reform Programme in 2000 which saw over 400 000 families getting access to prime land as opposed to a mere 4 000 white farmers who previously monopolised the use of prime land.
This land reform remains one of the most outstanding developments in southern Africa in so far as it has democratised economic opportunities for so many people and with no bloodshed to talk about.
And the results are already beginning to show with African tobacco farmers leading the way.
When Africans began fighting for liberation, the West was quick to concede defeat and pretended to welcome the emergence of new African states complete with national flags, anthems, armies and police forces and any other national symbols, as long as all these did not threaten continued control of the economic sectors of former colonies.
We, in the village, are grateful to a leadership that has refused to be hoodwinked and put the people first and continues to listen to the masses.
African political parties led by African stooges with no ideas of their own will never have a place or occupy any position of influence in our country.
And we must always keep in mind that Nyika inovakwa nevene vayo/Ilizwe liyakhwa ngabanikazi.