CONVERSATIONS WITH MAWERE
"Invest in the change you want to see"
- Mutumwa Mawere -
Africa 2009: Towards a negotiated future
Posted on February 09th 2009
Whose future is it?
On Friday, 6 February 2009, I was one of many who attended the Joint Sitting of Parliament at the beginning of the last session of the Third Democratic Republic. South Africa will turn 15 on 27 April 2009 and many will agree that progress has been made in advancing the African promise.
How secure is Africa's future? Whose responsibility is it to invest in Africa's future? The participation of Africans in their future is an issue that needs to be discussed, as is the role of the state in advancing the cause of the national democratic revolution.
In a few weeks, South Africans will participate in a general election to decide who should govern in the Fourth Republic. The ruling party that has dominated the last 15 years of nation building continues to define itself as a revolutionary movement charged with the responsibility of prosecuting a national democratic revolution.
The role of citizens in shaping the conversations about what kind of South Africa they want to see requires a change of attitude by all who care about the future of the country. The last 53 years of uhuru have failed to inspire African citizens to be part of the conversation about their future. If such future were to be negotiated, who is to take part in the negotiations?
Most African citizens genuinely believe that they have no responsibility to shape their future. They choose to surrender their power to state actors that they elect while making no investment in institution building and improving political and financial literacy.
At the individual level, we have seen, for instance, in the case of South Africa, a few individuals acquiring enormous wealth over the last 15 years while the majority remains in abject poverty. The state of the African economy in general is similar displaying bottleneck characteristics with a few at the top while the majority remains at the bottom.
Many citizens in Africa feel unjustifiably so that they are alienated from their project i.e. the state. The state ought to be a people's instrument to address their collective challenges. Its source of revenue has to be income from the very citizens who expect it to provide to them resources to advance their promise.
The knowledge, capital and execution gaps that confront our continent can be better bridged through an investment in literacy. The role of natural citizens in advancing the national interest and shaping the future is not in doubt but the role of artificial persons like companies and other organizations is less understood in its proper construction.
For example, in the case of business, the concept of ownership is critical in energizing people to work beyond the call of duty. However, the relationship between CEO and the corporation; corporation and directors; directors and the CEO; and shareholders and the corporation are as misunderstood as the relationship between the state v citizen; citizen v state actors; President v citizens; and President v state.
A President is just but another citizen who rise through democratic means in the case of democratic states to become the first citizen. The process is not means tested or a consequence of rigorous intellectual search but a consequence of trust bestowed on a person by citizens. Notwithstanding, the imperfections of democratic systems in selecting the best person to preside over the people's business, there is still an expectation by citizens that a person so selected must possess a superior intellect and capacity to govern.
Instantly, people so selected are then expected to be extraordinary people. However, the President like a CEO is really a brand ambassador and it is up to the employees to put meaning into the brand through hard work.
A company like the state is an artificial person with rights and obligations separate and distinct from the founders. A company is incapable of being owned is as much as the state cannot be owned. The resources that are generated from economic activity really belong to the company and it cannot be said that such resources are at the sole discretion of so-called owners.
The future of a company must be the business of managers under the control of a CEO rather than shareholders in their capacity as the holders of share certificates. The balancing of the interests of management/workers, shareholders, company and directors has to be a critical variable in determining success or failure of enterprises.
Corporations like governments have provided a mechanism through which the efforts of many can be coordinated to produce extraordinary outcomes that can advance the national promise.
Nation building is an enterprise that requires an investment. The future of a corporation lies in the actions of the people who have the benefit of giving it a voice and success is rarely accidental or a consequence of leadership alone but of the actions of the people at the coal face.
Citizens like employees have the ultimate responsibility to make things happen. Companies produce goods and services that are then exchanged for market determined equivalent value in a free market. You cannot force people to think like you but you can inspire them to scale the heights. The market in so far as it rewards good service and quality products determines the success or failure of enterprises.
Bad political leaders are difficult to recall if the people who elect them are not organized to control outcomes of their choices. Representative democracy compels citizens to take an active interest in how they are governed and ensuring the efficiency and effectiveness of their governments and yet very few African citizens take an active interest in shaping their future.
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We are a generation in need of emancipation. Sadly, the majority of Africans still need to be freed as they are chained to their fears and \"ignorance\". Our politics remain nasty and corrupt, encouraged by the collective inertia of an \"ignorant\" citizenry. What happens in a situation where the CEO squashes dissent, dictates matters and deals harshly with those who dare voice their concerns or challenge his position? Workers can come together and collectively display their displeasure, and if there are sound checks and balances in that organization, then someone will hear the grievances of the employees and cause the CEO to account for his actions. It aint like that in an African government - the person of the President is a semi-God, you can kill for him. He compels submission and unquestioning obedience. Maybe literacy really means being able to get involved in national discourse and causing all political appointees to account for their actions. Only when the government fears the people (and not the people fearing the government) can we claim real literacy!
In order to start doing the work that Zimbabwe desperately needs done, I think it is high time we start deliberate for a practical social contract which facilitates an open dialogue between state actors and ordinary citizens as you have hinted in your previous articles. It seems logical to expect people in the Diaspora take the lead on participating in the affairs of their nation having experienced majoritarian democracy where they are based, how can they be influential when the law prohibits them from voting outside of their country? Is it not one of the areas that we should start lobby for change? Millions in the Diaspora can form a sound social base on which socio-political discourse can start on grassroots level.
One of many areas we might need to consider is the formulation of our own capitalist approach, which ought to be uniquely fashioned in order suit our strong agricultural base. Of course the land question is another pertinent socio-political issue requiring intellectual rationalism in plotting the way forward. It is evident that other advanced economies such as the 21st century Japan, have crafted their own capitalist versions that were relevant to their own social circumstances. Therefore, the architectures of ours should likewise, should do so. We ought to build a society in which the risks and benefits of capitalism in our agriculturally based economy are collectivised in ways that are relevant to Africa and Zimbabwe in particular. We do not even have to go far for reference as I am sure we can heed one or two lessons from our neighbours Botswana and South Africa, even Ghana in West Africa.
The oil that the engine of our economy desperately needs should not be in the hands of a few individuals as it has been in the western style capitalism, which politicians are now multilaterally forging ways of correcting past imbalances. Innovative ideas such as those of GSM`s Mobile Money for the Unbanked for example, can potentially channel some money from ordinary citizens towards establishing credible financial institutions from which big African commercial groups can raise capital through ordinary people’s savings, a measure which in my opinion can potentially wean us off reliance on multilateral aid.
There are obvious challenges in developing a saving culture like that of 21st century Japan, but the sooner we realise that it is possible the earlier we stop asking what the state can do for us, but ask what we can do for our country as I paraphrase the famous J. F Kennedy’s words.
I understand the kind of sceptism that comes from those who might want to fervently reinforce their pessimism on such a seemingly audacious proposal. As Mr Mawere has envisioned, we can start building the Zimbabwe we want, but the question I have been asking in the past seems to be falling on deaf ears: where do we start from here?
Mutumwa Dziva Mawere (born January 11, 1960 in Bindura, Zimbabwe), is an African business executive, pioneer, financier, banker and entrepreneur best known as the founder and Chairman of Africa Resources Limited ("ARL"). He is known for having built one of the most powerful and influential corporations in Zimbabwe's history
A very challenging piece Mr Mawere .
A larger percentage of African is still without Safe water to drink,Electricity,Education and other items stated by the U.N as basic necessities .
Information received by this group is deternined mostly by the State Actors .
In most cases this group is worried about where they will get their next meal and those that have made it are still trying to get into terms with their acquired status and or advancing their personal interests ,This is why you find that there is an acute cultural erosion in Africa due to the fact that we believe that certain status cannot exist within our own cultural boundaries hence we try to align our lifestyles to other cultures (we have an artificial inferiority complex)which even our state actors capitalises on by coming across like they are super human beings hence they mantain the position of supression to the people for their benefit.
If we adress these basic issues then we can see africa taking a new direction