Mutumwa Mawere

It was President Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 - July 4, 1826), the third President of the United States (1801-1809) and one of the most influential Founding Fathers of the country, who said: "I like dreams of the future better than the history of the past."

The future of any nation belongs to its builders. Jefferson also said: "I know of no safe depository of the ultimate powers of the society but the people themselves; and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise their control with a wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them but to inform their discretion."

We, the people, have the power to shape our future and secure it.

Jefferson was and would not be alone in holding the view that there is no safer depository of the ultimate powers of any society but the people themselves.

I chose South Africa as an adopted home in 1995 principally because I was fascinated and encouraged by its past.

I knew little about its history other than the history of resistance to apartheid.

No one in my family knew the other side of the story that made South Africa an attractive destination of human and physical capital.

Notwithstanding the contribution of the many men and women to South Africa, it is not unusual for the motives and actions of such key individuals to be questioned.

Some will see the impact of such individuals in negative terms while others will see South Africa's purpose as having been advanced by the contribution of people who may not necessarily fit the description of authentic South Africans.

When we look back, we will find that South Africa is what it is today because of the passion and love of country of people who chose to be South African.

Diamonds played a critical role in luring some of the key individuals whose choices and actions helped transform this geography that I now call home into what it is today, a land of opportunity.

I am acutely reminded that although black, I am no different from these individuals who could very well have decided to be somewhere else but chose to use their skills to create a better and prosperous country. We are all voluntary soldiers of fortune. Without gold and diamonds, I know that my present would be something different.

We all want to advance ourselves and the human spirit is such that people will always seek a higher ground if that ground is secure and rewarding.

It is easy to conclude that people who choose to adopt a country as a new home do so to the detriment of natives.

Some would hold the view that a country belongs only to those born in the country. Furthermore, small minds would hold the view, for example, that Africa only truly belongs to the sons and daughters of the soil.

Africa belongs to all who believe in it. Its past has been shaped by the actions of people who seized the moment.

The diamonds and gold that attracted remarkable individuals to Africa were God created and there is nothing in our history to suggest that it was inevitable that people who responded to what I may describe as God's call would be successful and generous with their so-called loot.

The minerals were hidden and yet without them our heritage would definitely have been different. People knew of the existence of minerals well before the colonial project. However, the minerals had and continue to have more value to people outside Africa than the majority native inhabitants.

The value of minerals is at the point of exchange and such one has to accept that investment is required to put the minerals in a form that they can be exchanged for cash.

The exploration and exploitation of minerals may not have necessarily undermined the interests of those who had no alternative plan to access God's creation.

However, a strong view exists that colonialism undermined the interests of the natives to the extent that anything that was done during the colonial era is condemned.

It would be wrong and naïve to take for granted what is required to move a country forward. Africa has been good to dreamers and it would not be wrong to say that dreamers have also been good to the continent.

It is correct to state that to get an ounce of gold from the ground is not an easy task that can be done efficiently without the right human and physical asset base.

Some may argue that in revisiting the past and locating the key individuals who impacted on Africa, this effort represents an attempt to rewrite the ugly side of African history.

I am reminded of the words of Jefferson who had the wisdom to acknowledge the power of enlightenment on social and economic change.

The people who left an indelible mark on Africa's history include Mr. Hermann Ludwig Eckstein (August 3, 1847 - January 16, 1893). He was born in Hohenheim near Stuttgart, Germany to a Lutheran minister.

He arrived in South Africa lured by the gold and diamonds rush. He came armed with skills that earned him a job as a manager of the Phoenix Diamond Mining at Du Toit's Pan near Kimberley.

He joined Julius Wernher and Alfred Beit in the partnership of Jules Porgès (later Wernher, Beit & Co) in 1884 after attracting the attention of the two Randlords.

Beit played a critical role in Eckstein's rise to financial fame. In 1885, he and Jim Taylor were hired by Beit to report on the firm's interests in the Barberton De Kaap goldfields.

History records that Taylor wrote a gloomy report on the size and quality of the ore body that scared Porgès enough for him to hurry back to South Africa from England leading Beit and Porgès to divest in good time before the economic disaster visited gold miners.

The collapse of the gold industry due to pessimism about the future of the metal coincided with rumors that enormous deposits lay on the Witwatersrand. Porgès and Beit stumbled on this critical information while visiting government offices in Pretoria leading Beit to hurriedly acquire extensive mining rights in Johannesburg.

Having been given a head start by Beit, in 1888 Eckstein started his own form under the name Hermann Eckstein & Co.) in the Corner House as a representative of Porgès.

He was instrumental in establishing the Chamber of Mines in Johannesburg, an institution that still exists today. He acted as its first President until 1892.

He was a professional unlike many of his contemporaries.

History records that he was instrumental in putting the infrastructure of the mines on a solid footing by using competent engineers and in so doing helped institutionalize and formalize the industry.

He was involved in the move to deep level mining when the surface deposits had run out.

It did not take long to assume a leadership role in mining activities in the central area of the Witwatersrand and controlled eleven most important syndicates.

Eckstein played a critical role in establishing the National Bank of the Republic i.e. the Reserve Bank of South Africa.

Like many of his contemporaries, he moved to England a year before his death to join his comrades Wernher and Beit in the Central Mining and Investment Corporation as a partner.

He died in 1893. He had four children. It is only in death that we get to know the people who really value our absence. In life, it is easy to take for granted our legacy.
When Eckstein died, his last-born was only one year old.

In honor of Eckstein, Beit's company planted 3 million trees on an area of 1,300 acres that Eckstein called Sachsenwald, now known as Saxonwold and Forest Town, the Zoo Lake and Zoo.

The forest remains a favorite recreational spot long after the departure of the minds that invested in it.

If Eckstein had not adopted South Africa as a home, there is no doubt that the Zoo Lake and other places that we use for recreation would not be there.

Although meant only for the wealthy Randlords, the fact that we all now have access to the forest confirms my point that anyone who builds can never be considered to be selfish.

We are after all the inheritors even of the sweat of those in life who may curse in the knowledge that we now have access to their prized investments.

Eckstein's former partners made a gift to Johannesburg ten years after his death of the Sachsenwald that was later named the Hermann Eckstein Park.

When one reads the Deed of Gift one can fully appreciate the impact of Eckstein on South Africa.

The dead read as follows: "Whereas the late Hermann Eckstein was in his lifetime a resident in the town of Johannesburg and always took a deep interest in its advancement and prosperity, and played an active part in many schemes and undertakings for its improvement and whereas it has appeared to us that the dedication of a suitable area of land for the use of the public of Johannesburg, as a public park, would have met with the cordial approval of our late friend and will be acceptable to fellow townsmen."
How may of our friends can say this about us after death?

The relationship between the Randlords suggests that these were ordinary men and women who found each other in the pursuit of a better life rather than a consequence of a grand imperial plan.

Some of them found each other accidently and developed a lifelong relationship that is rarely visible today among the new Randlords.

These were men who did not know each other at birth and who shared different lives and yet gold and diamonds that God hid in South Africa made all these people friends.

The deed was signed by Julius Wernher, Alfred Beit, Lionel Phillips, Ludwig Breitmeyer, Friedrich Eckstein (his brother), Charles Rube and Ludwig Wagner.

Eckstein understood the power of networking. He was after all a founding member of the Rand Club, an exclusive idea promoted by Rhodes for use by the Randlords. The Club that still exists in downtown Johannesburg provided a platform for the Randlords to exchange ideas and knowledge.

Eckstein was the first President of another club that still exists today, the Wanderers' Club.

Eckstein was an outstanding financial engineer of his time and this earned him respect at a time where greed was king and dishonesty the order of the day.

He was a man of integrity and that is why his contemporaries were compelled to preserve his legacy so that future generations may know that the present was not a product of inaction but a consequence of actions and choices of people like us.

As we look to the future, we must be not only dreamers but also architects of how we want to be remembered for life has no meaning unless its experiences can impact positively on humanity.

Every time, I visit the Zoo in Johannesburg, I shall remember that were it not of Eckstein's impact on his colleagues this would just be another piece of ground occupied by residential or commercial properties or at the very least barren land.