Years of broken and failed promises will continue to be the face of Africa if failure is not taken seriously and there are no efforts to account for it. The blame the West mantra has not solved the challenges faced by the average African. While there is no denying the legacy of colonialism, the colonial effects must not be misused to bleach postcolonial specific maladministration issues. Colonialism cannot wholly explain the failure of the African leadership to build working economies and working politics reflective of local values and interests.
Politics and the economic indicators have been on the decline and do not serve a big sector of the population. The rich are getting richer while the poor are getting poorer. We need to come up with better explanations, not bad excuses, why the colonial past does not affect the rich and the elite the same way it does the average black African, and how some economic indicators were better before independence.
Without ignoring the negative effects of colonialism, we must review how progress is measured in the continent. Being led by a black African is not of itself progress, it is what the black leader does with the power entrusted on them that makes or breaks a country. Progress is not to be measured on whether society adds more to the abundance of those who have much, but on whether those who possess too little are adequately protected from the ravaging effects of poverty.
Flamboyant annual independence celebrations held in different African states do not reflect people’s lived experience and should not influence public perception of the politics and economy in the continent. Objective political and economic measures need to inform judgement. Look at what that independence brings for the average African in each state. Pay attention not only on the men and women on the podium during those national events but also at those outside the tent, citizens exposed to the elements, you will better understand Africa.
Africa is lost to itself, it is a divided, unequal, and broken continent with elevated macroeconomic imbalances. Only in Africa can government systems and institutions reflect nothing like local communities.
The psychological damage inflicted by colonialism in Africa is self-evident in the identity crisis. The English and French languages are official languages across Africa when some local languages are not even taught in local schools. Unreasonable as it sounds, it is a symbol of prestige to be less African, and forming closer ties with the West when you are lesser of yourself is easier. Systems and institutions in Africa try to mirror European fundamentals, they reflect the West than they represent the ordinary African.
Instead of building internal validation, unifying communities, and creating systems and institutions that are not alien to our people, we are seeking external validation. African states are divided, fighting among themselves, and falling over each other for the attention and validation of external governments.
Kicking out a Western master only to invite an Eastern king is neither empowerment nor development. African governments are heavily reliant on foreign aid to fund essential services. Foreign aid is not free, it has conditions attached, and it does not fund true independence but protects the interests of the source, it is in fact anathema to independence.
Colonialism marginalised African culture, it created an education system that elevated Western values and left the African with a sense that to be civilised he had to abandon his traditions, norms, and values. It reduced and dehumanised the African person and left economically unviable states. De-colonisation was a necessity for Africa to mould its destiny.
De-colonisation of Africa was seen as a precondition for meeting the goals for the reduction of poverty, reducing inequalities, promoting sustainable development, and building good governance. Today Africa may be politically independent, but it remains economically dependent, and Africans remain broken with no reprieve in sight.
Weak institutions, lack of accountability, lack of innovation and disinvestment in research and poorly maintained infrastructure are Africa’s greatest handicap. And a lack of desire to rectify these issues is calamitous.
While we are busy protecting criminals because they happen to come from our tribes and clans, the criminals are busy extracting resources out of the community and country for their personal benefit.
An underfinanced economy is Africa’s biggest problem; decades into independence, the continent runs a massive trade deficit, it remains heavily reliant on cheap raw materials while totally reliant on the West and other international partners for high value goods. Add bad politics, you have a disaster before you. By 2001, regional GDP per capita in sub-Saharan Africa was lower than it had been in 1981.
People demand for accountability across board; citizens have been betrayed by a power-hungry leadership that simply adopted the colonial State and continued the marginalisation of large segments of the population from decision-making processes. In the post-colonial State, racism was substituted by tribally biased policies which increased vulnerability of certain population groups. Worryingly, local mismanagement of the economy and armed conflict has hampered development.
MTHWAKAZI INDEPENDENT 