Ntombi is an accomplished singer and songwriter and continues to thrill her fans with both contemporary music and alluring dances. She is a bustle of energy and lives up to her billing. We are therefore privileged to have secured her participation on Friday, the 9th of July at FashionTV, Village Walk, Sandton.

Please bring your friends along and prepare to roll on in an igniting night.

See you there and be there! Let’s dance the night away with lovable Ntombi Ngcobo this Friday!

In deed against all odds, and with a lot of conflicting and urgent national challenges – like poverty, unemployment and falling educational standards -  a nation was pulled together and worked towards providing world class facilities for the world’s biggest sporting event.

Despite our expectations from all the six African teams that took part in the competition, we remain proud that our representatives gave their all. Of course Ghana deserves a mention for their stubborn display of tenacity, skill and discipline. Despite their eventual defeat, we all remember their determination and fighting spirit. And for being the youngest team in this competition, we should salute their heroic performance.

Therefore, in celebrating 2010’s major sporting event, we should identify those areas of living that make us all human, passionate and emerge out of our challenges in tremendous unison. It is up to us to make this rare African unity short-lived or perennial. With the heat of the moment still on us, what will stop us from riding on the wave of our success and create new forays into more areas of strength?

Who do we look up to? Ourselves, I would declare. We have the duty to build a new consensus for our  continent, something bigger than ourselves, something that causes us to drop everything and unite, something that humbles us, something as close to that as possible.

The 9^th of July is set with that in mind. DRC is 50 years old, and so is Nigeria and other 15 African states. Yet South Africa, Africa’s youngest democracy has become home to many of us. How can each African country achieve the best for its people? Africa looks to its people for what will become of it. Where are we looking at for what will become of us?

Amongst us will be individuals who have turned 50 years of age in 2010, among them Mutumwa Mawere – an avid contributor and prominent African businessman who is credited with several successful initiatives across economic spectrum. He is also a founder and Chairman of AHS, an organisation that he capably leads and inspires. As we recognise the countries that have made it into 50 years of self-rule, we should also embrace those who have weathered 50 years of existence amidst all the danger and promise.

Let’s meet at FashionTV, Village Walk, Sandton, on the evening of the 9^th of July and share an African experience. We all have to be there; we all must be there. Africa, rise and shine.

The anti-colonial movement gathered momentum not only because there was a general feeling that colonialism was immoral but the issue acquired weight in the public mind and attracted remarkable individuals who were willing to devote time, creativity and energy towards ending the system.

Although issues of race continue to be central to post-colonial African historiography, it is astonishing how little of Africa’s political, social and cultural origins of moral capital is brought to bear on analyses of the contemporary world.

What would Africa have been if colonialism had not visited it?  It cannot be denied that settlers had an impact on African societies and economies but equally natives had their own business model that was not dependent on European textiles, iron or firearms.

How did African culture influence and encourage colonialism?

African concepts of property and the relationship between human beings and property informed the choices made by Africans.  The moral capital that was inherited at independence remains the reference point that informs the choices and decisions made in Africa.

Morality in commerce is real and substantial in that it helps enhances security of person and property and promotes the keeping of contracts in commercial activities.

With respect to laws that protect person and property and that enforce the keeping of contracts, it is important that we locate the origins of the moral rules that underpin the construction of capital in Africa as well as the foundation of what we can describe as commercial civilization.

The complex history of Africa has posed a challenge to building a sustainable moral order in which members of the community live voluntarily by the morals that were inherited from the very system that was generally regarded as immoral.

In understanding the commercial civilization of Africa and its rules, the concept of capital has to be unpacked.

Generally understood, capital consists of resources owned by individuals and juristic persons that are applied in the production of goods and services.

The concept of capital can also apply to non-transactional activities and it need not be owned by individuals and firms but can be collectively owned.

This non-transactional form of capital is what conferred advantages to settlers in colonial Africa.  It gave settlers a framework and a constitutional order in which race played a key role in its construction and execution.

Morality, therefore, falls within this extended meaning of capital as it can be seen from the viewpoint of the individual and society in general.

Colonial morality had its own challenges in that the beneficiaries from its order had to suspend their sense of general morality to allow for the creation of a dualistic political, social, cultural and economic order that was unjustifiable.

Within this dualistic setting, settlers gained a reputation for trustworthiness that induces others to deal with Africa and this form of capital encouraged more people to consider Africa as a home.

However, to the extent that natives were alienated from property including land and natural resources, they did not acquire the same reputation.

Morality has a bearing on transaction costs.  Trading can best be lubricated by a moral order that is reliable and enforceable through self-help or third party intervention in the event of breach of obligation.

At independence, Africans had a choice to make whether to create an order that encourages rule breaking or rule observance.

After more than 50 years of independence, we have to ask whether an investment in moral capital has been made.

To what extent do the rules in post-colonial Africa owe their existence to the moral conduct of the continent’s citizens?

On Friday, 2 July as the world was waiting for the historic match between the remaining African soccer team, Ghana, and Uruguay, the world also got the news that South Africa’s former police chief, Mr. Jackie Selebi, was found guilty of corruption.

As some people celebrate the conviction of Selebi, a danger exists that his experiences as a post-apartheid state actor whose history and background did not prepare him to hold such a position in an environment that values access to material wealth will not be used to reflect on what kind of Africa we want to see.

The colonial state was interest-based and yet many of the post-colonial actors were placed in the state as a consequence of a civil and political rights struggle.

The transformation of anti-colonial moral order actors into administrators of a state that they were not prepared economically to work for was seamless.

Selebi like many of his contemporaries had a long walk to freedom and yet when they became free they did not have the means to enjoy the freedom.

The piece of legislation that was used to nail Selebi is a post-apartheid construction suggesting that he his comrades were the authors of his demise.

The morality that informs our reaction to corruption has to be interrogated.

What is clear in the Shaik and Selebi trials is that it is no longer safe for any businessman to assist or fraternize with a state actor whose remuneration as a state actor may not be sufficient to support a lifestyle that is generally expected and enjoyed by fellow former comrades who took the decision to join the business ladder.

To who should state actors turn to when they need financial assistance?  Is there a case to be made that a negotiated moral capital order has to be crafted to deal with the challenges of constructing a post-colonial order that is zero tolerant on corruption?

The role of the state in prosecuting the national democratic revolution has been recognized as critical and facilitative.  The state needs to be capacitated by human capital whose conduct is generally expected to be above the norm.

Human existence is generally corrupt.  Human beings are inherently subjective in the choices they make.

They can discriminate and, therefore, can choose who to communicate with and not.

In making the choices, human beings end up favoring people who have access and in so doing corrupt the processes of the state in a manner that we all condemn.

What was the morality of the colonial order?  What is the morality of state actors who hold power universally?  What was the relationship between state and non-state actors during the colonial era?  What was the perspective that informed notions of corruption?  How was the vice of corruption handled during the colonial era?

The origins of the moral capital that we now see or want to see in Africa may easily be missed in the confusion of the personal experiences of Africa’s post-colonial state actors.

The need to understand human behavior in a holistic sense cannot be overstated.

Every human being wants a better life and many would want to jump a queue while condemning the people who do so.

If a short walk to a bank is more preferable than a long walk to freedom, it is important that the ideology that underpins the post-colonial moral order reflect the challenges of the day.

It is not accidental that the relationship between Agliotti and Selebi has its own racial context.

When Selebi needed help he had no black person to turn to.  He may have been naïve to trust his personal relationship with Agliotti as harmless and proceeded to confide in a friend not only what the friend was doing with the intelligence gathered.

People tend to share information with close associates and, therefore, it is always a challenge for anyone to know in a relationship to establish conspiracy without knowing the state of mind of the players.

The convictions of Selebi and Shaik have raised the bar for doing business in Africa and the role of lobbyists in the value chain.

It is time for reflection and not celebration as the victims in the chain will grow daily and the people who preside over such matters particularly in Africa may lack the understanding of the state of mind of a native when he/she interacts with lobbyists.

Johnny Muteba is an Executive member of Africa Heritage Society. Below is an article about  him and the kind of Africa he would like to see. What is your opinion on the kind of Africa you want to see? Feel free to leave your comments and share with us your views. This is what Johnny Muteba had to say:

Johnny Muteba Milembo, founder and director of Afromol Vision.

I was born on 10 October 1978 in the Democratic Republic of Congo. After finishing my high school, I was faced with a decision, to either go to the university or travel abroad. The reason for my decision was because my family did not have money to send me to the university, so I had to look for money to support my parents who were old. I went to the diamond fields and started digging just like many young people of my age. After unsuccessful attempts and many days of sleeping outside in the cold mines, something came up and I was closer to fulfilling my dream of going to varsity. The only problem that presented itself was that if I choose to go to the university the money would not be enough to finish all my academic years. So instead of studying, I decided to travel, and Canada was my destination. The money would be enough to take me as far as South Africa and from there I wanted to pursue my dream to go overseas. Finally I realised that my dream was indeed in South Africa. I have been in South Africa since 2001. My biggest ambition was now to make films that the South Africans and Africa as a whole would enjoy. This also was not easy as many people discouraged me, telling me that I would not be able to make films as it is very expensive. Deep down my heart I knew that nothing is impossible. It led me to the establishment of a production company, Afromol Vision in 2007. The company started producing TV shows for TV channels in the DRC and to date I have produced more than 4 films, countless music videos, documentaries, TV shows and live events for the UNHCR, IOM, OXFAM, FAIR PLAY FOR AFRICA and I believe all things are possible.

According to the AEC, 127,000 highly qualified African specialists left the continent between 1960 and 1989.   The Office for International Migration, had an average of 20 000 departures per year since 1990.

Why are we leaving the mother land in such big numbers?

Having left the DRC, my country of birth, some ten years ago to look for greener pastures in Nelson Mandela’s country, I was shocked to see a lot of my teachers, friends and other educated people I knew back then who are like me looking for opportunities in South Africa doing the most menial of jobs available. Some of these people left good businesses and their loved ones behind. Today those who used to be doctors have become security guards. I am not saying that being a security guard is something bad, because I was at some point in my life a security guard too. What I am saying is that something happens to your carrier and profession when you move from one country to another. Lucky are those who can still do what they used to do at home because here what matters is not the level of your education but what you can do to put food on the table.

How many of the people who have left this continent can still continue to contribute economically for the advancement of the people of Africa? How many can come back to invest without being afraid of being arrested from political leaders who accuse many of us out of our countries of being spies.

The Africa I want to see is an Africa that can pay and keep the talent at home, because I believe Africa is the only continent that sells its best. The best African soccer players are not in Africa, they are in Europe, America, Asia and other parts of the world. Our best doctors are not here. Our best musicians want to leave the continent for greener pastures. Our finest professors are in America and Europe and they are very afraid to come back home for fear of victimisation and imprisonment.

Where are America’s best musicians, scientists and doctors? They are all in America.

]]> http://africa-heritage.com/blog/2010/07/01/the-africa-i-would-like-to-see/feed/ 1 http://africa-heritage.com/blog/2010/07/01/africa-2010-%e2%80%93-building-africa%e2%80%99s-moral-capital-institutions-%e2%80%93-part-2-of-20/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=africa-2010-%25e2%2580%2593-building-africa%25e2%2580%2599s-moral-capital-institutions-%25e2%2580%2593-part-2-of-20 http://africa-heritage.com/blog/2010/07/01/africa-2010-%e2%80%93-building-africa%e2%80%99s-moral-capital-institutions-%e2%80%93-part-2-of-20/#comments Thu, 01 Jul 2010 11:35:12 +0000 Charity Mugumbate http://africa-heritage.com/?p=1816 http://africa-heritage.com/blog/2010/07/01/africa-2010-%e2%80%93-building-africa%e2%80%99s-moral-capital-institutions-%e2%80%93-part-2-of-20/feed/ 0 http://africa-heritage.com/blog/2010/06/20/africa-2010-%e2%80%93-building-africa%e2%80%99s-moral-capital-%e2%80%93-justice-and-commerce-%e2%80%93-part-1-of-20/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=africa-2010-%25e2%2580%2593-building-africa%25e2%2580%2599s-moral-capital-%25e2%2580%2593-justice-and-commerce-%25e2%2580%2593-part-1-of-20 http://africa-heritage.com/blog/2010/06/20/africa-2010-%e2%80%93-building-africa%e2%80%99s-moral-capital-%e2%80%93-justice-and-commerce-%e2%80%93-part-1-of-20/#comments Sun, 20 Jun 2010 09:09:27 +0000 Mutumwa Mawere http://africa-heritage.com/?p=1802 Africa’s future belongs to builders.  Our civilization has evolved and contemporary African civilization is dualistic with one part based on laws and other institutions underpinned by a market system and another that is based on what can be described as African norms, traditions and custom.

I was born in Zimbabwe and I must confess that there is nothing that prepared me to be a businessman of the scale that I have been privileged to engage in.

The political, social, moral and economic morality that informed the colonial constitutional order did not allow natives a large measure of freedom in seeking profit through voluntary exchange and, therefore, my worldview has been influenced by my own personal experiences.

When I started writing my weekly columns, I had no idea that my views on a number of issues would resonate with many of the people who have been kind enough to share their comments with me.

As a businessman in post –colonial Africa, I sometimes find myself lonely with very few friends and family who understand and appreciate the impact of moral capital deficiency on Africa’s development and growth prospects.

I have come to the inescapable conclusion that business development is unsustainable without moral capital investment.

This view is not only supported by my personal experiences but by the notion that markets and morals evolve together and are, therefore, aspects of the spontaneous order of any society.

In the following 20 articles, I will examine the viewpoint that morals and markets should evolve spontaneously with a view to better understand the connections, if any, among moral capital, commerce and economic performance.

In searching for the reasons why Africa lags behind other human societies in reducing the frontiers of poverty and ignorance, it is important that we use our own experiences to demonstrate the need for building Africa’s moral capital as a sine qua non for economic prosperity.

I submit that the depletion or absence of moral capital can result in economic deterioration.

In post-colonial Africa, it has been argued that the lack of development is a direct consequence of the conspiracy of a diminishing number of white settlers and the machinations of imperialists.

We rarely pause to reflect on the impact of moral capital deficiency in undermining Africa’s future.

It is often easy in human affairs to point a finger at others forgetting that lack of investment on moral issues can cause more harm to progress than due to alleged conspiracy.

In these articles, I hope to provoke thought about what kind of society we want to see and live in and more importantly what we can do to enhance the inventory of moral capital.

I start with the connection between moral capital and justice because I believe that although morality in all forms is conducive for business development, justice has a special significance.

I, however, need to preface my insights with an observation that the relationship between native Africans and justice has not been a pleasant one.  Notwithstanding, I submit that the rules of justice are indispensable for commerce.

The nature of our knowledge and institutions demonstrates that accumulated experience is the source of human moral rules.

As human beings we do not have the foresight of the future and as Adam Smith correctly observed the idea that we can derive from reason the first principles of right and wrong is “altogether absurd and unintelligible”.

Every step that we make into Africa’s future is made with blindness of what lies ahead.  Great nations are a consequence of human action.

Africa like may nations has produced brilliant people but the genius of human progress can and should not be located in the minds of people with a capacity to reason but in the spontaneous and unintentional coincidences of human behavior and the retention by communities of practices that reward them.

Generally people learn the rules of justice through the experience of exchange and barter.  Such rules are formed by practice and their existence and value dawn on all of us as we are exposed to daily experiences of life.

What is fundamental in any progressive society is that exchange takes place between voluntary contracting parties.  For every transaction, there must be willing contracting parties.

Accordingly, it would be difficult for a person to exchange anything that is not acknowledged by others as belonging to him/her.  Title is, therefore, critical to both the buyer and seller and exchange requires the stability of possessions in any civilized society.

Where there is justice there can never be property and the converse is equally true.  Exchange requires promises to be kept and trade can be constrained by lack of trust.

So when I read the article published by the Herald on 18 June 2010 entitled: “Its not over yet for Mawere” http://allafrica.com/stories/201006180047.html I could not help but use the words of Minister Chinamasa, Minister of Justice and Legal Affairs, of the Republic of Zimbabwe to expose what a deficiency or depletion of moral capital can do to a nation and more importantly why the silence of the many can actually lead to moral capital decay of the order that can pose a toxic threat to progress.

In response to my de-specification, Minister Chinamasa who accompanied by the Attorney General, Hon. Tomana, attended the hearing of a case before the Supreme Court on 17 June 2010 challenging the constitutional validity and the actions and decisions of the Minister and the Administrator appointed pursuant to the operation of a decree promulgated by President Mugabe allowing for the extra-judicial placement of my group of companies under the control of a state appointed Administrator; he said that the de-specification by an administration of which he is part of had no bearing on the criminal charges that I was facing.

This is what Minister Chinamasa is reported to have said in a statement published by the Herald: “Mr. Mawere and several other organizations stood accused of prejudicing the company of various amounts of money as declared by the Administrator, Mr. Gwaradzimba.  As the Administrator was not persuaded to amend his culpability statement, he was obliged and did apply to a judge in chambers for confirmation of the culpability of the culpable persons.  The Application is pending before the High Court under case number HC6684/06.  It will be apparent from the afore-going that Mr. Mawere has, therefore, been declared culpable in accordance with the provisions of the law.  What remains is for the judge to consider the confirmation of his culpability.”

It is important that we interrogate the statement by Minister Chinamasa to better appreciate the challenges that Zimbabwe is facing in building its moral capital.

The facts of the matter are that the company in question, SMM Holdings Private Limited (SMM) is and has been at all material times a private company.  How then did SMM become a state matter?

SMM is a wholly owned subsidiary of SMM Holdings Limited, a company incorporated in England that in turn is owned by Africa Resources Limited, a company incorporated in the British Virgin Islands.

In order to obtain control of SMM, the first person to be attacked was I.  A warrant of arrest was issued on 22 May 2004 followed by an extradition application in South Africa.  On 25 May 2004, I was then arrested and appeared before a South African court on 27 May 2004.  I was then remanded on bail for a 30-day period to allow the Zimbabwean government to present their case before the court.  On 28 June, I appeared before the court and the case was dismissed leaving Minister Chinamasa with egg on his face.

He then responded on 9 July 2004 invoking the Prevention of Corruption Act by issuing a specification order on the same allegations that informed the extradition application.  This was followed by the specification of SMM and related companies on 26 August 2004.  Minister Chinamasa appointed Messrs. Mangoma and Saruchera as Investigators of me and SMM, respectively.

Section 10 of the Prevention of Corruption Act sets out what a specified person can and cannot do and more significantly prohibits any other person from dealing with the assets of a specified person.

Notwithstanding, barely 10 days after the appointment of Saruchera as Investigator, Minister Chinamasa issued a reconstruction order in respect of SMM and related companies and in so doing allow for the creation of an Administrator to do precisely what is prohibited by Section 10(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

The reconstruction order was granted using state of emergency laws and it is significant that the regulations did not allow for judicial involvement in contravention of the provisions of the Constitution.

Notwithstanding, the Administrator was given powers that can only be possible in an undemocratic constitutional order.

It is significant that the Minister makes an issue that Gwaradzimba identified me as culpable for allegedly prejudicing a company that I am a beneficial shareholder of.

If the state were a bona fides creditor then there would be no need of a new legislation to protect such a creditor.

For any rational person when you hear a Minister in a democratic constitutional order saying that a finding by a partisan tribunal needs judicial confirmation then one must know that something fundamentally wrong has taken place.

Under the constitution of Zimbabwe, an independent tribunal can only adjudicate a dispute between two contracting parties.  An Administrator is a creature of statute and was appointed Minister Chinamasa and can, therefore, be hardly described as independent.

Only a court should determine and not be reduced to a rubber stamp of the culpability of any person.  However, the words of Hon. Chinamasa exposes the kind of morality that informs his actions and decisions for a country that is in urgent need of investment.

The fact that Hon. Chinamasa can confidently issue this kind of statement confirms that the morality that informed the pre-inclusive government is very much entrenched and crystallized.

Any investor in Zimbabwe would be aware of the implications of the law that Minister Chinamasa now relies upon to justify actions and decisions that serve to undermine the credibility of the state and its institutions.

In building a sustainable and predictable society, it is not the actions of evil people that determine the future but the silences of the many who choose to be spectators while instruments that threaten business confidence become the order of the day.

The words of Hon. Chinamasa have to be carefully analyzed as they project a viewpoint that is prevalent in the minds of many policy makers that moral capital is irrelevant to commerce.

Without a fairer distribution of natural resources, and if people are not well educated, we can not hope to have peace, wealth and development. Japan for instance, has no natural resources and only about a quarter of its land is suitable for agriculture. A significant natural resource for Japan is its education system, labour force and fish. Japan is the world’s largest importer of coal and second largest importer of oil, yet today it is the second wealthiest nation in the world. Africa has all the natural resources, from diamond, gold, and copper to platinum, chrome and wood, the list is endless, but it owns nothing and is the poorest continent in the world.

My hopes for Africa are extremely basic. I would like to see our natural resources being distributed and utilised more effectively and efficiently so that there is improved, cheaper and better means of communication, better infrastructure, better transportation system, improved customer service, better education for all which will lead to a better economic system and therefore a better continent.

I would like to see an Africa with cultural values. Our beliefs, attitudes and principles must be cherished. I want an Africa that spells out the way people behave, an Africa that influences what choices people make, an Africa that doesn’t inherit western values, an Africa with a set of shared attitudes, values and practices that characterise a true Africa, an Africa with no conflicts and war as a result of tribalism, but an Africa with people who understand and respect each other better.

I want an Africa that has respect for other people. Stories are told daily about illegal drug cultivation, abuse and human trafficking being on the rise. It is almost as though drugs are the only resource that Africa owns and people seem to expend a lot of effort and time and find pleasure in drug dealing and abuse. It is almost as though they believe that drugs are the only source of  income , yet this is not something one can bank on or build a life on. Once you are caught on the wrong side of the law, there is neither good explanation nor a legitimate excuse to get you out of the chains of the law officers.

I want an Africa that leaves a good legacy for generations to come.  An Africa that is free of corruption and wider problems like HIV and AIDS be tackled most effectively. An Africa with unselfish minds, but minds that are only fair .  I want an Africa that can change our perceptions so that everyone thinks positively and is always willing to do the right thing at the right time.

As you read this short script, you may be having problems understanding how one leader could have been so powerful. Or you are preoccupied with these many things a certain leader has ‘failed’ to do for those he leads. You may know a CEO, an MD, a President or a Chairman whom you wished had just acted differently. But I will disturb that and scuttle your thinking trail. What if you are right about that? What if you are wrong? If we start to challenge our perspectives, we may be lucky to find a new meaning in the role of a leader.

Is the role of a leader any different from that of the follower? Isn’t the leadership role such a besieged phenomenon? Those who seek to be led rarely take the time to understand the lonely position of a leader. Where do leaders go when they are bowed over and pressed all the way to the ground? Does the life of a leader wait until all the problems are solved? What have been your challenges as a leader and how do you keep the followers adequately pleased?

As we continue the intercourse with poverty, we must recognize the importance of personifying, understanding and solidifying this unwelcomed guest. Coming to think of it, poverty seems to carry similar properties to love, to some extent. It is infinite because it is intangible.

Even so, we need to remember that we are born loving, but not poor, therefore there is something unnatural about poverty. It seems to come about, as one continues to see more dawns and dusks, and inhales misguided notions of what it means to come alive. Poverty, like money is unnatural. We need to create a World Bank of Poverty and deposit xenophobia, despondence, ignorance so that we can come to see, appreciate and grow the little unity that we have, the little hope that have, and the little education that we have.

It is said there are only two ways to change things. Change can be achieved by brutally ramming down the doors of resistance, the problem with that method is that one would have permanently sold their right to peace and safety at the cost of impermanent anger and rage.

de Klerk and Mandela 1994

Change can also be achieved through understanding. We do not have to be lovers that consume more strawberries and cream than water to understand one another.

We do not have to be comrades that crawled under the fences of apartheid during the liberation struggle to understand those that erected them.

We do not have to be of the same racial divide to understand, because we do not bleed our skin pigmentation.

We need to sincerely enter into a genuine consultative frame of mind with the unrelenting pursuit to understand because were it not for that Nelson Mandela and Frederik de klerk would not have come to the point where they clutched and raised one another’s hand at the inauguration of in 1994. We need to get to know this “poverty” that so many of us seem to be fighting. I have a feeling that if we engage in an intercourse with poverty, perhaps being poor will mean having 3 nutritious meals a day.

Perhaps being poor will mean having enough resources to take one’s children through school and tertiary so that they can fathom their dreams.

Perhaps being poor will mean that our brothers and sisters who are in the midst of an intercourse with wealth will see the value of weaving ropes of opportunity and throwing them down to the valleys of misfortune to pull up those that are willing to climb.

If we have a civilized intercourse with poverty, perhaps we can rewrite the meaning of poor so as pluck the xenophobic lice that feeds off our tolerance for one another as Africans.

We need to get to know this “poverty” that so many of us seem to be fighting.

Poverty prevails when we categorize people as poor. The problem with being branded poor is that it implies that our humanness is defined by what we possess, and those that do not have much to show are less human. We need to realize that that there’s no such thing as having nothing, because when we declare ourselves as having nothing to lose we can still lose a leg, or lose an arm, a family member or our lives; surely that must count something.

We need to take a stand and ask our friends that call us poor to explain to us, without economic jargon, “What is poor”. And if they are well spoken so as to overwhelm our broken English with their polished words and accents, then we don’t need to feel defeated. We need to organize ourselves to build our own schools, roads, homes and clinics for we have proven countless times, that out poor backs are strong enough to have built the hotels that they find so much pride sleeping in.

One of the strongest symptoms of poverty are seen when we blame others for our own misfortune. Yes, there are those that have caused us great pain, and misfortune, probably more than they envisaged, but the pen of history belongs to those that have taken the initiative to change their misfortunes into fortunes. That is the opportunity in poverty.

As I conclude, I wish to send a message to all that find themselves embroiled in poverty. As you read, you do not know the depth of my bank account, and yet I’m certain you can sense that if it were shallow and I had nothing to show for my 25 years of life, I would not be poor, for I am too mentally claustrophobic to be contained in a four lettered word. ]]> http://africa-heritage.com/blog/2010/06/17/intercourse-with-poverty-personification-35/feed/ 2 http://africa-heritage.com/blog/2010/06/17/africa-heritage-trade-market-fair/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=africa-heritage-trade-market-fair http://africa-heritage.com/blog/2010/06/17/africa-heritage-trade-market-fair/#comments Thu, 17 Jun 2010 07:39:24 +0000 raphael http://africa-heritage.com/?p=1768

For directions to the Africa Heritage Trade Market Fair Click Here.