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Africa, a Perennial Colony Inhabited by the Custodians of its own Poverty

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Africa has been a serious victim of foreign colonialism for a long time under the brutal grip especially of former imperialist nations such as France, Belgium, Britain and Portugal among others who are believed to have impoverished and brainwashed its citizens.

The consequences of Europe’s colonisation of Africa can be highly conspicuous but that should not blind people from seeing that this continent has also been and is now under the yoke of native colonialism by its very own sons and daughters at the expense of their fellows, the majority of whom languish in abject poverty.

There is an article published in Modern Ghana titled Native Colonialism, Africa’s Ferocious Predator, which is about the localised ruthless tyrannical hegemony, based on the philosophy of primitive politics that says “grab all the power or nothing”.

We may talk of slave trade, colonisation and even modern day interference on African affairs by external forces but the real social economic and political problem of Africa is embedded in Africa itself with external forces playing an accessory role and only taking advantage of the native psychological genetics that breed actors of Africa’s prevailing ruling thought landscape.

History and current reality has proven that it is quite difficult to deliver an African brother especially from another cunning, manipulative and selfish African brother who warms himself in the sauna of the politics of power and indulges in the glory of the primitive one winner take all forms of competition and ‘excellence’.

If we really have to objectively look at our history here in Africa, especially considering the mostly used African proverbs and looking at the way how people named their domesticated animals and how parents named their children, you would see that Africa needs deliverance from rock bottom interpersonal hatred, entrenched divisions, glaring jealous and spiritual sabotage (witchcraft).

Benjamin Burombo, a black nationalist and a trade unionist during the colonial era when Zimbabwe was still called Southern Rhodesia said “Each time I want to fight for African rights, I use only one hand – because the other hand is busy trying to keep away Africans who are fighting me”.

Malcom X is believed to have said that “You have to be very careful introducing the truth to the black man, who has never previously heard the truth about himself. The brother is so brainwashed that he may reject the truth when he first hears it. You have to drop a little bit on him at a time, and wait a while to let that sink in before advancing to the next step”.

In the modern days, we have Julius Malema, a South African politician, who is one of the politicians that have on several occasions spoken about the self-hate which for long have mired Africa into the dungeons of socio economic and political abyss.

In a book that I wrote called Primitive Politics and The Poverty Machinery, I explain that a person’s wishes, dreams, aspirations, fears and concerns are determined by what he/she know about:

a) Oneself (your identity, ability, strengths and weaknesses),

b) Fellow human beings (their identities, abilities, strengths and weaknesses) 

c) Nature (the benefits and dangers of water, land and air and the contents thereof). 

The rock bottom interpersonal hatred, entrenched divisions, glaring jealous and spiritual sabotage (witchcraft) that is rampant in Africa is consequential to the prevailing information that its citizens consume from day to day as determined by politics, culture, religion, partisan intelligence services, redundant education and family upbringing among other factors.

It is this knowledge about oneself and the world around him/her which then determines people’s decisions and these decisions are the ones that determine the resulting actions.

Based on this philosophy, if you have wrong information about yourself as well as about other people and nature as influenced by manipulative and cunning politicians through their propaganda, you will develop wrong imaginations which will unfortunately cause you to make wrong decisions and subsequently you will take the wrong actions.

In this case, politicians and people who ignore or who do not know and understand the interconnectedness of nature, fellow human beings and their resources will unfortunately make decisions that interfere with peace and development as the case of Africa in its entirety.

Unfortunately, the corrupted information that people in Africa munch and booze on gives them a substandard and contaminated view of themselves and of the world around them to such an extent that they are prepared to die for their mind twisting tyrannical oppressors and massacre their own truth speaking genuine liberators.

In this way, they guarantee and promote their own continued impoverishment and suffering, thus automatically becoming the custodians of their own poverty.

Venture capitalist, global business speaker and serial entrepreneur Vusi Thembekwayo, in some of his videos and social media posts decries the attitude of the fellow black man on another black man especially when it comes to business and success related issues.

Thembekwayo is a thought provoking young business leader from South Africa who says his mission is to change the African narrative by challenging the mind set and approach towards achieving economic freedom.

Wars, resource exploitation and colonisation was not and is not only peculiar to Africa but was a global phenomenon perpetrated by barbaric and inhuman unregulated capitalist tendencies where ever an opportunity would arise.

As such, right thinking Africans with a futuristic open minded view should ask why Africa has always succumbed to what others have fairly resisted if it’s not because of her inherent weaknesses mentioned in the sixth paragraph above rather than the strength of the enemy.

Way before the arrival of foreign colonialists in Africa, the continent cannot be said to have been a war free and peaceful terrain since what the foreigners came to do, the locals were already doing the same among each other if history books have to be read objectively.

As such, for Africa to be the only perpetual victim and cry baby from decade to decade is mere propaganda especially when it is a continent made of countries whose leaders enjoy executive powers and privileges that are not aligned to tangible and observable results.

South Africa as a nation, though not perfect and while its economy is on a downward trend, it is still comparatively better than its poverty-stricken neighbors in many respects because of its active parliament and a rainbow population that makes it difficult to easily and quickly manipulate or brainwash people of such diversity at one go.

South Africans as a people, though with their own flaws, they still have it in themselves to hold politicians accountable to a certain extend compared to other fellows from the same continent who are manipulated left, right and centre by their heartless criminal politicians.

When I am talking about South Africans, I am not talking about those sporadic thieving xenophobic hooligans but the real well-meaning open minded Ubuntu laden Mzansi natives who have been hospitable, tolerant and engaging when it comes to their interactions with those from Africa and beyond.

Without the later, Southern Africa and much of the rest of Africa would have been in a much terrible situation than it already is in at the moment.

This is because these well-meaning South Africans have been the cushioning and warmth providing fabric to their fellow Africans who have suffered inexplicable first grade abuse in the hands of their own leaders in their very respective life choking and difficult to inhabit home countries.

Brian Kazungu is a Christian, Media Practitioner, Author, Poet, Technology Enthusiast, Entrepreneur and an Opinion Leader.

https://www.amazon.com/author/briankazungu
https://muckrack.com/brian-kazungu

@BKazungu-Twitter

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