Pathways to development in Africa

As the Gauteng team we have recently had a session which was facilitated by Dr Renosi Mokate.Dr Renosi is the CEO of the UNISA School of Business Leadership (SBL) and a chairperson on the SAWIP board (South Africa).

Our discussion was on pathways to development in Africa.She began by giving us the history of Africa;unpacking the periods of slavery and the extractive-colonial period of the continent .We spoke about how the historic economic prospects of the continent was based on the production of raw materials and resources whose economic success did not and was never intended to benefit Africans. The colonizers achieved success of the extractive period through land alienation,forced labor and general dehumanizations of Africans in the quest of economic gains at all costs.

I began to realize how the extractive period has advanced many countries in Europe and the Americas’ economies at the expense of Africans. The cotton industry in America during slavery picked up great momentum to such an extent that african slaves taken to America were not enough to work the land and pick cotton. That period of slavery faced substantial growth as more Africans were needed and subsequently shipped to America.

Now fast forward to the legacy of the past in Africa today. It’s important to note that the prosperity of colonial industries on the continent was never to advance or benefit Africans. This fact is still evident today and one can raise a multitude of examples.

For instance in the past colonizers would produce cocoa and send it to Europe.Today the Ivory Coast supplies more a third of the world’s cocoa and only recently has had a chococolate factory,two years ago to be exact. On the other hand Ghana is the second supplier in the world,they still do not have a chocolate factory.

Second example is the oil that’s is produced in Nigeria ,only today the development of the Dangote oil refinery is underway and scheduled to open in the year 2009.In the mean time all the oil is exported for refinery.

All these (amongst other indicators) in context allowed us to have a feel of the state in which Africa was in the pre-independence state.We also began to dissect new challenges that Africa was faced with and developments she had to undergo which would be inclusive and afford dignity to her people .

We discussed that post colonialism Africa was faced with poverty,inequality and poor standards of living of her people. Some of the first changes on the continent was the development of the constitutions,political infrastructure ,redress policies,building institutions and developing the human rights culture in the African context amongst others. We noted that the political instability has been one of the major hindrances to growth in Africa.

Although political instability has been a major issue,we have also observed countries which have fixed their political and economic infrastructure to be more inclusive so that prosperity could be shared by citizens of the country. A classic example is Botswana under the leadership of Sir Seretse Khama. He made it clear to all the foreign countries with interests to do business in Botswana that the businesses had to benefit batswana/people of Botswana.

We began to understand that in order to forge any substantial development on the continent we need to understand the history that shapes up our countries and society. We learnt that in today’s context development needs to be a lot more inclusive. Development needs to be given a wider definition.Development is pointless if it worsens the living conditions of others.

For example We discussed the conditions of mine workers and how the health implications of miners impact their families. We discussed general social costs of mining and alternative ways to minimize social costs.
On the other hand we spoke about how corruption has impacted shared prosperity on the continent and possible causes of corruption. Furthermore we were able to discuss the importance of restorative justice and how ;albeit multifaceted - can be a tool to fast track development in the face of Africa.

I truly noted how important this session was for me as a young leader whose career trajectory is has started to head towards development policy formulation and inclusive growth. This session enabled me to consciously think of growth and development in a different light from the one a regular citizen looks at it. I personally decided to use the lessons from the conversation in future engagements I have in my career.