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In Africa, socioeconomic debates have existed for as long as the continent. You know where I am going with this, right? And it's frustrating you. You are even considering skipping to the next article because you have read about socioeconomic issues too many times before.
You have read numerous articles discussing the tireless efforts of recent historical
social, economic, and political advocates like Kwame Nkrumah, Nelson Mandela, Muammar Gaddafi, and more. Yet, despite all the newspaper articles you have read, books you have read, conferences you've attended, and videos of individuals and presidents promising change, for the vast majority of citizens of Africa, social and economic freedom is still a dream they won't see in their lifetimes.
The fact that many still find it a great challenge to put food on the table, own a home, pay for municipal services, and more brings you great frustration.
You watch and observe with great annoyance as economic disparities continue to take away joy and peace from a life that is meant to be fulfilling and tranquil. You watch them take away chances of a world where people are free to work, produce, consume, and invest however they please. You also watch as they take away opportunities to live in healthier societies, cleaner environments, healthy household incomes, and less poverty.
Well, I am not going to tell you any of that. Instead, I am here to tell you what you and I can do right now to help ourselves and others.
We did not lose economic freedom
We lost land, yes. But the ground beneath our feet has always been there. And with that, we have raised cattle, food, children, and families. We have too enjoyed memorable births, marriages, academic successes, professional successes, and more celebrations. It has been a life well lived.
We did lose our minds
We adopted western ways of living and started seeing our local/native lives as barbaric and primitive. What was ever barbaric and wrong with raising cattle, growing millet, drinking chemical-free water from the stream, and living in magical landscapes with trees and grass that ran for endless kilometers? Nothing.
We became elephants trying to adopt ocean life
If an elephant relocated to live in the sea, the knowledge it gained while living on land would be useless to it and those born to live at sea. The elephant's confidence, pride, self-esteem, and self-worth would diminish. Natives of the ocean will mock and laugh at it for its inability to perform a simple task as breathing - it too would cower for failing its promise to live a successful life under water, and its existence will be filled with repeated failures and great sorrow. It would do it well to accept that it is an elephant and it is not dependent on the ocean for its prosperity, rather, its success lies outside of the sea. Have you, elephant you, realised this?
Building our economy outside of western ideology may just be what we need
Let those of us who have taken service in politics do so. Let the rest of us take charge of our social and economic development. Let's start with what we already know and work our way up.
If you have land beneath your feet, plant food.
If you are getting 6000 free liters of water use it to water the plants.
If you have land raise livestock or vegetables and sell them to the community.
If you have skills, sell them to your community. Open a training centre in your backyard.
If you have cash set aside, buy or produce products to sell to your community.
If you are formally employed, get your services from local communities
Africans are industrious. Throughout history, they have raised cattle, grown acres of food, and produced products and services that are needed within their communities. As in any other civilisation, the system worked. What changed? What caused the economic chain to break? It is the loss of patrons. Citizens of the same communities abandoned local products and services for "better" international alternatives.
Freedom fighters did not fail, rather, the economic opposition by those who abandoned local economies grew fiecer - they grew many and conquered the same communities they depend on
Are you one of them? Are you shouting from the fence for Africa to grow and getting impatient with its lack of progress while sipping on foreign coffee? While your kitchen is stocked with foreign milk, sugar, steak, chicken, pasta, and even fruits? Be corrected.
We need to get going. The time is now. Our local communities still have what it
takes to build a healthy economy: vitality, good spirit, and tons of experience and knowledge.
May this be the last time you read this closing line: It is time!
Let's meet at corner tables, Bree Taxi Rank, Kerk Street, and township restaurants and shisanyamas.
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