Malawi President Joyce Banda at the Kuwadzana Clinic in the Republic of Zimbabwe. She handed out gifts to the people. Banda is in Zimbabwe for the International Trade Fair in Bulawayo., a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.
EDITORIAL COMMENT: Africa needs a new development model
Thursday, 09 May 2013 00:00
Zimbabwe Herald
The World Economic Forum on Africa annual gathering opened in Cape Town yesterday, bringing together government leaders business leaders, the media, civil society and the academia to deliberate the way forward for the continent in the face of various factors threatening its future sustainability.
The hosting of the meeting in southern Africa whose theme is “Delivering on Africa’s promise” augurs well for regional accomplishments with economies registering annual growth averaging 5 percent with immense potential to achieve much more.
We are indeed on a transformative journey from being a developing continent to becoming a hub of global growth.
The continent’s positive outlook is however, threatened by fluctuating commodity prices, rising inequality and youth unemployment.
There is also concern that the continent is not getting fair value for its mineral resources as they are being imported in raw form. To build on achievements, African leaders need to strengthen the continent’s competitiveness, foster inclusive growth and build resilience in a volatile global environment.
Accelerating economic diversification, boosting strategic infrastructure and unlocking talent are critical success factors in this new leadership context.
The more than 850 delegates are expected to map out strategies on how the continent can leverage on its current position as an emerging powerhouse while also taking advantage of the natural wealth and human capital.
It is our fervent hope that the Zimbabwe delegation led by the all too familiar Government figures of the Prime Minister and his deputy as well as captains of industry will also add voice to the concerns of developing countries.
There is need to understand the principles behind the World Economic Forum and where it came from.
It in fact reflects its membership and source of funding — global multi-national corporations whose interest is the propagation of the pure capitalist ideology of the Chicago School of Economics.
The focus here is on generating wealth for the minority elite who control global capital.
Coming disguised under the term globalisation, they seek to create conditions all over the world that will allow them cheap access to the resources of all nations in their pursuit of the profit motive.
And the pursuit of profit and social protections for citizens are mutually exclusive concepts, and that is why the WEF agenda continues to ignore issues of poverty alleviation and discourages the provision of affordable social services that include health, education, social security and water by governments.
Some are in fact campaigning for these to be provided by the private sector at a profit!
Because the WEF is a club of the rich elite they have no motivation for developing the poor and ensuring that they rise out of poverty.
As a result, they oppose all governments that seek to empower citizens through wealth and resource distribution such as Zimbabwe’s land reform and economic empowerment programmes.
During her recent visit to Zimbabwe, President Joyce Banda of Malawi was impressed with the country’s land reform programme and spoke her mind on the achievements and transformation it had brought to the people.
No sooner had she left, Western governments and NGOs were summoning Malawi’s ambassadors and the foreign affairs minister to explain the statement — they were already panicking. Malawi is a tiny African country and they are threatening to cut aid and donor funding if she follows that course of action.
Conditions that are favourable for globalisation which allows multi-nationals access to global resources and markets are privatisation, deregulation, trade liberalisation and cuts to government services.
While these prepare the ground for an obscene orgy of profit-making for the multi-nationals, they lead to the breakdown of societies through increased unemployment, poverty, lack of social protection (price controls for basic commodities —water, maize meal, cooking oil —, minimum wage, pensions etc). These are the conditions that come with such programmes as ESAP that has been sold to many African countries with painful experiences.
They are also the same conditions that are part of the austerity measures being forced on Europe (Greece, Spain et al) today and the masses are up in arms against it, causing untold suffering
Africa needs a different economic and development model that guarantees social protection and legislation that empowers citizens economically, protects local industries from unfair global completion and allows it to grow and compete.
Zimbabwe is onto the money in this regard through the indigenisation and economic empowerment programmes that are building on the success of the historic land reform programme.
That is the message that our delegation needs to articulate at this gathering as we anxiously await the outcomes.
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