“Black people cannot rule themselves because they don’t have the brains and mental capacity to govern a society. Give them guns, they would kill themselves. Give them power they will steal all the government’s money. Give them independence and power, they will use it to promote tribalism, ethnicity, hatred, killings and wars.” – PW Botha.
The late Kwame Nkrumah believed in a United States of Africa but unfortunately his vision could not manifest due to Africa having unequal distribution of resources throughout the continent.
African countries are rich in resources. Diamonds in Botswana and Namibia, fish in non-landlocked countries, oil in Libya. To focus on Namibia, we have fish, diamonds, gold, copper, grapes, zinc and cattle, but what are we doing with these resources? We tend to export them to foreign, overseas countries at a very cheap price, because they are raw, and import them back processed at an expensive price.
We live in a cycle of neo-colonialism: when the developing countries are economically dependent on the southern regions even though we are politically free. What is stopping us from purchasing equipment and machinery to process and manufacture the resources so that we increase our economic growth and have a balance of payment surplus?
For example, there is a mine in southern Namibia, which has been in operation for more than 30 years, and not once did they have the initiative to build a factory which will enable them to process and manufacture equipment like chairs, tables and machinery.
This is also likely to continue because the partners in the company, and in most companies, are non-Namibians and their main aim is to make a profit to send back to their home country. Therefore, the government, I believe should place stricter rules regarding the exportation of un-processed resources and rather build factories. The same should be done with the grape vines in Aussenkher, instead of exporting raw grapes, make wine!
As blacks we think so highly of the white people to the extent that they decide everything for us. We hate each other so much that it gives the foreigners the chance to exploit our resources. Africa might never become independent, because we believe more in the Chinese and Europeans than in ourselves. We depend so much on these countries and they are colonising us through investments. I really do believe, though, that they have helped us a lot with the building and constructing of schools and roads. But now we have to the take initiative to do things on our own without involvement from foreign countries to the extent where they are taking over. Twenty years from now, Africa might just not belong to us!
AP Amwama is a Grade 11 pupil who aspires to be an economist and an accountant. He loves reading novels and encouraging his peers to do their best.
