Industrial Development – China and Africa IGC Public Discussion at the LSE: What Was Said

"You can learn from anyone, even your enemy" - Ovid, Roman Poet. 

The Comrades at LSE. Industrial Development - Africa and China. LSE June 2016.

If a conference, lecture, or discussion has Africa in the title, my Comrades and I will spare the time (and no expense) to attend. It being a long accepted principle among ourselves that you can never have too much information/knowledge on a subject you care about. We have no other true home but on the African continent and, wherever we may find ourselves to be at present, is in but a transient home. 

Whenever I think about the duty that the African, wherever he or she may be, owes to the continent, my mind always goes back to my reading of Joseph Conrad’s The Heart of Darkness (HoD). The dedication to exploiting Africa that Mr Kurtz and his cohorts in the “Society for the Suppression of Savage Customs” had, in HoD, is the same dedication the African – wherever he/she may be – must have in contributing to Africa’s becoming primus inter pares of the continents.

Of course, I do not say this in the spirit of Pan-Africanism, because I think Pan-Africanism is a very unwieldy and wishy washy concept. The units of analysis that interest me are the African countries (separately) and, the African – wherever he or she may be – must look to contribute to his or her country’s developmental success, which will, in turn, automatically translate to Africa’s developmental success. I do not have to say anything more on this idea as even a child can understand it in the form I have presented it here. 

The Economist who discovered/articulated the concept of scarcity should be awarded a Nobel Prize for Economics every year: such a simple concept, yet it explains a lot. There are so many conferences and discussions with Africa in the title that there is just not enough time to attend them although the will is there. That is scarcity 101 for you right there! It is for this reason that my Comrades and I have had to do something that is the complete antithesis of our constitution: discriminate. It’s un-African to discriminate but we have been forced to choose to go to only the conferences and discussions at the highest ranked institutions and where the highest ranked public speakers are in attendance. It’s a pandering to elitism that I am usually very much against, but you can’t win them all.

With these considerations in mind, we attended the International Growth Centre’s June 2016 public lecture series at the London School of Economics and Political Science. The one we chose was as above stated: Industrial Development – China and Africa. The question to answer in these discussions has always been; can Africa copy the China model and develop in leaps and bounds as China has done in the past 15 years? Forget not that, as recent as 1999, Chinese people were dying in shipping containers while escaping poverty in China as Africans are doing in the Mediterranean Sea at the moment. It is this question of the China model we wanted to get some clues to. Make no mistake, there are no definitive answers in these discussions about complex affairs such as these. You only get some nuggets of information, some clues, and some hypotheses. The best you can hope for is that these nuggets will come in handy at some appropriate time. 

I have rambled on, let me get to the point of this blog entry, which is: what was said at the Industrial Development – China and Africa Public Discussion. A lot was said and some of the things completely escaped me because you can only understand the things that can be processed by your frame of reference. I went wanting to know why Zimbabwe and Mozambique haven’t “strong armed” China into developing the Port at Beira and the road and rail link to Harare into an international standard facility. Beira is very near to Harare, just 284 miles,compared to Durban’s 830 miles and Walvis Bay’s 1127 miles. I got my answer to that question, but it will need a whole separate blog entry to discuss that answer. 

The one thing that made me really sit up and listen was when one Economist touted the possibility that Africa could now become China’s sweat shop as China was the world’s sweat shop in its development. It is now possible, and necessary, for China to outsource its manufacturing to Africa as its present affluence means that it is no longer cost effective to manufacture goods in China. The same economist went on to say that Ethiopia could have 318 000 jobs created as a result of this outsourcing, these are mouth-watering numbers compared to the just 114 000 people Ethiopia currently employs in its manufacturing sector. The trick for the African governments is to be aware of this possibility, then create conditions that allow for the manufactured goods to be transported across borders without much delay. The benefit to the African governments is that they will have an employed population (tax base) and the knowledge and skills transfer that comes with such a venture. In time, and with affluence, these African countries will also look to make places like Europe their sweat shops once it is no longer cost effective to manufacture goods in the African countries. Of course, a China expert also talked about the problems of the China model, but that is a discussion for a whole separate blog entry and a different day.

Industrial Development - Africa and China. LSE June 2016.

Industrial Development - Africa and China. LSE June 2016.

Industrial Development - Africa and China. LSE June 2016.

Industrial Development - Africa and China. LSE June 2016.

Industrial Development - Africa and China. LSE June 2016.

Industrial Development - Africa and China. LSE June 2016.

Zvakaipei Kutoodza Tsika Dzevamwe/Is It Necessarily Bad To Copy Foreign Customs?

“Kana tsika nemagariro evanhu vakasiyana siyana dzikaunganidzwa panzvimbo imwe chete, mumwe nemumwe anotora tsika nemagariro enyika yake, sezvo vanhu vese vachifunga kuti dzavo tsika dzakanaka kukunda dzevamwe vese” – VaHerodotus, Nhoroondo Dzepasi Chigare.

Uyo mubvunzo wandabvunza pamusoro apo uyo wakauya mupfungwa dzangu mwedzi wapfuura, sezvo ndakwanisa kufunga nezvawo kwemwedzi wese, mhinduro ndave nayo. Vazhinji vanoteedzera zvandinonyora paFacebook pangu vanoziva kuti ndiri pakati pekunyora bhuku rangu pamusoro petsika nemagariro evanhu vemuZimbabwe. Mubhuku iri ndirikuda kunyatsocherechedza kuti ndione kuti tichiri kuchengetedza tsika dzedu here, uye takasiyana papi mumagariro edu nevanhu vedzimwe nyika. Bhuku rangu parinopera, richakwanisa kuudza avo vachateera kumashure kwedu kuti vanhu veZimbabwe vanobvepi, vanoendepi, uyezve ndevapi vanokodzera kunzi vana veZimbabwe. Pamusoro peizvozvi, richadzidzisa vanhu kuti ndedzipi tsika dzakakodzera kuchengetedzwa uye ndedzipi dzakakodzera kuraswa sezvo dzinenge dzisisafambirane nenguva.

Nekuti handisi kuda kurembesa munamato sadza richiripora pano apa, ndichangoti ga ga pakudaira mubvunzo wandabvunza pamusoro apo uyo. Bhuku rangu rinoshoropodza mauyiro akaita vachena munyika yeZimbabwe, asi parinosiyana nevatongi vedzimwe nyika vanoshoropodza kuuya kwevachena zuva nezuva asi ivo vachiteedzera tsika dzevachena, pamwe chete ipapo vachinyara tsika dzedu dzechitema ndepekuti, rinoti; hazvisi zvese zvakaunzwa nevachena zvakashata. Chakashata chete mauyiro avo. Aya haasi mashoko angu aya, mashoko avaCesaire pavainyora Nhoroondo Yavo Yemauyiro eVachena kuAfrica. VaCesaire vanoti ivo vanhu vega vega vanoda kusangana nevamwe kuti vadzidzisane zvinhu zvakasiyana siyana zvinenge zviri zvitsva kwavari. Ivo vachena vacho vakakwanisa kubudirira nekuti vaifamba munyika dziripedyo navo vachiteedzera zvakanaka zvavainge vasina munyika dzavo. Dai vakauya pahushamwari kuAfrica, ropa rakawanda ringadai risina kumbo deuka.

Kuti ndinyatsopindura mubvunzo wangu regai ndikupei mufananidzo uyu: handizive kana makaverenga here bhuku rinonzi Mapatya. Mapatya ibhuku rinoti pasi chigare kwaiti kukazvarwa mapatya, vanhu vaiti zvinoshura munhu kuzvarwa vana vaviri, saka mwana mumwe chete aitourayiwa kosara mumwe chete chete. Regai ndibva ndangokuudzai kuti iyi ingori ngano, hazvireve kuti ndozvaiitika zvechokwadi, asi chidzidzo chatinogona kuwana ipapo chakakosha zvakadaro. Ngatitii vamwe vanhu vedunhu rakavakidzana neredu vobva vangokwanisawo kuziva kuti chii chaicho chinokonzera kuti mapatya azvarwe, vosiya tsika iya yekuuraya mumwe chete wemapatya – poshaya shura rinoitika kwavari - vakatishanyira vakatitsanangurira magariro avavakuita kubva pavakaziva izvi, isu tinogona kuteedzera tsika yavo yavave kuita zvisinga kanganise kana chinhu chimwe chete pamagariro edu. Zvishoma izvozvo zvandataura izvi zvinofanirwa kutiudza kuti hazvina kuipa kuteedzeera tsika nemagariro evamwe akanaka kana pasina zvakaipa zvinobva zvawira vanhu vemunyika medu patinoteedzeera zvekunze izvi. Zvinhu zvatinenge tateedzera kubva kunze zvinofanirwa kuti zvingoitwa kuti zvive zvinoenderana nezvimwe zvakanaka zvinenge zviri mutsika nemagariro edu nekare.

Is It Necessarily Bad To Copy Foreign Customs?

“For if one should propose to all men a choice, bidding them select the best customs from all the customs that there are, each race of men, after examining them all, would select those of his own people; thus all think that their own customs are by far the best”- Herodotus, The Histories.

The above question occurred to me about a month ago, as I have had a full month to think it over, I also now have an answer for that question. As many who have seen my Facebook posts are well aware, I am in the middle of writing my own book. My own book interrogates what it means to be Zimbabwean, interrogates our national identity and how we are distinctly different from people from other countries. On completion, my book will inform posterity on our origins, our future and on who has the right to claim to be Zimbabwean. Moreover, my book will locate Zimbabwe’s place in the international system in such a manner that Zimbabweans will know where exactly to draw their red lines against encroachment by the forces of globalisation (in all spheres).

For brevity’s sake I will just answer the question I asked above without taking the circuitous route. Although, in essence, my book is a nationalist’s playbook, it differs from politicians’ rhetoric in that it is sober in its assessment of the impossibility of maintaining pure identities, customs and cultures. The mixing of cultures was inevitable, what was wrong about it was how the white cultures imposed themselves in Africa. These are not my own words but those of Cesaire when he wrote his A Discourse on Colonialism. In that discourse, Cesaire maintains that contact between civilisations is the oxygen that keeps civilisations alive, he only says that Colonialism was not the best way of making contact. He also points out that Europe's polities developed by learning from others who were in close proximity. The Renaissance and Enlightenment being typical examples. A different kind of contact between Europe and Africa would have spared so much bloodshed.

To answer my above posed question with imagery, let me give you this example; I don’t know if you read the Shona book, Twins. In this book, the birth of twins was thought of a something foreboding doom, and that doom could only be averted if one of the twins was killed soon after birth. I do not need to tell you that Twins is a work of fiction and that this did not necessarily happen in a particular epoch, still an important lesson can be drawn. Suppose a neighbouring people finds out, by trial and error, that no doom will descend on the people because both twins were allowed to live, and suppose these people visit us and tell us this, we can easily adopt their way of doing things without any cost to our polity. This is my whole point, that we can adopt other people’s customs as long as they do not ruin our people. What we will adopt from foreigners will then just be streamlined and adapted to go along with the great customs we already have.

I still have not settled on a book title.