My lessons in post-colonial injustice

My lessons in post-colonial injustice

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• Defining the role of the State in post-colonial Africa

• Mushore's ordeal and the Zimbabwe we want

• Does rule of law pose a threat to Africa?

• Capitalism may challenge the poor, but it gives them hope

By Mutumwa D. Mawere
(www.mmawere.com)
Posted to the web: 01/12/2008 18:22:37
IN NOVEMBER 1995, against a backdrop of a promising professional career, I resigned from the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and chose South Africa as my new home.

I arrived in South Africa on November 21, 1995, determined to make a difference in the continent where the majority of the inhabitants look like me. Little did I know then what I now know about the complications and challenges of doing business in Africa.

With no family ties in South Africa, I was always aware that it was not going to be easy to start a new life in a foreign state without a formal job and a developed support system.

I did not have a job but had a loose arrangement with a South African investment bank that had agreed to support an initiative that a colleague and I had put together to mobilize funds for emerging African mining entrepreneurs.

The initiative was informed at the time by a realization that the knowledge, capital and execution gaps that characterized the African mining sector could only be meaningfully bridged by introducing new financing instruments and investing in financial literacy.

The South African mining industry was dominated by “old money” and significant entry barriers existed that precluded the participation of historically disadvantaged persons. Equally, capital and knowledge gaps presented a new set of challenges for non-traditional entrepreneurs.

The face of big business was and still continues to be viewed in race terms in Africa. I was aware then as I am today that if Africa had any prospect of changing such change had to start with me. When I joined the World Bank, eight years earlier, my intention was to see my career through retirement.

I knew that my personal circumstances would never allow me to venture into big business. All I had was a resume that had sufficiently prepared me to assist other people’s dreams and ambitions through financial intermediation.

In my mind, I had accepted that my fate was sealed and my future could not be anything different from that of colleagues who had joined the World Bank before me. They lived a comfortable life and looked at the challenges facing Africa from a third party perspective expecting the continent to be changed by its political leaders and third parties including foreign investors with the support of institutions like development finance institutions.

My understanding of business was also from a third party perspective. I often got angry when at one conference after another that I had the privilege of attending stories were told about the risks and rewards of doing business in Africa from a perspective of a foreign investor.

At these conferences, the face of Africa’s mining investor was exclusively white and principally foreign. Although they intended to make money out of Africa’s abundant resources, such investors never planned to be part of Africa’s political and economic thinking. The interests of foreign investors were defined and clear while African governments in the post Cold War era were keen to attract investment notwithstanding the generally held concerns about neocolonialism.

The African participants at such conferences were black like me and represented the elites of our generation. At IFC, we were concerned about the lack of African entrepreneurs in Africa and the lack of any coherent strategy by African governments to encourage black entrepreneurship.

Many of my professional black colleagues chose to be cynical about Africa’s future. A view was generally held that Africa was inherently corrupt and its future was doomed. While black Africans chose to ignore Africa, many major and junior Canadian, Australian, American and European companies were optimistic about Africa’s future mining prospects.

So when I decided to relocate to South Africa, I knew that my decision was going against the grain of what was generally expected of an African who already was privileged to work for a multilateral organization like the World Bank.

It was after all 18 months into Mandela’s reign and the language of black economic empowerment was already taking root. I was not intimidated by the attitude of both black and white South Africans on black empowerment. Although I am black, I knew that I could never fit into the category of the intended beneficiaries of economic empowerment. You simply had to be a victim of apartheid for you to jump on the empowerment train.

As a committed pan-Africanist, I was concerned about the implications of the BEE project on the African union project that seeks to create a continent without borders. By enacting laws that defined blacks in historical terms a danger always existed that other black Africans would be excluded from participating in the economic transformation of South Africa.

Notwithstanding, I chose South Africa instead of my country of birth as a place to play may part in Africa’s renaissance.

My entry into big business was as much an accident of history as it was pure luck. When I approached T & N Plc in September with an audacious proposal to acquire the company’s entire remaining Zimbabwean and Zambian mining and industrial assets, I knew then as the court proceedings have confirmed for many who may have wondered how I acquired Shabanie and Mashaba Mines (SMM) in 1996 that I had no one to rely upon to raise the acquisition price.

I took the risk to use my pension payout to invest in the project. The structure of the acquisition and its financing reflected the goodwill that I had generated with the representatives of T & N who also were anxious to find a buyer who would add value to the businesses.

It was much easier to negotiate with T & N than to convince my own colleagues that the deal was a commercial and arms length one. T & N never imposed on me the need to be broad-based or to seek the support of the government. I knew then that any form of government support would be poison chalice. The passage of time has proved me right.

Through the SMM deal, my name became famous and in some quarters infamous. From the outset, I encountered more problems from the decisions of my fellow black brothers in government.

Even the people I recruited to assist me in making the SMM acquisition a model of what is possible without any government interference in terms of constructing a new Africa with the support of whites.

For the eight years that I had the privilege of controlling ARL, the company that was the ultimate owner of the SMM group and related companies, I delivered on my promise to transform the inheritance into a serious player in the Zimbabwean economy.

I also took the decision not to participate in executive management in any of the Zimbabwean companies. I also took the decision in line with the agreement entered into with T & N not to declare any dividends choosing to plough the funds back into the company for growth.

The concept of African citizenship was always an issue that had occupied my mind. I knew that in as much as we all want to be African, I could never escape from being labeled Zimbabwean. Even though I chose to reside in South Africa, I am still described in Zimbabwe as being in exile. I resigned from the board of SMM in 1997 and yet it is impossible to convince many people that this is the factual position.

The attitude of the government of Zimbabwe (GOZ) to my entry into the corporate scene in Zimbabwe is just but an extension of the views held by many non-state actors that a Zimbabwean must always remain a Zimbabwean and when you decide to take another citizenship even though it may be of another African country, then one must accept the risks associated with such a decision.

I have learned many things about Company and Insolvency law over the last 13 years to the extent that many now regard me as an informed businessman on corporate law. I now know what nationalization means in practical terms. I now also know what it means when people place importance on the rule of law.

In September 2004, the GOZ decided to nationalize my assets and the journey I have travelled over the last 13 years has taught me how lonely it is to seek to clear your name and fight against injustice. The injustice that takes the form of physical violence is easier to explain than the violence on property and other forms of human rights.

People who have followed my ordeal will never know the real human dimension of the saga. In the quietness of my time, I often reflect on my experiences. I have been enriched by such experiences and believe that sharing such lessons is vital in helping to shape our common and shared future.

The future of Africa is a contested one and is ultimately shaped by each generation. I feel privileged to share the same time with some of Africa’s founding fathers who got into power in the belief that Africa’s promise can best be realised through state action. Africa’s corporate sector is small as is the place of blacks in it but it is patently wrong to take the view that one can strengthen the weak by weakening the strong. One cannot hope to made progress by looking in the real view mirror. I have learned that the challenges of today will not be addressed by looking backwards.

Without a capitalist system, I am acutely conscious that everything that I am credited of doing would not have been possible. I am also aware that if SMM was owned by the state, there was no possibility for me to acquire SMM on similar terms and conditions from any black government that believes that capitalism is toxic to progress.

For Africa to advance its cause, change must come from us. I took the first step to come to Africa and I am extremely grateful that God has chosen me as one of his instruments to expose the fragility and weakness of post-colonial Africa.

As a first generation Zimbabwean born to adopt another African country’s citizenship while not diminishing my enduring interest in my mother country, I believe that my journey and lessons there from can assist in shaping conversations on what kind of African we want to see.

I have learned that you do not have to live in Zimbabwe to be Zimbabwean in as much as you do not have to be black or white to be a citizen. If this is the case, then the face of an African has to be better defined and articulated. Yes I have substantial interests in Zimbabwe but it is not necessary for me to be physically attached to such assets.

Mutumwa Mawere's weekly column is published on New Zimbabwe.com every Monday. You can contact him at: mmawere@global.co.za
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