Eddie Cross's Website

Building Better

Last week the President of Zambia wrote an article for the Washington Post in which he stated 'you cannot eat democracy'. The point he was making is that there is a whole lot more to building a better and more equal society than simply giving people the right to vote. In a meeting in 1974 in Harare, Ndabaningi Sithole was asked by an elderly Pastor 'What education does a boy have to have to become a pilot?'. Sithole replied 'Mdala, Independence'. At the time I felt that was a brilliant response, because black Zimbabweans could have little opportunity to progress, if we did not break the shackles of our history.

Today every Zimbabwean knows that Independence was essential, but it was not enough. There is a great deal more to building a better world, than simple one word solutions.

We have many historical examples - Europe after the Reformation and the religious transformations which led to an end to Feudalism, emergent democracy and the industrial revolution. The United States emerging as the first global super power built on Calvinism, hard work and abundant resources exploited by capitalists and technologies. Singapore, created out of post-colonial Chinese discipline and enterprise under a form of authoritarian democracy. Now China, abandoning the failed experiments of socialism and Maoism and adopting the magic formula of 'just doing what works' and not abandoning their Chinese character or the Communist Party.

In Africa we still have to find the magic formula that works for us. In my view copying what has been done in other continents and among people of very different cultures and background, is not enough. In fact, it may be the very worst thing we can do.

African cultures are based on Tribe, Clan and Family. In many of African failed States, it is these structures that have saved million of lives. The ability in African culture to arrive at the door of a relative, is to secure the right to shelter and food. The extended family systems provide cohesion and stability. Respect for elders, the acceptance of traditional leaders and systems of education that pass on from one generation to another is what works for each social grouping and are all solid foundations for a transition to a more modern society and economic system.

In the late 19th Century, Lobengula, King of the Ndebele in southern Zimbabwe, sent two men to England to appeal to the Queen on his conflict with the settlers who were gradually taking over his country. What is not often recognised is that those two men returned to the Kings Kraal in Gubulawayo and reported to him, verbatim, from memory only, what they had seen and heard in Europe. An astonishing ability, even today.

We tend to think that because we come from a background of western culture and tradition that our ways are superior to those of the indigenous people. In my own life time I have employed men who were handed over to me by a Chief who was paid in salt because they did not know money. What I found however, that those people had a deep understanding of their culture and what worked for them. Inside their villages they exercised democracy in their own way, taking decisions by consensus and these decisions finding binding acceptance on the people involved.

In many ways, Shona culture - the dominant culture here, is more democratic that any system of democracy in the western world. It is just not recognised as such.

But at the same time we have to recognise that creating islands of tradition where tribal cultures of the past, reign supreme, simply do not work for the people involved. Tribal Reserves were created across the English speaking world - the USA, Canada, Australia, South Africa, Zimbabwe and in nearly every case, they have become islands of poverty and little else. The Tribal areas in Zimbabwe are overcrowded, over grazed and in many cases becoming desert. Nothing to do with climate change just a small piece of human society that has not changed to meet the challenges of the day.

So where do we go from here? The first thing for us to recognise is the inherent value in what we have from our past. I see young Zimbabweans who will not speak their own language, they dress like teenagers in New York, they behave like them and think it is 'modern' and better. Its not. The Chinese and the Japanese have not abandoned who they are, but they have modernised their society so that they can compete in a globalised world. Surely we can do the same. Why do our Judges wear wigs? Why are our Parliaments built on a basis that reflects competition for power, instead of collaboration of leadership in the service of our people?

In a Dare or Ndaba, leaders sit in a circle where everyone has the right to speak and decisions are made on a consensual basis, binding on all involved. We live under a western style Constitution where everything is based on competition for power. Is that really a better way? So often this has led to violence, money becoming the driver and distorts the whole process. We need a police force and army to enforce decisions which in traditional societies are binding because everyone was involved.

Somehow we need to take up the task of adopting what is best in our own traditions and culture - be proud of the fact that we are Africans and are different. At the same time we need to recognise that economic systems that supported nomadic, or shifting agriculture, no longer work when our populations reach a certain level. Without ownership, nothing works, that is why China has allowed their rural population to take ownership of rural land. That is why Russia has abandoned the collective. Africa has little choice but to do the same, but there is no reason why we should abandon the traditional Chiefs, rather they should be brought into the centre of a modern African administrative system and given oversight of the local authorities that serve our rural communities. They would do a lot better than Central Government. We almost need two parallel Governments - one for urban populations and the other rural, both reporting to the Presidency.

Then we have to accept that as developing countries we cannot hope to match the education and health services that are available in developed countries. That can also apply to infrastructure and other services, but there are some basic things we can do in this increasingly globalised world.

We need to adopt 21st Century technologies to give our children opportunity. If we had universal, free access to the internet, we could equip every child with a tablet or laptop computer where they could break the ceiling of opportunity that exists for those who do not have money. We need to build basic community clinics within walking distance of every family and link them to a centralised and computerised advisory network that can tell them what to do when their own expertise fails.

We need to build modern Cities that can compete and an infrastructure that will supply cheap, abundant power and energy with efficient and cost effective access to global trade. We already have the most advanced communications and banking systems in the world because we have leapfrogged the alternatives. Most of all we need to give our people, all our people, hope, that we can deliver a better world for themselves and their children.

Eddie Cross
Harare, 1st April 2023