Capitalism’s gains ‘elusive’
Empowering citizens the key to success
AS THE continent celebrates Africa Day tomorrow, academics are turning the focus to issues such as Afrophobia and Afri-capitalism which they say form the core of Africa’s challenges.
Dr Njeri Mwagiru, a senior futurist at the Institute for Futures Research (IFR), said Africa did not have the opportunity to engage with the positive aspects or benefits of capitalism and that the private sector had a role to play.
“The real question arises as to how Africa can indigenise capitalism for its benefit and take ownership of it on the continent,” she said.
“Africa’s current form of capitalism still allows the extraction of value without adding corresponding value to society.”
According to Mwagiru, Afri-capitalism embodies the private sector’s desire to contribute to the development of Africa.
“The private sector must be involved in the business of development. Business organisations must act as agents of development.
“It’s a call to action for businesses to make decisions that will increase economic and social wealth, as well as promote development in the communities and nations in which they operate. This will ultimately help businesses become more profitable as the communities they serve become welloff consumers, healthy and better educated employees, and even entrepreneurs who go on to become suppliers and service providers,” Mwagiru said.
She said by empowering and enriching the citizens of African nations, the true path to sustainable economic success would be discovered.
UCT lecturer Ivan Katsere found that in South Africa language was often used to discriminate against African immigrants.
Katsere’s work focused on African immigrant families in South Africa, examining how their identities were affected as they moved through informal spaces such as taxis and shops, as well as more formal spaces like hospitals and schools.
In his research, he interacted with black African immigrant women, documenting their experiences.
“When you open your mouth, I can instantly locate you. That is one of the most important qualities of language. Avenues for ‘othering’ can happen in a simple greeting.
“When a South African greets a black African immigrant in isiXhosa, there is a lot happening at that moment. It’s not only a ‘how are you doing?’
“It’s packaged with ‘where are you from, identify yourself, can we proceed further, can we open the gates to our community or do we have to close them?’”
Katsere found that media and politicians had a significant role to play in bridging the gap between prejudice and discrimination because what they said could reaffirm negative stereotypes about foreign nationals, prompting locals to act violently on their prejudices.
In solidarity with Africa, the Cuban Embassy said it would be celebrating with the continent as sisters and brothers whose relations were profound and historic.
“Africa is part of the very essence of our nation. Cubans are a Latin-African people and we feel extremely proud of our African roots.
“We deeply appreciate and will be forever thankful for the strong position of all African countries against the unilateral and illegal blockade imposed on our country for 60 years, the longest blockade ever recorded in history,” the embassy said.
The private sector must be involved in the business of development Dr Njeri Mwagiru Institute for Futures Research