Cold, hard steel and colonialism

I FREQUENTLY read articles in your paper about that dirty word, “colonialism”. Often they contain theories which are doubtful or downright fiction, even when the writer is an academic.

The wording is often so obscure that my eyes glaze over before I have read the second paragraph. I want to reveal some simple facts on this subject which make me fear the future.

In the 1970s I worked for seven years as IT manager at Rhodesian Iron and Steel Company, which later became Zimbabwe Iron and Steel. It no longer exists. It was a thriving company producing a million tons a year.

The steel produced was the best quality available as there was no recycled scrap which reduces the quality of steel produced elsewhere.

There were 3 000 employees who ran an iron plant, a steel plant, a “coke from coal” gas plant, a rolling mill, an iron ore mine and a limestone mine (a basic ingredient of steel).

It is the only place in the world where the two ingredients are found close together. The number of employed was much higher than in other countries because the aim was to employ as many as possible in an attempt to solve the local unemployment problem. This does not include the drilling companies, the transport companies, even rail transport and other peripheral industries.

This would probably be called a colonial enterprise and be described by your writers and others who become hysterical about history (which we can do nothing about) as exploiting the country’s resources for the benefit of the colonialist.

I don’t recall any ill-treatment of workers; most were contented and I only recall one strike, when the office workers took over production for a few days, as molten metal cannot be left to go cold as it would result in the prohibitive cost of the plant needing to be completely rebuilt.

Employees lived in decent company houses which they could buy, and they had medical treatment, schools and sports facilities. Some also trained as laboratory workers. Nothing prevented those who were able to from studying further to become technicians, metallurgists, geologists or other professions.

My point is that under the current regime in Zimbabwe the entire industry has collapsed due to mismanagement and asset stripping.

Anything that could be has been plundered and all the metal in the plants left to go cold, which means a complete rebuild. Zimbabwe now pays millions for the steel it needs to import. If anyone had suggested all this would happen in my lifetime, I would have said they were mad.

Two Indian companies have turned down the offer of rebuilding the industry and the Chinese aren’t interested. Most of those unemployed workers have come to South Africa with no pensions or means of support.

Surely that is a simple lesson in economics which anyone can understand.

With recent hysteria and the obsession to eliminate anything construed as colonial, this sort of thing may be what is ahead for us in South Africa.