The media can spearhead change of mindset for development to occur

SOMEWHERE in May 2010, an email popped up asking if I was interested in a regular column for a new daily newspaper to be launched in June that year. “They are looking for new names and new ideas,” said the email. Without flinching, I grabbed the opportunity. I wanted to focus on development — an important area that remains neglected by the media.

Most journalists and analysts, even today, go for the obvious easy pickings such as politics, economics, arts, sports and non-governmental organisation-driven subjects such as human rights, environment etc.

It was and remains my contention that development underlies everything and the media must invest in recasting the African mindset towards development. It is the energy that drives society’s aspiration to be better which defines its standing against others.

Once a society develops, everything else falls into place. After a few email exchanges with the editorial team, the column Develop Me was born.

That was not without underlying fears. I had written for various local newspapers before using a pseudonym because I did not want to be associated with editorial policies tied to political positions or parties.

I found that to be stifling objectivity and ability to express opinions freely without fearing censorship.

So, I inquired. “Tapiwa, do your thing,” came the response. That freedom of thought and ability to express myself without fearing editorial censorship characterised the journey of more than 520 weekly instalments over a decade.

During that decade, I covered various topics pertaining to African development, including politics, economics, election campaigns, corruption and mismanagement of national resources.

I also exposed the lies in party manifestos ahead of elections and drew ideas from other success stories such as Rwanda, Ethiopia, China, Mauritius, the Middle East and any others. This I did to demonstrate that development is possible.

I advanced and reiterated the idea that development occurs faster when it is locally driven. I argued that it occurs when leadership harnesses the power of faith of its people, their resilience and their desire for a better life and dignified social status, among others.

It is not the just a belief, but the heartbeat of every individual. It is the reason lives were lost in the war — to overturn tyranny, earn the freedom to self-define and to be better through work, innovation and achieve a common and greater good.

The ingredients to achieve this are simple; a leadership with a vision and the human capital from citizens. The abundant natural resources are an added advantage.

There are several countries least endowed with natural resources who are among global economies such as Japan. We have more than we need except the right mindset.

If development is this simple, why is it not happening in Zimbabwe? It is not easy to exonerate colonisation in addressing this question even though it is also not an adequate justification or excuse for our poverty. It is vital to note the two objectives of colonisation.

First was to establish a submissive mindset loyal to its system; and second to exploit resources of poor states. These are sustained by universal knowledge frames and trading systems which together established a loyal and dependent mindset to the system.

The emerging scholarly argument on decolonisation is an attempt to exorcise this colonial demon. That might be another waste of time. History shows us that societies escape bondage by redefining and refining themselves than undoing the past. That is debate for another day.

What are the implications of the remnants of the colonial mindset and why is this important to the media in Africa? Ask any journalist or ordinary citizens what needs to be done to improve their lives, they will give either a political, financial or religious answer.

Neither democracy, money nor curse are genuine problems in Africa but except that mindset. The colonised mindset positions itself as a helpless victim of a problem for which they do not see themselves as part of the solution.

It is that African mindset that the media in Zimbabwe must rescue so our people can spearhead their own development. This is not theoretical. Zimbabwe is stuck in the belief that fixing the political question comes first before development. We are obsessed with democracy and we have diverted our attention from developmental matters amid limited evidence linking the two.

This not to underestimate the value of democracy, but to emphasise that it is hard to pursue democracy without submitting to whims of imperial powers who colonised us and who control and manipulate democratic political systems.

Opposition parties rush to western embassies when they are aggrieved while ruling politicians save their loot in western countries in case they are ejected by the same western powers.

The political system we adopted makes it easy to be controlled and manipulated. It is for this reason I contend that democracy must be an outcome of development and not political activism.

When a society develops, meets its basic needs, grows economically and its people start to self-actualise, the next stage is democracy.

Another colonial remnant that has weakened us and made us dependent on the same colonial system is how our mindset has been configured to centralise money in everything we do.

Money is central to how we define problems, address them and see success. We miss the point that colonialists invaded Africa not to make money but to create wealth — to convert zero from our natural resources into economic value, to create an economic stock on which their democracy and global power are founded.

This is why they invested in infrastructure to facilitate and maximise production instead of selling raw materials.

This is also why a western investor is comfortable paying a kickback to an African leader to secure a mining deal to create wealth.

They know we love money and we think it is wealth. Money is only a medium of exchange, a perishable product and without wealth, it is meaningless.

Acquiring money through wealth creation is faster and more sustainable than acquiring wealth through money. Lack of money should not impede development or be an excuse for poverty.

The third factor that has kept the African mindset submissive and unable to be more proactive to address their developmental needs is religion. Evidence suggests that the world’s poorest countries are also the most religious.

Colonialism was about controlling the mindset which is why it replaced African religion with its own. Religion is non-productive and yet it is a major crowd puller in Africa.

The current generation’s religious belief system reflects the colonial formative or reformative years. It created a loyal citizen who tows the line and never thinks outside the box as doing so would be heretical.

It created an individual who distances himself from taking leadership and ownership and one who sees development as a blessing from God.

Religion blurs people from seeing things as they are but through the lenses it prescribes upon them. The more one prays and submit, the likely they will be blessed. Success is not an outcome of hard work but a reward or blessing from God — it prescribes.

Countries that have made it, have self-defined, innovated and made use of their human capital and available resources to establish locally-owned and driven economies and they only acquired external capacities to complement local efforts.

The role of leadership is to steer the nation towards development goals. It is not about conforming to external dictates, but responding to national development needs.

It is time our media realised that our politics are destructive and they have a role to reshape the national agenda and give more prominence to the development agenda.

Tapiwa Gomo is a development consultant based in Pretoria, South Africa. He writes here in his personal capacity.