The Ins and Outs of Being a Genius

The Relevance of Culture for Development in Post-Colonial Zimbabwe
Written by: Guy Penford on behalf of the Ben Gula Trust
25 August 2010

In the foregoing discussion, the extreme marginalisation of Zimbabwe’s Tonga people will be located as an extension of the wider problem affecting African development, namely the problem of the development gap between rural and urban areas. In turn, this will feed into an explanation of how the only way to remedy the Tonga plight is to forge economic and political systems that are based on the cultural values of the Tonga. Without doing this Tonga will always be vulnerable to the cancerous affects of the division between town and country. In closing it will be explained that the process of constitution building and writing is one effective and contextually relevant way to begin to develop functional economic and political systems that are sensitive to their cultural values.
The Tonga people are Zimbabwe’s most economically and politically marginalized community. A highly disadvantageous geographic relocation on behalf of the Rhodesian government condemned the Tonga to reside in an area of Zimbabwe that not only has (subsistence) unfriendly environmental conditions but also is cut off from main trade routes and markets. Also, this relocation has meant that this (originally)Zambian tribe was forced to lobby for political recognition in a nation of which not only do they have no historical or cultural connection to but also does not proactively recognise them as members of that country. Further encapsulating the market economy from the Tonga has been the rigid and short-sighted macro-economic policies of the Zimbabwean government over the last 10 years which have ensured that it is near impossible to attain or borrow any form of finance that would enable the Tonga to begin a process of sustainable capital accumulation. All in all, the aforementioned milieus of factors pointing to the view that Tonga are not only severely disempowered but also do not possess the capacity to engage development autonomously.
What is significant about the above problems is not only that they exist but also that they are an extension of a wider problem that has plagued Africa since its colonial era, namely the problem of the development gap between rural and urban areas. Rooted in the colonial era, African-European dichotomy in which European settlers used their superior financial wealth to develop urban area as opposed to the rural areas where non-wealthy Africans were instead, ubiquitous. Consequently, after independence, the aforementioned capital differentiation resurfaced in terms of a development gap between urban and rural areas. Previously European dominated urban areas already possessed ripe infrastructure for further development whilst previously underdeveloped rural areas, with low capital did not possess the capacity to engage further development. In this regard, the urban areas continue to develop whilst the rural areas do not possess the capacity to do so. The Batongan community are an extreme example of this polarised dynamic.
The importance of locating the Tonga community at the above socio-political impasse is that it opens up the question to humanitarians: What does the divide between urban and rural areas imply about how development CAN or cannot occur? Or, are their context specific factors that must be considered to engage development in a postcolonial context? According to research conducted on economic development initiatives in India and Africa, inclusive and sustainable socio-economic growth is sufficed by a balance between physical, financial, cultural and social capital. In this vain, development not only involves financial intermediation on behalf of humanitarians but also requires social intermediation as well. Further, according to Hans, financial and social development hinges upon human development in terms of infrastructure for health, education, skill and enterprise as well as the removal of the socio-cultural barriers that hinder productivity and growth. Without a balance between social and financial intermediations, development is likely to be short lived, thus recreating the cancerous divide between rich and poor in Africa.
Furthermore, Zimbabwe’s colonial legacy dictates that socio-cultural development must be of added importance when engaging development in an African, post-colonial context. Over and above the proactive subjugation of African culture in general, the Rhodesian government, in order to serve their imperialistic agenda, engaged a top-bottom process of development which in effect, resulted in economic and political structures that were only representative of the values of western culture- individualism, autonomy, long-term thinking etc. Ultimately, for Africans, this meant their relative cultural values and strengths-communalism, reciprocity, egalitarianism etc- were deemed by colonial powers to be incongruent with development and market economies, thus casting African culture into darkness. According to Morrison, the imposition of western values upon Africans resulted in not only the creation of unnecessary antagonism and competition but also imparted upon Africans, societal systems of which they felt no cultural connection to and therefore felt no responsibility for. The prime result being that the current day gap between rural and urban areas widens as urban areas where western values are relevant continue to develop whilst, rural areas where African values are relevant do not possess the infrastructure from which to engage their cultural values and strengths for the purpose of development. Considering that development is not the monopoly of western culture and values, means that humanitarians, in the Zimbabwean context, owe its most marginalized communities more than just economic and social development, but rather must also identify the relative strengths in a particular culture with regards to development and build whatever development upon these strengths- something the colonial powers prescribed to be unthinkable. Logic imparts the view that the Tonga fare a far better chance developing upon their respective socio-cultural strengths rather than upon values that are foreign to them.
However, the aforementioned socio-cultural and economic intermediations will be futile without simultaneously engaging the development of local political structures. Until the present, Tonga political structures have only been engaged mainly around issues concerning the local management of its subsistence activities, hence to promote inclusive growth it is necessary to develop political structures that are able to govern the issues relevant to market economies This involves the culturally sensitive stimulation of tribal political structures to engage various levels of self governance; In this regard, local, culturally relevant political structures are engaged with issues around capital accumulation and community growth all increasing their capacity to autonomously steer sustainable local development. Of further importance is that once there is a proficiency at the local level then it becomes possible for the Tonga to attain political status at the national level. According to Sena, not only does political proficiency at the local level reduce dependency on the cash-strapped centralised government but also increases their capacity to defend against adverse macro politico-economic policies, for any efforts toward self determination would be fruitless if it meant that the Tonga would become dispossessed of their resources due to an inability to defend their interests at the national level. It is no secret that indigenous peoples all over Africa are losing land. However, ultimately the Tonga will not be able to navigate this hurdle if their political structures are not representative of their own cultural values and strengths, for political structures unrepresentative of cultural values is akin to a ship without sails. Being as the term ‘constitution’ CAN be constructed as the process of identifying core cultural values upon which the rules for governance can be devised, means constitution building and writing has the capacity to serve as a platform from which to develop culturally relevant economic and political systems. Further, many African scholars have argued that traditional or indigenous political and economic structures were highly complex and organised in tune with the environments in which they lived; Also, these structures were buffered by a strong family system that valued equality, unity, freedom and responsibility. Hence, because African cultural values have not been prized in terms of functional and developing communities’ means that it is vital their cultural values be analysed and discussed in terms of their relevance to modern-day micro and macro market economies. The strengths of traditional African structures are testament such a move would feasible. However, a necessary pre-condition is that these values be transposed from their out-dated spoken form to a written constitution. Only once cultural values are enshrined in a constitution does it become possible to begin the inevitable and endless process of fine tuning its rules to suite the continued development of the community of which the constitution is a product; moreover, without a relevant constitution the Tonga will not be able to autonomously and sustainably steer development. Balance develop
In closing: Culture without development is a step in the wrong direction, particularly in a post-colonial African context where African culture was battered by top-down development on behalf of their colonial pseudo masters. In this regard, not only must a balance between financial, political and social development occur but also, and most importantly, cultural development must have added importance in this process. It has been argued that the process of constitution writing and building is an effective way to consolidate such an agenda.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Bibliography: