Economic and political history shows us that the wealth of nations has been built through the ownership of land and the strict laws that protect private property rights. These two were, and continue to be, fundamental to economic growth and development.
The struggle for emancipation by our liberation parties was waged because blacks were not able to exercise their right to ownership of land. Colonialism was successful in the transfer of wealth from Africa to Europe because the minorities owned land and that ownership was protected by exclusive and monopolistic laws.
It is my argument that since property rights and the ownership of land are critical to economic development, Africans in general must therefore own their land and have that ownership protected by the new governments at all costs. In addition, these Africans must use this asset productively to create wealth for themselves, as the colonialist did, and thereby cause a new trajectory of economic emancipation and development.
On this principle I support Robert Mugabe's stance and disposition in that blacks can only begin to experience their own economic emancipation through the ownership of land. I am quite disturbed that South Africa seems not be taking this issue with the seriousness and urgency that it deserves. Ownership by blacks of the JSE is hardly a priority for me.
As Africans, we need to contextualize the continued widespread condemnation of Mugabe. It is because he has focused on and understood that the wealth of any nation must be based on the ownership rights of property and land and as long as blacks do not own their land, their economic emancipation is impossible.
He understood that white capital and wealth in colonial Africa resulted from their exclusive advantage of land ownership - land that was appropriated from the masses. In my opinion what lacks in Zimbabwe is the institutional capacity and democracy to ensure that this transfer of land is fair to both the advantaged and the disadvantaged.
Mugabe used this correct principle to entrench his political relevance by transferring this land to an exclusive class of blacks and not those that differ with him. He has used this powerful truism to divide and rule us as opposed to unite and strengthen us economically.
The transfer of an asset such as land to blacks, who neither have the capital nor the financial resources and competence to manage it at a commercial scale as the white farmer did, is disruptive to any economy as has been the case in Zimbabwe. It will be also destructive in the case of South Africa.
We therefore need to have the foresight that it must be done fairly and with as little disruption but done it must be. Those to whom land is transferred must in turn demonstrate their ability and competence in utilizing this precious asset as a means to economic freedom and therein lies the challenge. In his analysis of the critical success factors of any economy, Niall Ferguson clearly articulates that without the ownership of land and the protection of property rights any economy is bound to falter.
Vince Musewe is an independent economist. You can contact him on [email protected].
