After reading the concept paper "Predatory Leaderships, Predatory Rule and Predatory States" published way back in 2011 by Alex Bavister Gould, from the Department of Politics, University of York, I now understand and appreciate more the challenges we shall face in our attempts to transform Zimbabwe into a modern developmental state.
The paper sought to clarify the term "predatory" and articulate its fundamental characteristics. Predatory states have existed for a very long time. However, it appears that there are more prevalent in post-colonial Africa and have therefore, in my view, become the curse of Africa that must be purged by us the new generation African leaders who must take a fundamentally different approach to politics and development, in creating new African nation states that are based on social justice and equity to stimulate sustainable and equitable development.
The term predator is aptly described or defined in the paper as a metaphor of "predator" and "prey" where, those who control the state apparatus seem to plunder without any regard for the welfare of the citizens just as a predator would have no regard for its prey.
The ideals of our liberation struggle in Zimbabwe have not been met because we have failed to achieve social justice and equity; the grand vision of freedom for the majority and the right of access to equal opportunity and the pursuit of personal ambition without any form of discrimination continue to elude us. That must therefore remain at the top of our political agenda.
According to the author of the concept paper, the key features of predatory rule are: extreme autocratic rule; personality politics and the use of violence, fear and repression; erosion of formal public institutions; pervasive corruption; a disregard for traditional, customary or informal institutions; rewards for key collaborators, leaders and associates who use power for personal ends and establish a predatory coalition.
What is key for me is that, a predatory state does not begin and end with a predatory leader as we have in Zimbabwe, but is propped up by a "predatory coalition" typically made up of the army, the police, the intelligence services, the judiciary, parasites including prostitute writers and praise singers, who all stand to benefit and are duly rewarded by the dictator with status and material wealth. State resources are always abused and exploited, not to the benefit of citizens, but to the benefit of this predatory coalition.