Trudy Stevenson, one of Zimbabwe’s most energetic and people focused politicians has become Zimbabwe’s Ambassador to Senegal. I miss her vibrancy but her Letters from Dakar are both inspiring and informative. Here’s a short excerpt from her latest one:

Meanwhile two of my three phases of electricity were inadvertently dug up by the nearby road works two weeks ago, so once again I had an emergency – on opening night of the World Cup, OF COURSE!!  So we couldn’t watch South Africa play the opening match, except that by amazing luck I have the MOST GENEROUS NEIGHBOURS!  They are Australians, and had organised a TV in the road reserved outside for all our security guards to watch the month-long World Cup, and the TV is connected both to their mains electricity and to their generator – so when the power went off, we sheepishly wandered outside, and were welcomed to join the guards – and watched Bafana Bafana draw 1-1!  There were about 25 people watching that TV, including another diplomat, the Hungarian consul-general who lives 3 houses away!  We were terribly bitten by mosquitoes, but we didn’t notice at the time!  Now we’re heavily into World Cup – but also terribly disappointed by our African teams, all of whom we have been supporting.  Tonight we’re undecided who to switch our allegiance to, after watching Nigeria’s defeat by Korea . . . we shall see!

Here is another article from Rejoice Ngwenya entitled The Folly of African Entrepreneurship:

Zimbabwe, like most developing African countries burdened with the yoke of authoritarian oppression, force-feeds citizens with policy prescriptions only meant to satisfy political egos of ruling elite.  Imposing government ministries of ‘small and medium enterprises’ and ‘indigenisation’ would not suddenly turn Zimbabwe into an industrialised country.

Similarly, investing millions of United States Dollars in education infrastructure to offer business administration training would by itself not achieve much in economic growth.  It is in this context that my cousin who teaches block release students of Masters of Business Administration at a derelict Zimbabwean state university in the midlands city of Gweru makes a stunning observation about the folly of African entrepreneurship.  Notwithstanding the exploits of world-renown African businesspersons like Mo Ibrahim [Sudan], Patrice Motsepe [South Africa], Strive Masiyiwa [Zimbabwe] et al, there is a tendency for emerging economies to over emphasise the virtues of trading as symptomatic of entrepreneurial instincts in Africans.  Vast flea and vegetable markets in Cairo, Casablanca, Accra, Nairobi, Lusaka, Harare and Johannesburg cannot be credible litmus test for successful business, because, according to my cousin, they do not contribute to real economic development. This school of thought is supported by 20th Century economist Joseph Schumpeter.

Zimbabwean ministers of ‘small enterprises’ and ‘indigenisation’ – Sithembiso Nyoni and Saviour Kasukuwere respectively – epitomize the flourishing species of authoritarian regime praise singers who perpetuate the lie that simply buying and selling amounts to entrepreneurship.  Ironically, it is dictators that buy votes by deceiving citizens into non value adding, non innovative ‘income generating’ activities only meant to fill up ballot boxes. Wikipedia isolates Israel Kirzner as one in a few economists who associates entrepreneurship with innovation or value addition.  Importing clothes and cars from Dubai and disposing them off to Harare consumers has no value addition. Countries like Zimbabwe, Swaziland and the Democratic Republic of Congo are politically unstable, with a productive industry decimated by decades of senseless dictatorship, yet their economies are said to have ‘survived’ because of ‘enterprising and resilient citizens’. What a load of hogwash!

Says Wikipedia: “The entrepreneur is widely regarded as an integral player in the business culture of American life, and particularly as an engine for job creation and economic growth.” A country develops while its economy grows when citizens create new products and services that result in more people being employed, consuming and adding to the national fiscus. During electoral campaigns, dictators like Robert Mugabe splash out computers, buses and money to political sympathisers under the guise of ‘economic development and empowerment’. As a result of this patronage, the country fails even to produce cooking oil, soap and shoes because there are no efforts to encourage sustainable innovation. My cousin therefore is correct that Zimbabwe, like most African countries suffering from authoritarian dictatorship, will remain underdeveloped until we transform our political thinking.

No doubt the MBA students he encounters are victims of an education system that was meant to produce workers rather than innovators. It is a poisonous system that infects even financial institutions like Standard Bank Zimbabwe who seek survival from customers with ‘proven’ salary and wages rather than ‘risky’ entrepreneurship.  There is a link between sustainable entrepreneurship and financing, and this chain translates into long term survival of the banking sector.  In a 2009 paper entitled “Banking Deregulations, Financing Constraints and Firm Entry Size” Harvard academics William R. Kerr and Ramana Nanda quote Michelacci and Silva who stress that “better financial access explains why local entrepreneurs operate larger firms…”  In other words, the nexus between finance, entrepreneurship, sustainability and long term growth is an undeniable fact of life.

The Standard Bank, like most conservative ‘orthodox’ commercial banks, has this skewed policy imprint confusing innovation with entrepreneurship. And for good reason. The default rate for unsecured loans has been known to bring down the banking sector. Yet Kerr and Nanda have it on good authority that restrictive regulations in financing innovation are a negative force in the economic growth projectile. This is why it is critically important for us Africans to understand and appreciate the meaning and implication of true entrepreneurship. We must exorcise the demon afflicting banks like Standard that only salary cheques are safe as collateral in securing loans.

At one time in the early part of this decade, Zimbabwean banks or more specifically the financial sector, was registering phenomenal ‘growth’, yet citizens were getting poorer and GDP was shrinking. This was prelude to the ‘annexation’ of banks by Reserve Bank Governor Gideon Gono, and eventually others collapsed under accusation by [Gono] of perpetuating impropriety.  It was during the same period that inflation spiralled to six digits while Zimbabwe’s productive sector almost disappeared. But the strange phenomenon was of a booming ‘entrepreneurship’ in cross border trade, flourishing flea markets and countless trips between China, Dubai and Zimbabwe. In rural areas, young men were digging up the country side to extract and sell gold. Something was clearly wrong.

I therefore conclude this treatise by reasserting the need for us Africans to create new social and business solutions as an entry point to entrepreneurship. Deficits in public communication, governance, food, education, health, industry, commerce and infrastructure are an ideal opportunity to innovate for profit. This is what drives industrialisation, not selling jeans at open markets or vegetables and curios along the freeways. Moreover, financial institutions like the conservative Standard Bank of Zimbabwe defeat the cause of entrepreneurship by not promoting individual inventors but relying on wage and salary remittances. At a time when national productive capacity is below 40%, it is difficult to perceive how a serious bank can ignore entrepreneurs and non-profit organisations on its menu of attracting business. In its haste to pour scorn on ‘flea market entrepreneurs’, the bank has adopted collective condemnation even of those self-employed consultants  who sustained it with valuable foreign currency deposits when the Zimbabwe dollar was toilet paper.  What is now urgent is to overhaul Zimbabwean national economic policy to foster a commitment to innovation rather than flea markets and Chinese toy shops.

Being back in Zimbabwe has made me realise what a desperate situation people in Zimbabwe are in. Every day is a struggle for survival for the average Zimbabwean. Degrading poverty has driven people to the point of vending anything and everything in an attempt to make a living.

While out taking pictures this morning vendors offered me the opportunity of taking pictures of them in exchange for money. Some men fixing a broken drain in the street asked me if I was going to pay them for the pictures I was taking.

Yesterday my mother paid a visit a to the Avondale flea market and while she was browsing through the DVDs the man selling them begged her to buy a DVD that she already owns. When she explained to the man that she already had the DVD so there was no use in buying it he implored, “madam I am so hungry, I don’t have any money to buy lunch, please buy this DVD for $5 so that I can have lunch.”

While the constant harassment and hounding by vendors aggravates me immensely, it is a reflection of the current state of the country and evidence that there is still a long way to go in the stabilising of the economy.

Everywhere you look Zimbabwean streets are littered with rubbish. The vlei in Newlands looks as if it is actually a dump. In the shopping centre you see bins with more rubbish around them than in them. To be quite frank, the streets are filthy.

Something needs to be done. In Zimbabwe we have an extremely high level of unemployment. Is it too much to ask the municipality to employ people to clean the streets?

Seeing as the various authorities responsible for removing the waste are incapable of doing so, the ball is now in our court.

“Rotary is organizing a Clean Up Harare Campaign, set for July 3 2010.  They are in need of “big black dust bin bags”. A roll of 20 costs between US$3 and US$5 in the shops.  If there is anyone who is keen to donate a roll” your co-operation will be appreciated”.

This was a call to action that we included in our last Kubatana newsletter.

There are many different methods we can use to draw attention to this issue. One of which is a peaceful march or protest. We could take to the streets with banners and signs expressing our grievances. Another form of protest against these unacceptable conditions could be the use of a bulldozer or some sort of “earth moving equipment” (that the municipality seems incapable of using) to remove the rubbish and dump it right outside the municipality. I am aware that this is not a solution to the problem however I do feel it will certainly get the municipality to take our grievances seriously.

Another form of protest that may be effective is if we all went on strike and instead of going to work we could clean up all the rubbish ourselves. Once all the rubbish is collected we could then march with our large plastic bags full of rubbish and dump it all outside the municipality.

The responsibility is on YOU, on ME, on US, to write letters to the municipality and various other authorities complaining about the lack of service in regard to the removal of rubbish. Many people walk past this filth everyday and do nothing. Sometimes they even add to the litter!

Do you want your country to look like a wasteland? The onus is on us; the people, to make sure that those in positions of authority fulfil their responsibility to the community. Do not sit there and complain – instead, do something about it, because it is very clear that if we sit around waiting for the municipality to do something it will not get done.

One of the problems with Zimbabwe is that we are far too tolerant, we do not complain, we do not go on strike, we accept these inadequate services. The time has come for us to stop tolerating this “RUBBISH” (excuse the pun) and do something!

Living and studying in South Africa at the moment, I have realised that there is a huge problem with violence and especially violence of a sexual nature such as rape. Thousands of women are raped each year in South Africa and it is quite clear that something needs to be done.

About two months ago, my friend and I were running in Grahamstown South Africa. We run the same route every day; it is an 8km route around Grahamstown and is the prescribed running route for all the schools in Grahamstown. As it was Saturday my friend Jenna and I decided to run later and have a bit of a lie in. We started our run at 7am and were coming to the end of our run when we were attacked by a man with a knife. The man got on top of me with the knife and proceeded to rummage through my pockets for valuables.  It was clear that neither me nor my friend had any valuable possessions on us. But still this man continued to hold me down with the knife and that is when I seriously believed I was going to be raped or murdered. Eventually we were able to get  free and run away. This incident occurred less than a ten metres from a main road and less than a hundred metres from St Andrews school in an upper class residential area in broad daylight. When are you safe? Never.

I believe that the concept of the “female condom with teeth” does not solve the problem of rape. When do I wear this condom? I could be raped anywhere at any time. Every time I go out I would need to wear this condom, because to be quite frank there is a high chance of being raped in South Africa regardless of the time or place. The idea is good but it creates more problems for the victim because not only is she being raped by a man but she is stuck to him until the police or medical services remove the condom. She is completely at the mercy of a man who is likely to be extremely angry and as a result act in vengeance.

Also, this female condom with “teeth” does not address the issue that many women are in fact raped by lovers or potential lovers.

But at least someone is trying to find a solution to this problem. Since the incident I experienced I run with a taser and pepper spray, and this helps me feel not completely defenceless as I previously was. If the female condom with teeth helps to make some women feel safer, then let them wear it.

A week before the FIFA hoopla in South Africa began Minister of Energy Elias Mudzuri made the following announcement:

“I have directed ZESA to suspend disconnections to allow the public to enjoy this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Zimbabweans have had to endure persistent power cuts for as much as 10 hours per day in some case while ZESA battles to meet demand.”

Essentially ZESA would suspend its regular programme of load shedding so that football fans would not miss the World Cup.

While I’m not a soccer fan I was happy, actually jubilant, that we would have a few more hours a day of electricity. I even considered that I might be able to take a proper hot bath, with more than a bucket of water and perhaps even some bubbles. I admit I may have misinterpreted the Ministers remarks. I thought that it would follow that those customers who had been loyal, i.e. had been paying their bills, to the power utility, would also be rewarded.

As with most promises made by politicians, this one failed and even went backwards. I have been disappointed by Ministers before. In fact I’m still recovering from the promises made to me by another Minister regarding the Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe issuing radio and television licences.

In the case of ZESA, and the electricity delivered to my house, the disappointment is particularly bitter. Our loyalty as ZESA customers feels like its being violated. We paid our bills regularly, even in the confusion that followed dollarisation, the few US dollars that we had went first towards the ZESA bill, even when the meter wasn’t being read. When we had faults, we drove the ZESA people around. Under the circumstances, I think we as customers have done more than our fair share of maintaining a cordial relationship with our power utility.

Yet following the Minister’s announcement, it seems that now that we have even fewer hours if any power per day. There has been no explanation of this in the paper, and instead ZESA sees fit to spend hundreds if not thousands of dollars on an advertising campaign, which most notably features half a page of solid black ink. Moreover, the Minister’s statement undermines the entire purpose of the advertising campaign, and indeed ZESAs recovery. It’s simple, if you didn’t pay for the service, you shouldn’t get it. The World Cup is no exception.