South Africa & Zimbabwe; Collapsed governments; What is next?

What next for South Africa, what next for Zimbabwe? The aspirations of the people's freedom and independence have been thwarted by organisations that purported to be genuine fosters of UHURU: ANC and Zanu PF failed dismally to rise above colonial rule. Their governments' execution remained entrenched in colonial vestiges. Zanu perfected what Ian Smith could not dream of doing to oppress black people. Sub-human treatment of Zimbabweans makes Ian Smith a saint. Black people are not allowed to spell oppression but must sing praise to an abjectly failed Zanu PF dispensation. Zanu, a party that devours its own people without a trace of guilt.

When, at last, freedom was given to them in 1980 and 1994, they did not know what to do with it. Both liberation parties, ANC and Zanu-PF, were overwhelmed and intoxicated with sudden freedom. Worse still is the reneging of the Freedom Charter, a prerequisite to South Africa's independence. This document was not meant for the future of South Africa only, but for the whole African continent: a modernising force for the entire continent.

All other things being equal, South Africa belongs to those who colonised it. The people shall govern, a rhetoric without practicality. South Africa belongs to all who live in it; a statement of the obvious. Where are the aspirations of the Freedom Charter? Who rules South Africa? Who failed to represent the blacks in the negotiation processes leading to the independence of South Africa? Why are blacks worse off than during apartheid times? Poverty in black South African communities is crying out for attention.

Thorough-thinking political activists say there is nothing about an independent South African nation if it is being floated at the New York Exchange. How many black South Africans know this fact, that their nation does not exist in economic terms? Talking about the sovereignty of a nation is talking about economics. By any cold logic or calculations, South Africa's freedom and independence is pseudo-independence and fake in the largest strategic picture.

Serious irrevocable errors were made in the early years of independence by both countries. Just when we thought liberation parties had prepared enough for independence, they were found wanting, unprepared to take charge of new dispensations, a new rainbow nation for South Africa.

Few black South Africans know that Nelson Mandela sold them out. The rest of the blacks, it's forward and singing about the great Mandela who gave them the mandate to vote every 5 years. This visceral love of Nelson Mandela: When ignorance is just bliss, it's folly to call yourself wise. Stupidity is a very powerful political force.

During the processes, Mandela was sanctified, the best future president. Western nations loved Mandela but curiously, inherently hated black people. The economic transformations were carefully monitored by international institutions, the World Bank and IMF, protecting their interests. This is where ANC was shortchanged; they were out of breath by complex economic synergies. They were not negotiating but horse-trading institutions, to appear as if independence was craftily negotiated on their behalf and for their betterment.

Curiously, ANC desperately needed assistance; it came from the World Bank unasked. They were outsmarted by the apartheid regime and the international institutions. ANC was warned by negotiation partners in no uncertain terms whatsoever that the Freedom Charter would pivot transformations as the basis of negotiations. At the jaws of victory, ANC snatched defeat.

During the negotiation period, the old apartheid government was removed from the sanctions list: behind the back of ANC, the apartheid regime outsourced a billion-dollar debt and had it paid on the new dispensation: the ANC government. The fresh funding was transformed into pension schemes and was allocated to whites leaving South Africa for Australia, UK, USA and New Zealand: a sting in the tail.

The blacks are asking critical and pertinent questions: Where is Uhuru? They have passed the point of long waiting, always kept in a state of anticipation for revolutionary changes, and are now in complete exhaustion. It has come to their realisation that the apartheid ideology was never abolished but was transformed to include all those who live in South Africa, inclusive: it is now evident in matters of the South African way of life, the ANC government is loyal to domestic and global white capital.

After the Laissez-faire negotiations that presaged everything going wrong about a genuine independence, blacks in South Africa can only vote but never beyond. The economy is not theirs: white capital is wholly present and intact. Black presidents are mere managers of white capital, feeding into the moment that they are just stooges loyal to global and domestic white capital.

It is inconceivable, with all intents and purposes, how stalwarts of Mbeki and Ramaphosa, the brightest stars in the universe, could let down a new nation; a struggle that had existed for over a century, precisely since 1912, they betrayed the black majority at the last leg. Thabo Mbeki, an economist who studied in the UK, was well placed to understand what role and what interests the World Bank was protecting. They knew better than many how capitalistic systems work when dealing with financial bodies such as the World Bank and the IMF.

In 1994, the Rand crashed in the Johannesburg stock market for a reason; it was to scare the ANC about what might happen if the template of negotiations focused on the aspirations of the Freedom Charter, which the document never outlined negotiation terms. Instantly, Thabo Mbeki openly declared himself a Thatcherite to tame the markets. This is also evidence of how ANC bent their position to accommodate the white capital.

A repeat of series and sequences, where everything went wrong are alluded in Naomi Klein books and several journals. Naomi Klein navigated the processes that led to independence of South Africa diligently: she says it was less about economic freedom: more about removal of chains from the neck to the ankles of black South Africans.

The political and economic processes leading to SA independence were shrouded in total secrecy and presaging disaster: it factually meant the black population was not privy of the agreements between the apartheid regime and ANC. It felt as if they were saying the black population will not understand complex synergies related to economic transformations of this magnitude: don't bother them; a sustained critic of ANC.

Zimbabwe must be applauded; negotiations that ushered independence at Lancaster House UK were thorough in comparison with that in South Africa. A semblance of independence was well negotiated, despite the land question that remained unresolved. Its independence was without land appropriations, but the social, political and economic state machinery was transferred to the new black dispensation of who won elections in 1980.

However, a well-meaning government would have opted for peace and reconciliation among all ethnic groups: instead, Zanu PF provoked a civil war out of the blue: The Gukurahundi atrocities destroyed independence that was bitterly fought by all sections of communities; in towns and rural areas; they never recovered from social and economic mismanagement.

The Smith's white regime left a healthy fiscus: no national and international debt. Zanu PF squandered a healthy economy by making multiple failures due to massive borrowing: the money that was looted by massive corruption that crippled the nation to a Parihar state.

The government of ANC is out of reach of white capital: they control institutions generating revenues, where looting is currently taking place. In all levers of state power matrix, looting has turned into criminality. (Whistleblowers who report corruption are shot dead; well over a hundred of them have died) The escalatory escalation of unfettered access to state fiscus has led to a complete collapse of the state of South African levers of power.

After General Mkhwanazi corruption revelations, the nation is privy of emblematic tendencies of corruption on a grand scale: compounded by mysterious suicide death of ambassador Nkosinathi Mthethwa, it had dawned in the psyche of many how they have been used, abused and lied to by politicians right up to the office of president Ciriel Ramaphosa. The betrayal is deep and destructive in the sense that most blacks still cling on ANC because it is Mandela's party they know best.

Something must give for an uprising to take place. The blacks have been deceived for more than 31 years by an ANC government that has been pillaging national resources. Instead, they have accepted to be recipients of social benefits, condescendingly to alleviate poverty. But still the food basket is meager. Poverty has exacerbated their situation further to chronic abject poverty. South Africa currently needs a new dispensation to give hope to the ever fast growing young population.

According to the latest survey, young people aged 15 to 34 make up 50.2% of South Africa's working-age population, translating to about 20.9 million. The youth of about 15-24 years of group represent around 10.3 million, are unemployed and have no employment opportunities for them to hope for. Again, thousands of university graduates leave institutions yearly without planned and elaborate future perspectives.

President Mnangagwa has visibly aged: it disturbs many citizens that he wants to extend his misrule to 2030. There is no visible development on the ground he has initiated the past 7 years of his reign. Energy is spent on factional fighting within the ruling party. He is busy giving the few chosen ones millions of cash instead of putting the revenues into the treasury to benefit the general populace: what marks his rule, emblem corruption. The cries of the people are not heard: they are left to fend for themselves in a dire capitalistic system without mercy.

Mnangagwa's effort is to create a Mambo dynasty of the Karanga people where his offspring could assume power without contesting with opposition. Why is the opposition not reacting to this? It is a million-dollar question. Serious conflicts within Zanu party and government should have been taken advantage of by the opposition Chamisa and CCC: a story for another day.

Why this loud silence: zero decibels? The lack of opposition on the ground exacerbates the suffering of the people, silencing and destroying any immediate hope for the near future. There will come a time when enough is enough. The critical moment of change will come at the precise timing in South Africa too. The dangerous times in southern African region.

South Africa is not Zimbabwe. The economies are planets apart, but the failures in executing governments have strange similarities. Corruption in ANC and Zanu PF parties is endemic. Their downfall should never surprise if the trajectory had been patterned the same. Governments that relied on the colonial leftovers find themselves unable to rise above colonial vestiges of existing infrastructure development. Both political parties are no longer a solution: they are now liabilities to the masses.

Part two will delve into how South Africa and Zimbabwe respond to the current quagmire in their countries. What is next? Are there immediate solutions if both countries collapsed? As previously alluded, the intelligentsia in South Africa is abundant, whereas in Zimbabwe are few. Activist Prince Machele wants to see a complete defeat of ANC and be out of power completely for a renewal to take place. Liberal democracy has failed black voters. The centre has collapsed. ANC and Zanu PF are not strategic centres anymore. They are de facto failed states because, evidently, they failed the aspirations of the downtrodden, the black people.

Machele wants democratic processes to take place: not an uprising, because it sets a bad precedent. But the masses will not wait for 2029 general elections to remove ANC in government; a version of corruption. Change must come now: people live in the now!

In Zimbabwe, a voice of hope comes from Professor Ibo Mandaza and his NTA: National Transitional Authority. Prince Machele's trajectory borders on the ideas that Ibo is floating as a solution to a collapsed Zanu PF government. Prince Machele suggests non-political actors with technocratic qualifications from the industry, blacks and whites alike, should assume levers of power for a period of 15 years. This period will allow the births of new political parties outside ANC. A complete removal of ANC malignancy in the party and government. ANC must be buried forever. In the same vein, Zanu PF must die forever.

Ibo Mandaza's NTA has a lifespan of three years. During that period, several reforms will take place: creating a level playing field level for all political players. Both Prince Mashele and Ibo Mandaza are speaking the same language when they say the solution is external: not from political parties but from technocrats chosen by civil societies. Politics is no longer the solution: democratic privileges have been severely undermined. Political systems are all wrong and must be replaced by technocracy.

Technocracy is urgently needed than ever before in the history of southern Africa to impart sanity into the running of future governments. The defined timeframe allows growth of young politicians who understand the aspirations of the people, the responsibility of governance, quality leadership, flipping rhetoric into reality, framing fundamentals of good governance, and respecting the offices of national institutions. Is this dream possible or a tall order?

Part Two is coming soon!