They are speaking out now aren’t they, the people and community of Chiredzi who constitute part of Zimbabwe’s critical indigenous majority. Their voices are now being heard above the whispers of discontent and simmering disillusionment over indigenisation within the Save Valley Conservancy. Their chiefs have boldly declared that they will not have anything less than the broad-based economic empowerment which will guarantee them socio-economic benefit from the exploitation of their wild life-based natural resource.
REPORT BY RANGU NYAMURUNDIRA It is encouraging to see indigenous Zimbabweans beginning to engage indigenisation and economic empowerment, to participate and demand that its broad-based objective and intent be fulfilled. A recent publication gives an account of the socio-economic plight of the people and communities in Chiredzi who face starvation and the indignity of relying on food aid.
To the credit of the current Save Valley Conservancy members they did, as early 2006, engage the Ministry of Environment and the National Parks and Wildlife Management Authority with plans to bring increased benefit to neighbouring communities. Yet the only real response now making the headlines today is the allocation of licences to a few individuals said to be largely from Masvingo, far divorced geographically from the communities living around the conservancy.
It is imminent that those mandated with implementing broad-based economic empowerment, across all sectors of government, must adopt a “dictatorship of the economy” on matters of indigenisation and economic empowerment. Such “dictatorship” will be legitimised and democratised by the majority of indigenous Zimbabweans now demanding that indigenisation and economic empowerment is not hijacked by a few individuals, but must benefit the majority.
It is ill-advised to hound Tourism and Hospitality minister, Walter Mzembi, for prioritising broad-based economic empowerment in the Save Valley Conservancy, at a time when Zimbabwe prepares to host the United Nations World Tourism Organisation General Assembly in 2013.
The UNWTO General Assembly shall place Zimbabwe’s tourism sector at the centre of international attention. Yet already, the individualism and greed being portrayed in the Save Valley Conservancy debacle are reflecting a bad image and giving new ammunition to the very foreign economic forces still very much committed to having us abandon indigenisation in its totality. Already the EU’s ambassador to Zimbabwe warned of a boycot of the UNWTO General Assembly and more sanctions being imposed against Zimbabwe because of the parcelling out of the conservancy.
Clearly, anything other than a community-based approach in the Save Valley Conservancy flies in the face of not only the very principle of empowerment but also in the international law provisions that would otherwise support our indigenisation programme at a time when ulterior forces would have such programme brought to a halt.
The cost of causing disillusionment among a now expectant indigenous majority must not be miscalculated. We cannot raise the hopes of a long socio-economically deprived people only to immediately dash such hopes against the rock of individualism, greed, corruption; more-so in such a programme that is by its very nature broad-based and must benefit to the majority. The national interest that defines us all, especially those appointed as custodians of such interest, is that of an economic emancipation programme that will ensure sustainable socio-economic benefit to the majority indigenous Zimbabweans, and with it stability for our nation birthed from racial socio-economic prejudice.
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- Rangu Nyamurundira is a lawyer and indigenisation/empowerment consultant based in Harare.
