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Africa is open to the highest bidder

Africa Is Open To The Highest Bidder 
By: Sinazo Mtshengu
This week I had the pleasure of attending the Africa Investment Forum. I set through the first introductory session. There were a few key notes I took from the forum speakers. However more than taking away how great of an initiative the forum is, the question of the economic gap in Africa was in my head, further the question of who are the beneficiaries of these investments?
Upon my interviews with a few Ministers and attendees of the forum, I soon realised that the Forum has good intentions, but serves more the governments (leaders) of the countries in attendance and the already rich elite individuals and organisations on the African continent. With international investors from Europe, China and America, who are already major shareholders in the African economy, this will not change the economic dynamics of the continent, in fact it will promote the continuous exploration of the poor African population.
The African continent has experienced economic growth of over 3% in 37 countries, further the continent has 6 countries who are the fasted growing economies in the world,  Africa is experiencing major economic growth, so why is the gap between poor and rich getting bigger, why is the middle class failing into more debt and why are they losing their assets at an alarming rate?
While we may celebrate the growing economies of Africa, we need to analyse our economic transactions, who are the faces of the African economy? These are old men, with political influence and power, men who have set as monopoly players in their respective countries, an elite group of rich powerful men, who get government contracts and close the economy for small businesses and young people who are trying to get into the spaces already occupied by them.
What the African governments have mastered is the skill of deflection, they speak a similar rhetoric of youth and women empowerment. They put aside small portions of national and international budgets for these “transformation” projects and the rest of the money goes to the usuals.
Africa faces a problem of corruption and visionless leaders, leaders whose vision is to serve their immediate financial woes and to pay back favours to the Chinese and Western landlords. It is the unfortunate reality of the continent. The truth is, the economies of Africa will grow, but they will grow into the pockets of the gate keepers, however, bones will be thrown to those lucky enough to be close by when the meat is being eaten.
 Education will continue be used as a tool to teach and train a future generation of employable Africans, rather than train employer Africans. The wealth will circulate with the members of the elite families of the continent.
A few new millionaire will be allowed to enter into the elite club, but some will lose everything to accumulated interest on debt acquired from the loans the international banks have loaned them.
Here are some key points I got from the investment forum:
  • Turning Infrastructure backlog into investment opportunity 
  • SMME development 
  • Turning informal sector to a formalised sector 
  • Private sector and Global investment
  • Growing agriculture economy 
  • Investment for Women business 
  • Solar energy


In conclusion, all these key points are not new to the African people, there is no new plan, some countries have heard this for over 60 year, while others less than 20 years,  however some africans are in worse conditions then they were in when these promises were made, while others have rose above the odds and made it out from poor to middle class and others have made it to the elite group of millionaires and billionaires.
The economic gap is widening and the poor never get to see the money invested in their names. So if you ask me what I think of the African Investment Forum and similar events, I will say they help grow our economic ratings, but don’t help the poor mother of 7 in rural Africa, who is uneducated, who has no means to start a business, whose land is dry because the government can not supply something as simple as seeds, with no basic human right needs such as basic housing and water.
The faces of African leaders are changing, but the problems of the poor remain the same. Africa is open to the highest bidder.


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