Last week I spent two days in Maputo, Moz. I was very disappointed with the poor state of governance. A bad odour hangs over the city due to raw sewage pumped into the ocean, solid waste everywhere, neglected buildings, bad roads and incredibly expensive restaurants and hotels. Now I realize the reason why Mozambicans never speak of their country. Corruption is the culture of doing business, from the border gate right up to the highest levels. In every public project, politicians and managers demand huge kickbacks on pain of cancelling the contract. Unemployment and poverty are pretty man-made there. And you cant blame colonialism for it. Blame FRELIMO Years ago a Moz expat mine manager in Rustenburg warned me against putting too much trust in liberation movements and politicians in general. He was damn right. Generally, governance is deteriorating in the whole of Africa. Only SA, Botswana and Namibia are exceptions. Im flying out to West Africa, I believe the situation is not one that could negate Afropessimism or promote Negrophilism either.
Posted on: Tue, 16 Sep 2014 07:26:15 +0000
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