To hide under the notion of neo-colonialism is a lame way to
minimize the atrocities you and me know these African dictators have
caused in Africa.
The notion of neo-colonialism is vague and has multiple contextual
definitions which cannot serve as any excuse for tyrants to submerge
their populace to extreme hardship, as they continually embezzle their
country's riches to the detriment of the masses who are constantly
miserable.
When an African dictator like Mugabe continually endorse the use of nomenclature like 'dollar' to identify his country's legal tender, is that African? When Mugabe stashed away billions in Western banks while his people cannot survive Maslow's bottommost rung, isn't that neo-colonialism? When Mugabe builds many multi-billion chateaux comparable with Louis XIV style while his people live in shambles, is that African? Mugabe's 40years younger wife is known as one of the most valuable Western designers' clients before travel sanctions were meted to her, Isn't that neo-colonialism?
The notion of Mugabe taking the African Liberation struggle to the economic level is a big deception. The land seizure policy was an economically naive way of solving a complex post colonial problem. There are economic variables that could have been put in place to permit Black Zimbabweans benefit from the land ownership problem. Increased taxes and state controlled prices are subtle economic tactics western and other countries use to stifle foreign investments in their countries. They force you out of business by fiscal methods, not by Idi Amin's kind of illiterate economic policies, like seizing Asian shops in his tenure as ruler of Uganda. The land seizure has not benefited the common Zimbabweans, only Mugabe and his junta are benefiting from the lands seized. Is this Economic African Liberation Struggle???
In as much as Qhadhaffi ought to have bowed out of power, we can not miminize his efforts in leading a debt-free and stable libya during years of sanctions meted on Libya by Western powers after the Lockerbie bombing. This is an example to show that an African ruler with just minimal patriotism can man an African economy even when sanctions are meted by the Western world. Zimbabwe is an example of failed leadership, as Mandela indicated. A country suffering a 355,000% inflation rate can not hold the West responsible for the mess. Is it the West that instruct African Ministers to embezzle billions allocated for projects aimed at uplifting the standards of living of common Africans? Cameroon is a clear example: We will soon accuse the West for major economic theft like the Ondong Ndong's billions and the Mounchipougate? What a shame! Africans need to move beyond the hypocritical Sarkozyian accusation as presented in his address in Senegal.
If Africans care they can create their own CNN and BBC, as some Africans are proposing and deny to show pictures of suffering Africans, brutalized Africans, rigged elections, and corpse-like rulers. Whether you like it or not, that is the African reality now and the West cannot be our only scapegoat for refusing to move on. Think again!!!
Neba-Fuh
The Mugabe saga is a complex situation that has ushered many simplistic explanations and theories with little quest for logical accuracy.