Africa's Number 1

Nelson Mandela gave Africa a glimpse of honorable leadership. Obama's recent visit leaves the continent with more memories. Obama sold 'hope' during his first campaign.

The past five years have seen Sub-Saharan Africa enjoy decent levels of growth. Wars have temporarily abated and optimism is high. This hope is a good thing-optimism fires investment. Most investment has been coming from China and Obama's visit will not change that position.

'And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love'-Corinthians. Hope is not enough.You need a lot more than hope alone. Nelson Mandela demonstrated more than hope, in spending years in prison and  forgiving his tormentors. Obama could have offered more than hope in his presidential terms. 

Hope remains Africa's number 1. However, hope is not strategy. To succeed in life, business and relationships, you need perseverance, planning, passion, purpose and prayer to show the way. As prayers flow in for Nelson, let's also pray for other African leaders, so that as beacons of hope they can also  fight for peace and development in the continent.

'Growth' At The Gates

The economy  is drastically slowing down. This short- term slow down is being compounded by election anxiety. Aid money and soft foreign loans, the country's main sources of funding, have been temporarily suspended pending elections.

Foreign financial markets are in chaos. Other developing countries are seeing investors flee local exchanges. This has caused instabilities and even riots in Brazil. The hard lesson is-you cannot depend on so called short term foreign investment.

Zimbabwe needs real, long-term,  foreign investment to finance working capital, technology and infrastructure. Unfortunately, the sort of investors eyeing Zimbabwe's resources are  for short term gain. They want high 'growth' Zim shares and not long term developmental commitment. Zimbabwe needs real growth in employment, sustainable resource use and local re-development.

Financial calamities in Europe, instability in developing markets and the threat of a US$70 Trillion derivatives market, all  indicate when E.S.A.P 2.0  is offered as a development strategy, this should be seen as garbage at the gates. E.S.A.P part 2 will not be the new 'developmental' program's name, but at its heart will be financial liberalization.

Samaritans-The Good, bad and ugly

Image from Sister Elaine's Blog   --www.scimsisters.org

Samaritans come in bundles. The good Samaritan, Gospel of Luke, is hard to find. Most Samaritans are either bad or ugly.

Bad Samaritans exploit countries under the pretext of 'development'. Zimbabwe had another taste of the bad Samaritan during ESAP.

The ugly is, however, also local breed. Come election season, ugly Samaritans promise the moon. Voters are given gifts when they need real progress or taking to the inn.

Good Samaritans don't promise, but deliver. Good Samaritans take a nation toward real progress; they don't take their own people for a ride. Politicians of no value, typical empty vessels, make the most noise.

David and Goliath-brawl for Zimbabwe

Elections in Zimbabwe are nearing. Potential violence which typified all past elections is closing in. Apathy and anxiety rule the roost.

Citizens could learn from the story of David and Goliath. This story is about leveraging the qualities of wisdom and courage to overcome barbarous mighty oppression. On the one hand, you have highly geared oppressive forces going against a quest for fairness. If the fighters for fairness leverage their capacity, they will overcome.

After elections the economy will see battle. Industry is devolving and infrastructure is decaying. Debt still remains massive, while taxes are inadequate. Like David, will the citizenry see this as an opportunity rather than threat. David saw Goliath as a big target.

In living we all endure Goliath challenges. Big challenges can be seen either as terrors, or opportunities for courage and ingenuity. In being thoughtful and  fair, we are getting close to living our potential.

Gold 101

Gold prices have been volatile. In 2009, gold sold at $800 an ounce; in 2011, gold traded at $1900 an ounce; and in April 2013, gold  traded at $1300 an ounce.


Some commentators see gold as a 'barbarous relic'. These believe, the price of gold will decline to $1000 an ounce by 2015.  If this occurs, confidence in gold will decline in the medium term.


Gold has however retained value long term. Goldbugs continue to encourage the purchase of gold as an investment asset. All currencies have declined in value compared to gold, over the last thirty years. The problem with gold lies in short term speculative trades. Gold's short term price is distorted by thin markets and large speculative futures holders. Speculators drive a highly volatile short market, making price predictions impossible. Investing in gold is only encouraged to hedge against long term currency depreciation. Gold can also be used to back a currency and thus counter currency depreciation. Something the returning zim dollar will require.