By Takura Zhangazha
A local Zimbabwean artist, Dereck Mpofu, recently released a song called ‘Mweya wechiZimba’. Even though the title of the song may suggest it to be religious, it is upon listening to it, far from being so.
Instead it is a satirical song that applauds with humour how Zimbabweans are now almost able to survive any calamity that befalls them. Or where you hear of someone who, for example, has ‘farmed in the desert’ he/she is likely to be Zimbabwean, jokingly sings Mpofu.
Apart from laughing with sad trepidation at the lyrics (and also appreciating the instrumentation), the song also made me think a little bit on how sometimes we occasionally refer to ourselves (Zimbabweans) as resilient. Or again as referred to by Mpofu, ‘survivors’.
And this, with the hindsight of how those still around to tell any tale, may be somewhat true. Only in an allegorical/ symbolic sort of way. Because it is only those that actually survive an ongoing economic catastrophe, a cholera outbreak, a natural disaster such as a cyclone that live to tell tales of survival.
Of late the term 'resilience' has started popping up in government or non-state actors public statements. This is especially with regards the national political economy. The official government economic policy of ‘austerity’, which is actually neo-liberalism, has been accompanied by propagandist statements such as 'no pain no gain'. And a call for Zimbabweans to suffer a little bit more in order to get to a neo-liberal and elitist 'promised land.'
The state and private capital have joined hands in a way that has created a dominant political and economic elite who intend on determining public perception as to what can be deemed progress. Hence at every turn, government has courted the private sector to assist it with the fundamentals of dealing with either natural (cyclone Idai) or man-made (cholera outbreaks) disasters.
And given the urgency of these disaster situations, we may generally overlook the significance of this strengthening relationship between those who have political power and those who have money/private capital.
There has already been a consortium of private companies (including, you guessed it, Econet Zimbabwe) that are leading a reconstruction programme for Chimanimani and Chipinge as announced via full colour double page adverts in the local print media.
On the face of it, the intention may be noble but it would be very correct for us to analyse the structure and impact of such private sector led investments at such a large scale.
All with the immediate permission of the state/government.
And to do so we must always undertake a comparative analysis of other disasters as they have occurred in different countries. Where books on the same are available we must read and again learn to comprehend what exactly to make of an amorous relationship between the state and private capital.
For this, I turn to Naomi Klein’s seminal work on the Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism. In this book Klein gives numerous examples of the devious hand of private capital in collusion with neo-liberal states/ governments to profit from natural or man made disasters. From Haiti, New Orleans, through to Iraq, Klein outlines the exchanges of tenders, money and the immediate forcible removals of peoples from disaster areas to make way for new forms of enforced gentrification and privatization of state capital.
To quote her at relative length from an article that appeared in the Guardian UK newspaper in mid 2017, titled ‘ How Power Profits from Disaster’ she writes, ‘After a crisis, private contractors move in and suck up funding for work done badly, if at all. Then those billions get cut from government budgets. Like Grenfell Tower, Hurricane Katrina reveled a disdain for the poor.’
This is potentially what appears to be emerging in the aftermath of the devastating after effects of Cyclone Idai. The corporate scramble for recognition for having donated goods and services to the disaster areas does not occur out of intuitive charity as it did with individual Zimbabweans. Corporates always have vested interests. And this is what we should query.
Our queries must however be established on our preferred form of direct and accountable assistance to the victims of a national disaster. With three clear principles. Firstly that the state must take an independent and people centered lead in providing post disaster reconstruction and assistance. This, in order to ward of direct profit motives by private corporations that may seek to win state supply and procurement tenders or alternatively gentrify/privatize Chimanimani and other directly affected areas.
Secondly, corporations and their aid must be subject to independent and direct scrutiny with key accountability and transparency measures put in place to track not only the donations but also the potential for crony aid in return for state favors.
Thirdly and finally, we must come to terms with the reality that neo-liberal approaches to addressing disaster situations may give the impression of solving the immediate problems but may in the final analysis, cause the further disempowerment of ordinary people in favour of corporate/private capital. While we may be caught up in the tragic and emotional conundrum of the natural disaster that has been Cyclone Idai, and even as we applaud immediate interventions of various stakeholders, we must keep an eye open for our own newer version of what quite literally would be individuals/corporates/state seeking to profit from a natural disaster. Or as Klein calls it, ‘Disaster Capitalism’.
Takura Zhangazha writes here in his personal capacity (takura-zhangazha.blogspot.com
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