Many African countries are blessed with natural resources, like crude oil, gold and diamonds, which should assure a decent life for the woman on the street. But those resources have become a curse of sorts.
Leadership failure, greed, tribalism, corruption and religious bigotry are key reasons—especially in sub-Saharan Africa.
The list of examples is saddening: Sierra Leone, Liberia, Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Nigeria, Zimbabwe, …
Even South Africa, one of the most developed countries on the continent, is now plagued by the curse. Ministries, public enterprises and government agencies in the mining sector (and others) have been overrun by state capture, particularly since Jacob Zuma’s presidency.
The curse of natural resources in Africa is real.
And it is choking the development of the continent.
A stifling chokehold
The chokehold is so stifling that the former United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Special Adviser on Africa Joseph Legwaila (himself an African) lamented publicly that natural resources have played a “negative role” in many African countries, often leading to strife and war.
And, really, it’s all our own fault.
It can’t be blamed on Africa’s colonial past, as many deluded African denialists claim.
As long as the African populace continue to tolerate incompetent leaders, the picture is likely to remain unchanged.
Yet western multinational companies (MNCs) have also played their part in creating this sad tale.
Their operations in many African countries often create huge environmental and socioeconomic damage to local communities. But only because the African national governments/leaders condone their unethical practices—practices which are illegal or spurned in the MNCs’ own home countries.
The kleptocrats’ religion
Shell’s activities in Nigeria’s Niger Delta, tax-dodging by transnational mining corporations in Zambia, and big tech’s labour exploitation in several African countries are prime examples of MNCs’ questionable deeds.
All of this happens despite the western companies’ claims about their ESG credentials on their websites, in their annual reports and elsewhere.
Still, African national governments and leaders are to blame for allowing these unsavoury activities—the same leaders who have proven so adept at turning the blessings of natural resources into a continental curse.
Whether they seize power through the barrels of guns or steal it via rigged elections, often characterized by fraud, violence and manipulation, they remain steadfast disciples and advocates of the Church of Kleptocracy.
It seems that, almost without exception, any African country with abundant natural resources will also be beset by corruption and neopatrimonialism, the twin pillars of the kleptocrats’ religion.
When will enough be enough?
The religion is pervasive and potent.
Even the African Union, the continental bloc that should be the standard-bearer of good governance across Africa, is itself bedevilled by repeated allegations of mismanagement, corruption, nepotism and cronyism—many of the same symptoms of the continent’s natural resources curse.
The Financial Times’s film* of Nigeria’s oil tragedy shows a great example of Africa’s blessing-to-curse soap opera.
It also trumpets the big question: When will Africans wake up and say “Enough is enough!”—not via a hashtag on social media, but with their minds, their ballot boxes and their fearless actions?
Because until then, despite the signs of a nascent African renaissance, the continent’s bountiful blessings of natural resources will likely remain a curse.
And the woman on the street will remain in suffering and never truly be free, in Freetown, Monrovia, Luanda, Kinshasa, Abuja, Harare, … Her destiny will remain blighted in the hands of Africa’s numerous kleptocrats and their families and cronies.
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*You can also view the FT film on YouTube
