Michael Sata and Zambia

There is no doubt that the persona of Patriotic Front leader, Michael Sata, has been called many things, ranging from being a maverick, to being unconventional, to repressive, to humorous, and to a strong leader. I will only try to highlight what is positive about the man and what I think is his passion for Zambia.

I imagine it is not easy being Michael Sata. First, he is true to himself; he does not pretend to be somebody he is not. Michael Sata is for "real". Second, he has a natural knack for the kind of mobilization politics as we know them. He has a skin rough enough to tough out some very trying times that African politics, in general, or Zambian political dynamics, in particular, can present. I have to really rake my memory to find, in our country's recent history, an occasion where an opposition leader not only dared the powers that be to put him behind bars, because they threaten it anyway if one has strongly dissenting views, but also backed up his words with action whenever the police showed up at his doorsteps. Sata does not back down in cowering fear of his political opponents.

Rightly or wrongly, the man is unarguably audacious!

And that is my cue: if any person will discover themselves, they will know what it is they are here for, and not let another human being--with two eyes, two nostrils, two ears, one mouth, two hands, two legs, five fingers on each hand, five toes on each foot, a birthday as well as a futuristic death day--to override them through coercive means against their will. People who have had a self discovery experience have no problems with respecting other people, on one hand, and expecting that same respect back, on the other. These people who have looked inside themselves and known their composite material, if you will, are true to themselves.

For the purpose of sensitizing and searching for authentic leaders, Mr. Sata serves as a shining example of resolve, determination and living out one's chosen path, as long as it does not endanger or harm others, per se. That is bearing in mind that with such a resolve, certain decisions will be made that will affect other people's lives in an undesirable manner. Yet, it is that same resolve that enables a leader to undo his or her mistakes.

For example, I was impressed with his pledge to re-nationalize our copper mines if he won the election last year, 2006. I felt he was original in his thoughts because there really is no reason for a country of barely 12 million people to continue wallowing in abject poverty when their national asset, copper, was selling at all-time high prices around the world. Coming right off the heel of the MMD's unrestrained "sell-all-assets" economic mantra and practice, the Zambian population had been both bewildered and dispirited to believe another political dispensation would jump-start our economy by taking advantage of this grand opportunity of nationalizing our copper mines.

I am aware that many had a ready excuse to further fuel the fears of renationalisation: the rise and fall of ZCCM. And, for that single reason, many people failed to speak up. At such fora as Zambia Online, for example, it took some of us to propose the renegotiation of our mines contracts with current proprietors. Such renegotiation would have entailed, at the very least, a thorough review of the tax incentives these "investors" were initially offered. It is simply immoral and unacceptable for foreign companies to come into a country, drain it of its resources without tangible reinvestment locally, while the true owners of that wealth--the Zambian people--are featuring at 70% living under the poverty-datum line.

If a government really cared, it would move and act on such advice, which it began to tell the nation, only months away from the election, that it was in the process of doing. Now that the election has come and gone, and the talk about contracts renegotiation is dead, it is clear that the MMD government used a very important issue of the nation's bread basket for election rhetoric only. It was spin material, period.

I am glad that Michael Sata stood his ground and kept pushing for an agenda that would enable ordinary Zambians to have a fair share in the national cake. This explains why PF trounced MMD on the Copperbelt and along the line of rail, where a history of mining and its direct benefit to the economy is a matter of possible reactivation.

I may not agree with Sata entirely about some of his personal idiosyncrasies, but, among the current crop of leaders, he exhibits more heart and the desire to speak his honest mind, no matter what the consequences are to his personal life.

If we would have more Zambians believe in their country and its infinite possibilities, and know, without a shade of any doubt that we, not other nations, have our future in our hands, and only we can make it beautiful, Africa has many bright prospects!

The new Africa is looking for an informed aggressiveness in our economics, politics, culture and the preservation of it, as well as our perculiar identity against the backdrop of the integrated global community.