The Zezuru: Botswana's opportunity for industry

| Friday September 16, 2011 00:00

Last week's papers reported on the closure of a Zezuru 'initiation school' in Selebi-Phikwe.  'This school was operating from a pastor's home and had 24 school-going children aged between five and 15 years,' Mmegi reported.

'Investigations revealed that the school had been operating since 2002, did not have a syllabus and the teacher was an illegal immigrant from Zimbabwe.'

That seemed to be a major reason for the closure of the school since it was not a 'licenced institution'.  Without a doubt, there are laws that govern education, and adherence to such is important.  In strictly adhering to the law, however, Botswana might be failing to seize a great opportunity to utilise the talents of a people who value commerce and industry more than any other in this country.  An official of the town council 'indicated that class teaching was conducted from 7.30am to midday, while in the afternoon pupils are taken for practical work in handicrafts'.

To all intents and purposes, it sounds like a school that compensates for what our education system might lack in terms of practical work for learners and students.  Council investigations are also said to have revealed that 'the school fee per month was P50, there were no meals provided in the school and no certificates were awarded to graduates'.  Until you contextualise it, this sounds unfair to the graduates.  But a graduate of such a school has no need for a certificate because instead of job hunting, he/she will use his/her practical knowledge for self-employment.

The Zezuru pastor, Winston Narbot, put the whole issue in perspective when he said the school was 'meant to groom the Bazezuru children on their culture and traditional practices' and that 'in their culture, they are taught survival skills from an early age'.  Pastor Narbot further said the reason members of their community never beg or queue up for jobs is that they create jobs themselves.  Theirs is a culture that embraces some of the major founding principles of this great republic: self-reliance and economic development.  These are ideals that if learnt well by the rest of Batswana, we would lift ourselves out of poverty rather than look to the government for a job or a food basket.

Two years ago, I embarked on a quest to learn more about the Zezuru culture and the people's insatiable love for producing handicrafts. I saw and spent time with a people that we have failed to take advantage of in a positive manner.  At a time when the world economy is teetering, one would think self-reliance was a far better option. The Zezuru offer that. 'We are taught self-reliance. Our education is to make things for ourselves,' Zvidzai Ndlovu, a Zezuru-born in Serowe, said.

Zezuru culture detests slavery and encourages entrepreneurship with a high level of workmanship.  'To learn properly, you have to start when you are young so that when you are grown up, you can make your own things and sell them,' said Ndlovu, explaining why Zezuru are always up and about selling their wares.  'Our young are also given a share of the money they bring home.  That is why they always want to go out and sell.'

A Gaborone taxi operator, Mpofu, spots a flourishing beard and a baldhead after the custom of Zezuru men.  He made this interesting observation: 'We teach our children when they are young.  I tell them to bring that tool, and tomorrow they make little artefacts; eventually bigger ones. Right now, if they do not touch or see timber or steel to fashion something out of, they do not feel very comfortable. They could even fall ill.'

In addition to obedience to God, self-reliance, and sharing, the Zezuru emphasise discipline.  They resist the whirlwinds of change and modernity in favour of their traditions, which has seen them less affected by the widespread challenges of unemployment and poverty.  I cannot help thinking that they would strike a cord with President Ian Khama.  'Our church emphasises good behaviour,' said Madumane, another Zezuru man. 'If you behave badly, you are stigmatised and banished from our community, even unto death.  If you were a thief or a drunkard, we say it at your funeral and we will not sing a hymn.'

Given these Scripture imposed 'strictures,' and the fact that Botswana has not had much success at industrialisation, it seems only right to engage BaZezuru in dialogue towards equipping them for industrial production.  If they can make the good furniture and fashion steel products in their own backyards, why can they not manufacture industrial quality products in fully equipped and financially resourced factories?  It seems highly unlikely that they would fail at such an enterprise. 

Great civilisations have been known for their promotion of good tradesmen.  In fact, the family names of many people in today's England are an eloquent narrative of the island nation's history that was made famous by the Industrial Revolution in the second half of the 18th Century; witness Taylor, Smith, Goldsmith, Baker, Butcher, Potter, Barber, Mason, Carpenter, Turner, Waterman, Shepherd, Gardener, Miller, and so forth.

Apart from agriculture, feudal society was characterised by handicrafts.  In modern times, division of labour can be encouraged without making a certain class of people serfs or slaves.  As pointed out by Adam Smith in The Wealth of Nations, division of labour results in great progress.  What we are doing with the Zezuru is repeating the mistakes the British made when they got to India.  At that time, numerous reports point out, about 40 percent of the population of India was engaged in handicrafts while the rest of the population was engaged in agriculture.There was a high level of production of goods in India by the handicraft industry.  However, the British destroyed much of the established sector and plunged India back into subsistence agriculture.

It is generally agreed that a rough and ready test of the level of the economic development of a country is to find out what percentage of the population is engaged in industry versus agriculture: the greater the percentage of the population in industry, the more prosperous the country.  Thus, in the US - the most prosperous country in the world today - only 3 percent of the population is in agriculture while the rest is in industry or services.  Why then don't we encourage the Zezuru in industry?

My simple proposal is this: Botswana has a section of the population that is already pre-disposed to industry and manufacturing.  Given that technology transfer is fairly easy nowadays (you can even learn how to make a bomb or assemble a rocket online), we should build factories and equip the Zezuru with the latest technology and other tools so that they may produce goods that the country so badly needs.  To take the sting of tribalism out of the equation, other sections of the population would be encouraged to join in the initiative that should at once create jobs, generate incomes and build enormous wealth for the country.

Pushing Bazezuru to conform to how we do things (read: how we don't do a thing!) will keep the country in the rut that it is in.  If the Zezuru want their children to learn and study at home, let them be helped along with the necessary tools to ensure certain minimum standards and safety.  To that end, we would do well to accept that the Zezurus' are a proud and resilient way of life that they are likely to protect from undue interference, especially when such intermeddling is informed by notions of superiority.

Taught obedience in church, the Zezuru say they will abide by the law of the land, including guidance by Selebi-Phikwe Town Council.  We would make a good start by working with SPEDU - the Selebi-Phikwe Economic Diversification Unit - to erect Botswana's first factory that will tap into the Zezuru predilection for industry.