Page 26 - Msingi Afrika Magazine Issue 15

Economy

respect, trust, compassion, sharing, ous life of a human person; but an its highest potential without touch-
caring and, above all, how to pro- action is bad if it has a more or less ing its moral base.
mote the good of a community and decided tendency to break into and The principle of interdependence,
all its members. This notion refers narrow the totality and fullness of which believes that the task of
to the principle of communalism, or humanism (Ubuntu) and its content. wealth creation in a world of want
living collectively, with the objective A restriction on individual’s eco- and poverty requires the collective
to ensure that no one falls too far nomic activity places severe con- co-operation of all the stakeholders
behind anyone else. Collectivism as- straints on the economic welfare of in the enterprising community.
sociated with harmony and cooper- the whole society. If the individual The principle of the spirit of man,
ation means working for the benefit prospered, so too did his extended which believes that a man is entitled
of the whole, based on a long-term family and the community. to unconditional respect and dignity,
vision, rather than the benefit of An individual could prosper so long and organizations must work in
constantly changing individuals. as his pursuit of prosperity does not harmony with him in the spirit of
Unlike capitalism, an economy of harm or conflict with the interests service and harmony. Organisations
any given country must serve the of the community. The society’s that fail to do this, cease to exist.
people of that country equally. This interests are paramount. Unless an The principle of totality, which
means that the economy of the East individual’s pursuit of prosperity believes that the essence of collec-
African Community must benefit conflicted with society’s interests, tive participation in the creation of
everybody: urban or rural; black and the chief or king had no authority to enterprising communities in Africa
white. It means there must be one interfere with it. is crucial, because the building of
single economy, not a double econ- a world-class organisation requires
omy. We can, then, pose a question: Securing of the maximum satisfac- everyone in the organisation.
Does the present GDP method- tion of the constantly rising material Therefore, in developing the East
ology work within this context or and cultural requirements of the African Community utopia, it would
within another context. whole of society through the con- be advisable, as Huntington (1996)
Ubuntu can positively contribute to tinuous expansion and perfection of warns us, to place everything we
the socio-economic development of Ubuntu and higher techniques; are doing and thinking, within an
our post-colonial Africa and even Any maximum profit must be equal African idiom, and Ubuntu serves
give her a competitive edge in the to a maximum satisfaction of the that purpose fully. Remember that
world markets. This should partic- material and cultural requirements Africa is a civilization without a
ularly be so within economic and of society; universal power, but for Africa to
business enterprises whereby the Any maximum profit must be equal attain that level of being a univer-
Western based techniques of eco- to an unbroken expansion of pro- sal power, among other universal
nomics alone have been and remain duction, and powers, Africa needs to have its own
inadequate to overcome the perfor- Any maximum profit must be equal African-oriented economic philos-
mance challenges. Hence if such to an unbroken process of per- ophy – inspired by its own African
techniques are not strategically fused fecting production on the basis of economic humanism. To achieve
with the innovative African practices higher techniques. this, we need a solid consciousness
and processes anchored in Ubuntu similar to the one promoted by King
value system, they would only help Ubuntu Business Manage- Senzangakhona’s court poet, when
to achieve competitive parity as op- ment Principles he said:
posed to competitive advantage. The move to dilute the hegemonic
The following constitutive rules, can dominant economic paradigm is on O Menzi, scion of Jama,
hardly be measured by the GDP, but in a big way, and our African schol- A cord of destiny let us weave,
an Ubuntu-inspired GDP can easily ars have made a stride in developing That to universes beyond the reach
measure them, thus fulfilling what is Ubuntu-oriented business manage- of spirit-forms
lacking in the present GDP meth- ment principles that aim at effecting We may ascend.
odology – that of measuring the the ease with which to infuse Ubun-
well being of a society, rather than tu into the present unsatisfactory
economic activities alone: economy:

An action is good if it preserves the The principle of morality, which
totality, fullness and the harmoni- believes that no institution can attain

26 | we tell the true afrikan story