By K.Ngato
It’s almost 50 years since our beloved country got its independence, but we still on the same stage or even worse.
One would wonder, our country has a lot of natural resources but is still poor by far than some countries around the world that have nothing at all. I
guess this has much to do with our mentality; we are more like crabs in bucket “if I can’t have it, neither can you.”
You try to put crabs in a pot or bucket. Individually, the crabs could easily escape from the pot, but instead, they grab at each other in a useless “king of the hill” competition which prevents any from escaping and ensures their collective demise.
The analogy in human behavior is that of a group that will attempt to “pull down” (negate or diminish the importance of) any member who achieves success beyond the others, out of envy, conspiracy or competitive feelings.
This is broadly associated with short-sighted, non-constructive thinking rather than a unified, long-term, constructive mentality.
Let’s try to focus on developing our country unlike taking personal issues to National level at the cost of all Zambians.
Unless we deal with this mentality, we are far from development. We forget that if we push someone up, it’s easier for them to pull us up.
One Zambia, one nation. Together we can achieve wonders!!!
K. Ngato you can’t write. Poor analysis. Weak points. Were you writing with crab’s legs?
In fact Zambians can’t write anything meaningful. Even L-T and Watch-dog journalists can’t write. Why should you try to do something you can’t do? Leave journalism to the British. Good try Ngato but you need to get educated in the UK to become a successful writer
Your first sentence if you are Zambian is like a self fulfilling prophecy :)
Mindset is part of the problem. Is it possible we also over relied on copper, had a brain drain, experienced interminably long reigns of political parties and misplaced resource when building infrastructure. Line of rail development was so colonial powers could get from mines to coasts but our total development required looking at building more than Lusaka’s urban population.
I do feel Zed has the potential to grow on an unprecedented scale but maybe there is national depression caused by missed opportunities and the culture of hope has diminished which is different from merely pulling people down for the sake of it which is actually practiced more by those who have benefited more from Zed than the very poorest who have larger daily issues to worry about than player hating :)
this defines the pipo of zambia ” The analogy in human behavior is that of a group that will attempt to “pull down” (negate or diminish the importance of) any member who achieves success beyond the others, out of envy, conspiracy or competitive feelings.”
Interest and inflation target system is very much welcome and has taken too long if I may add…. despite the down rating once fiscal policies are in place the same investors will come back… Europe right has a lot of uncertainties, American recovery slowing so Africa is still the best place to invest. Africa has just failed to play a major contributing and controlling player in the global world while our materials are being molested through out. To me AU, SADC, ECOWAS etc are still blind or get corrupted with making develop countries’ dance to us. Africa has the skills now lets develop before we too join in looking for materials to survive…WAKE UP
sata forge ahead.witch hunting il nt yield anythin.
The analogy in human behavior is that of a group that will attempt to “pull down” (negate or diminish the importance of) any member who achieves success beyond the others, out of envy, conspiracy or competitive feelings.
This is broadly associated with short-sighted, non-constructive thinking rather than a unified, long-term, constructive mentality.
Let’s try to focus on developing our country unlike taking personal issues to National level at the cost of all Zambians.
Unless we deal with this mentality, we far from development. We forget that if we push someone up, it’s easy for them to pull us up.
as much as i agree with you on the subject of mentality,looking at social and developmental issues one should use the legal and human standard process on their way up,no govt will crucify its citizens who are innovative and harding working,we have many former mmd ministers who are very clean,brian chitowu is one of them.the mental aspect per zed is lack of progressive minds,too much negative mindset producing unproductive results thats why we are poor.as a country we need to unite for a common purpose especially if it concerns tangible developmental projects.their is also lack of stakeholder participation from those outside the govt.no patrotism from most of the citizens.many youths in USA join defence forces not for money but patrotism,defending our country for the sake of others.
very good analysis,zambians behave like witches,we cannot push each other up.we always want to be seen more successful than otherz.politicians now are fighting each other even if som1 is doing a good cause.they are the cause of underdevelopment in this country.they cannot consult each other on nation issues,insteady they fight each other through the media, we are made to read fights through words rather than policy issues.we need to change our mentality.
Will 2012 see more old men of Africa leave office? (By Isaac Esipisu)
There are many reasons for being angry with Africa ’s strong men, whose autocratic ways have thrust some African countries back into the eye of the storm and threatened to undo the democratic gains in other parts of the continent of the past decades.For those who made ultimate political capital from opposing strongman rule in their respective countries, it is a chilling commentary of African politics that several leaders now seek to cement their places and refusing to retire and watch the upcoming elections from the sidelines, or refusing to hand over power after losing presidential elections.
JUST A FEW SHORT PARAGRAPHS BUT MILLIONS OF GRAMATICAL ERRORS.
#s 3 & 5 Reporter What brand of cigarret do you smoke? Please help me, I want to start smoking!
said by u and i think u should know it better.ati PROFDOBO KKIKIIKIKIKIKIKIKIIKIKIKI,the name speaks
I think your name is the “brand name” you are looking for………lol
Never mind the errors nor the length of the article, just digest the message which the Author has managed to put accross cut and clear!
I have always pointed out on this forum that the biggest obstacle to our development and progress as a nation and a race is not the opressor but our constant infighting (left-hand grabbing) and our inability to realise that the developed world is so afraid of a united, strong Africa that they will do anything to perpetuate our division. They know that as long as we keep fighting amongst ourselves, they do not have to do much to continue exploiting us and our resources.
Uli chamano iwe!! I so much believe in communication, while others believe in “linguistics”; truth is the data is clear.
Nine Chale, the guy in question has just fulfilled what the writer is writing about in very dramatic fashion! The message is very clear but as usual there is someone eager to pull down the writer even at the expense of suggesting solutions to the subject at hand.
‘infighting’ is just competition but at individual level. Competition has fostered development in other parts of the world. Do your stuff very well and legally…..no amount of pulling shall bring you down.
What is needed is to organize the ‘infighting’ into achieving well founded common developmental goals.
Zambians should forget about national development for now. There is a new bunch of politicians to steal from national coffers. Then another one will come and so on. Too bad Levy died. He seemed to have the correct mindset of a national leader. For now you have to work with these guys that are there to enrich themselves and their relatives. Enjoy the ride
Just stand back and read the headlines of your papers for the last 10 years! Nothing constructive just the same old childish play ground accusations amongst your polititians. (He said this. No he said that!) Try to get past this mentality and you will be suprised of what you can accomplish. First thing that should happen is pay the poor farmers for last years crops!
if the author is implying that dora and team must be let loose and all should just forget about them then i have a problem with that. like one blogger said there are many former leaders who are enjoying their freedoms. chituwo, mr kaingu and others. corruption in the order of grand theft cant just be swept under the carpet. for instance, theft of funds meant for drugs results in unnecessary deaths and if you were to switch places with the victims of such crimes then you will add justice and love to your analysis.
IF ONLY WE CAN SHARE SAME SPIRIT, SAME FIGHT, SAME COURAGE, SAME FEELINGS AND MOVE IN THE SAME POSITIVE DIRECTION TO DEVELOP OUR COUNTRY, ZAMBIA WILL BE A BETTER PLACE TO LIVE IN.
I think these are the final dates but they also are dates that were ADDED to the original nuebmr of dates. So maybe they will add yet more in the future. Not impossible. Anyway she cannot keep doing this all through 2010 if she is doing Burlesque.VA:F [1.9.15_1155]please wait…VA:F [1.9.15_1155](from 0 votes)
We can’t all be presidents or ministers or MPS to decide the future of out country, but we can all be patriots to the development of our nation. Love your country. Your country is the land where your parents sleep, where is spoken that language in which the chosen of your heart, blushing, whispered the first word of love; it is the home that God has given you that by striving to perfect yourselves therein you may prepare to ascend to him.
Make no mistake this corruption fight Ukwa has started is nothing but another example of pull them down. If anyone is serious about fighting corruption, they need to put systems in place to check those in government! But the way its being done now is either mere rheotoric or the crab mentality aluded to. This is one area even the most loved Levy (MHSRIP), and mind you he was only loved so much after death!, made this mistake of fighting corruption as a one man show. We need a president that will fight corruption without wanting to victimise anyone and one they need to do is put systems in place to check corruption. as it is I can see even Ukwa, Mmembe and the like looting the country meanwhile pretending to be doing otherwise
To foreigners, we are a great people; to ourselves, OMG, we love to see others suffer. From management to operations specialist; negotiation for salaries, promotion of local brands. In fact, if we can rejoice in the sucess of others, we could equally be happy. It calls for objectivity; and its hard to develop this objectivity when you spend all the time in Zambia. Pull him down (PHD) – it has contributed to the exit of many valuable people, including “TruthHurts” yes. But we love the country and we will always be objective.
From the comments one can tell that these are the people Ngato is talking abuot…..Zambia largest producer of copper in Africa,but one of the poorest countries in Africa.
K.Ngato your article lacks depth for me to be generous with my feedback, were you writing this article via twitter or using your small hand-held smartphone.
Please invest a bit of time in research, critical analysis if you want us to take you serious and give you honest feedback.
Clearly this is a lousy piece of writing. No substance whatsoever. This guy is rubbish. Worthless analysis. I end here!
yaba…………………………………………here we go again!
Ngato, I’ve understood your message clearly. Half the people commenting here are a perfect example of what you are talking about. People who are easily distarcted with non issues, concentrate on the irrelevant and run with it. The message could have been said even in one sentence! It’s that’s clear my guy, so don’t worry about their useless opinions. Now for my comment on the subject:
That is why I have loved my stay in the diaspora, the prosperity of these people, has more than anything been a dependance on eachother. Like the way most Jews do business, giving bussiness to each other, to grow their own economy as Jews. Today they are the most powerful community in America yet they are not even that many of them in comparison to the general American population.
Continued: Zambians hate to see others prosper for reasons only known to themselves. Yet they call themselves Christians. If your friend sees you buy a new car the are first to report you to DEC, yet even they know you worked hard for what you have.
When you succeed they start going round spreading lies without them seeeing the opportunity for themselves to go up too.
Country men please rejoice in the prosperity of others, because God has a plan for you too
I am guessing the writer is well aware he is broaching a subject to a site populated by those who use anonymity to negate. What I’m always curious about is if those who display the mentality being addressed are even aware of how they come across :) Mind you I believe they have a right to an opinion even if delivered without our warmth and respect of old. There are people on these sites whose wealth and breadth of knowledge, patience and genuine loyalty to Zed makes me want them over for dinner even in cases where our viewpoints differ. I’m developing great affection and respect for many here who provide daily edutainment:)
Oh and I like nothing better than teasing you LT :)
@ My Opinion, You are perpetuating a notion born out out of frustration. We have to be realistic in what to expect from others. You may say family and friends are not supportive of my works. Do they have the time and money? You may say Zambians prefer foreign products. Have you checked the quality of the product or the customer service from the Zambian? You buy an immaculate car. Your neighbor marvels at it and asks how you were able to get it so he can get one as well. You pointlessly keep the information from him because you want to be the only one with such a machine but get surprised when rumors about you stealing make the rounds. Zambia’s under-development is a result of nothing else but poor planning, disorganization and laziness at both national and individual level.
@Blue thanks for responding to me friend. I hope you see that you are raising more issues that have added to this problem of crab mentality than I did. Your points are good, but what I mentioned was ‘helping one another’ keeping information from someone is not helping one another and bad customer service…my dear even here there are Zambians who own small businesses and I have vowed NEVER again to support their business until they wake up to who keeps them in bussiness. I was talking about straight good practices that are still met with resistance from our own.
Ngato, please keep writing and don’t stop. Even if no one is gonna read what you write, just keep writing for the sake of putting your ideas on paper. Believe you me, some day, you will be glad you did. Secondly, don’t shy away from reading every bloggar’s comment (positive or negative) on your article. Only draw lessons from them if at all there be any. Ndagola!
Great article, SMH though at the first respondent. First blogger and it had to be a crab.
Boom! Perfect delivery.
its not just Zambia, its blacks. ‘blacks are fools’, says a south african author. God given vast lans, rains, animals, we are starving,sick our people are poor everywhere you go along the roadsides they look like sick people, no proper clothing, tired, eish. The black mind, witchcraft, tribalism, superstition, greed, selfish ambition, parochial, ungrateful, yeish. plenty of land, no food. plenty of trees, no housing, plenty of cotton, no clothes, plenty of herbs, no drugs, plenty of land, no land. the black mind, a cursed mind. God help us.
I agree with you for putting it bluntly
” ‘blacks are fools’, says a south african author. ”
I guess you would have to take a white guy’s word for that. Quoting Boers now?
In order to develop you also need the neccesary skills and the most critical is education.What i’m trying to say is that the writer is part of the problem he is alluding to.His literal skills are wanting thus he could not develop into a famed author or a best seller of literal works.
Maybe he or she is just someone who was provided a platform to air a view as opposed to seeking fame and fortune as a best selling author of ‘literary’ works. I like your education point though. Spaces after full stops and capitals in the right places is a good start :) Sorry. Couldn’t resist the opening…
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Psychologists say that on average 85% of our self-talk is negative. Well, going by the slant of the article and comments on this blog it holds true. They warn us that ‘You become what you dominantly think about’. But they also say that the good news is that this trend (or mindset) can be changed by consciously thinking about our desired outcomes. After all you become what you think about.
No. 31 barotse son,you are an on-star for the new borns waiting to breathe!
Blacks are the most racist people in the world.Know why?Simply because Black people hate their fellow Black people!
Those who have had a chance to mingle with Blacks from the Caribbean islands,U.S.A and Africa in one place for a long time can testify to this.
A caribben Black person would die a thousand death to see a black person from Africa who lives ten times better than them,because what they see on Tv and what they see in reality is a stark contrast!
Ironically, you will witness racism amongs Africans,too.I’m speaking from within and not from without!
meant to say ”witness racism AMONG Africans”
Put English speaking africans and French speaking africans in a room there will be cacophany!!!!!!!
Cacophonic sounds of Africa. yiliyiliyilyiliyili as if they are solving problems! Yeish.
Ngato should have spent more time and thought on his (or her?) article. It is so hypothetical. Who and whom is he/she talking about? Examples, please. What is the objective of the article? And what is the conclusion? If it is “One Zambia, One Nation” then, Ngato, you are a neo-Unipist. We all need to acknowledge that despite the apparent so-called PHD syndrome, Zambia has developed in its own way, has been unified in its own way, has democratised in its own way, has won AFCON in its own way, has developed her own music and cultures in its own way etc etc. What else do you want? Zambia could easily have become another DRC or Somalia. But inspite of the id!ot in Sata House, Zambia is progressing in its own way. Cheer up!!
Am talking about the typical Zambian mindset, educated and uneducated, religious and non-religious, in diaspora and at home. We would rather see foreigners succeed in preference to fellow Zambians.
Thats the reson those british bastards were able to colonise stupid nations like zambia. Youll sell your brother for a loaf of bread. It will take generations to change these mentalities, meanwhile try to live your life as best you can. Other african countries are even worse eg zimbabwe and somalia, congo etc.
Thats the best advice I have got….’try to live the best you can’ makes a real difference for me despite whats around us. In addition, I d like to add that ‘ridicule the African stupidity wherever you find it’. Perhaps that helps as well.
@konyagi 2012 words fails me. u are an embarassment to zambia! ati u’ll only b successful wit a british degree; wit such a mentality God help u! such a disgrace and traitor. like i said, words fail me.
Why are u hating?the article is js descibing exactly what you are..
Problem with US in Zed is that we CAN’T SEEM TO LOOK BEYOND THE TIPS OF OUR NOSTRILS!!! You see, e.g our politicians, steal beyond what they can really make use of, just to look at the numbers, seems to satisfy them immensely! WHAT THEY FORGET IS THEY TRASH THE COUNTRY INTO POVERTY, stupidly forgetting, that it is THEIR CHILDREN & GRAND CHILDREN INHERITING THE TRASH THEY LEAVE BEHIND!! What’s the point of having millions, enough to buy you the best cars, BUT YOU CAN’T BECOZ THEY WILL BE SWALLOWED BY THE FIRST POT-HOLE THEY HIT!!
What we need to appreciate, is WHAT’S TERMED THE “MULTIPLIER EFFECT”, i.e. if you empower others, YOU ALL PROGRESS & BECOME PRODUCTIVE, which allows the WHOLE COMMUNITY TO DEVELOP!!!
You see, people like Bill Gates gave themselves a mission, TO GET A P.C. IN EVERY HOUSEHOLD!! He didn’t set about saying, becoz everyone might need a PC, he WOULD PEG IT AT A HIGH PRICE TO MAXIMISE HIS PROFITS – rather, looked at it BY SELLING VOLUME, then getting everyone dependent on their products which would be exclusively updated by themselves. The point is, THEY HAVE AVAILED TO THE WORLD A PIECE OF EQUIPMENT WHICH HAS ALLOWED EVERYONE TO ADVANCE THEIR LIVES, but have also improved the world they live in, & THEY HAVEN’T STOPPED, hence his recent visit to Zed, we should learn a thing or two!!!