Dr Fred M’membe

There are thousands more coincidences between Christianity and socialism than between Christianity and capitalism.

Responding probably to different motivations, they both advocate attitudes and behaviours that are quite similar.

There’s great coincidence between Christianity’s objectives and the ones we socialists seek, between the Christian teachings of humility, austerity, selfishness and loving thy neighbour and what we might call the content of a revolutionary’s life and behaviour. For, what is the Socialist Party teaching its members and the Zambian people? To kill? To be selfish? To exploit others? Just the opposite. We are teaching them unwavering commitment to honest, equity, humility and solidarity.

We are telling them that our country right now may be too poor to give our people great material wealth, but it can give them a sense of equity and of human dignity.

We socialists believe that Christ was a revolutionary par excellence. His entire doctrine was devoted to the humble, the poor; his doctrine was devoted to fighting against abuse, injustice and the degradation of human beings.

There’s a lot in common between the spirit and essence of Christ’s teachings and socialism.
And the Bible has very revolutionary content. The teachings of Christ are very revolutionary and completely coincide with our aims as socialists.

That is why we believe and openly say that we socialists are not the only revolutionaries. All those who truly follow Christ’s doctrine and devote themselves to the cause of the humble, the poor; and devote themselves to fighting against injustice, abuse and the degradation of human beings and to helping them liberate themselves are all revolutionaries.

Like we socialists, the Catholic social teaching does advocate the protection of property rights, but only when strongly situated within what is called the universal destination of goods. That is, “Christian tradition has never recognised the right to private property as absolute and untouchable: ‘On the contrary, it has always understood this right within the broader context of the right common to all to use the goods of the whole of creation: the right to private property is subordinated to the right to common use, to the fact that goods are meant for everyone.”
(Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, No. 177, quoting St. John Paul II’s Laborem Exercens). And because God intends the world to provide for the needs of every person, the distribution of resources must allow every human person with what is needed for a full life. Isn’t this what we socialists are advocating for?

In his encyclical “Pacem in Terris,” St. John XXIII explained: “Man has the right to live. He has the right to bodily integrity and to the means necessary for the proper development of life, particularly food, clothing, shelter, medical care, rest, and, finally, the necessary social services. In consequence, he has the right to be looked after in the event of ill health; disability stemming from his work; widowhood; old age; enforced unemployment; or whenever through no fault of his own he is deprived of the means of livelihood” (No. 11). Isn’t this what the Socialist Party’s manifesto is advocating for?

A defense of property, absent that context, functions to absolve those who own property from responsibility to those in desperate need. But Catholic teaching treats the withholding of resources from those in need as a failure of justice, and so private property always comes with a “social mortgage.”

Pope Leo XIII explained in his encyclical “Rerum Novarum”: “[W]hen there is a question of defending the rights of individuals, the poor and badly off have a claim to especial consideration. The richer class have many ways of shielding themselves, and stand less in need of help from the State; whereas the mass of the poor have no resources of their own to fall back upon, and must chiefly depend upon the assistance of the State” (No. 37). Isn’t this what we socialists are seeking?

And what is being advocated by the Catholic social teaching is not consistent with the capitalist social order.

Even on religious liberty, the Catholic social teaching is saying that it must also respect the common good.

As capitalists, with their religious agents, seek to accord special recognition to Christianity or section of it, the “Compendium” says, “Such recognition must in no way create discrimination within the civil or social order for other religious groups” (No. 423). The church’s witness to the Gospel always requires (and Catholics must acknowledge that it often has failed in this) the defense of the well-being of persons who do not accept the Gospel, in keeping with the commands to love both neighbour and enemy. The purpose of the right to religious liberty within Catholic thought is both to make room for the church’s freedom to give witness to the Gospel and also to honour the call of God for every person to freely enter into communion with the divine life. These two purposes are not at odds.
The church’s witness to the Gospel always requires the defense of the well-being of persons who do not accept the Gospel.

The document “Dignitatis Humanae,” promulgated at the Second Vatican Council, explains it thus: “It is…completely in accord with the nature of faith that in matters religious every manner of coercion on the part of men should be excluded. In consequence, the principle of religious freedom makes no small contribution to the creation of an environment in which men can without hindrance be invited to the Christian faith, embrace it of their own free will, and profess it effectively in their whole manner of life” (No. 10).

This makes it important to remember that Catholic teaching says the right to religious liberty “is not of itself an unlimited right. The just limits of the exercise of religious freedom must be determined in each social situation with political prudence, according to the requirements of the common good, and ratified by the civil authority through legal norms consistent with the objective moral order” (No. 422).

And speaking for myself, I can say that the ethical values that are propelling my revolutionary, socialist work came from my Catholic upbringing and education, from my teachers – the Capuchin Fathers, the Irish Christian Brothers and Sacred Heart Brothers. I would even say from my Christian family, home.

I was taught very early in my life that I should not lie. I was taught what was right and wrong, things that should and should not be done. I remember being punished by my Form 1 mathematics teacher at St John’s Secondary School to write 3,000 times, “Oh what a web we weave for ourselves when we first practice to deceive.” I had not done my homework and when asked about it, I lied that I had left it in the dormitory. I was told to go and get it. And immediately after I left classroom, the teacher told the class I was not going to come with any homework. He asked for a bet on it. When I came back empty-handed, the whole class burst into laughter. I have carried these words and memories of that day with me wherever I am and in whatever I do. And I remind my classmates of this incident whenever we meet. That was my baptism out of lying.

Later on, my revolutionary and political involvement began to create in me a feeling of what was wrong, the violation of an ethical standard, an injustice, abuse or fraud. I began to have an idea of what was fair and unfair. I began to have a concept of personal dignity. I think I have always had a sense of justice – from very early on – because of what I saw and experienced.

Undoubtedly, my Catholic upbringing and education influenced me a lot. The Capuchin Fathers, the Irish Christian Brothers and Sacred Heart Brothers inculcated a very strong sense of personal dignity in me, regardless of their political ideas which quite often I didn’t agree with. They valued character, rectitude, honesty, courage and ability to make sacrifices.

The Irish Christian Brothers definitely influenced me with their strict organisation, their discipline and their values. They contributed to my development and sense of justice. Following that path, I came to view abuse, injustice as unacceptable.

If you mix ethical values with a spirit of rebellion and rejection of injustice you begin to appreciate and place a high value on a number of things that other people don’t value at all. A sense of personal dignity, honour and duty form the main foundation that enables people to acquire political consciousness and a revolutionary spirit.

By Chaka Zulu

It is so disheartening and sad to read about Cabinet Ministers and the incumbent Chadiza Member of Parliament make pronouncements about downgrading a road that feeds the nation. How can one advocate that The Chipata – Chadiza and Vubwi roads should remain as gravel roads? Honestly?

Does it really make sense for these roads to only be graded with the foresight that the rainy season will be upon us? November is not too far away. The onset of the rains will wash these temporary stop-gap measures away.

My research on the importance of such feeder roads has shown that Government program and policy framework and the subsequent methods employed to invest in strategic community development actions do provide an enabling avenue for agricultural sector advancement and Investment in agricultural technology.

This has been observed over time and is certainly a major factor in historically proven examples of agricultural efficiency that ensure we as a nation have sufficient food reserves. This resonates with the presumption that activites are vibrant and geared towards the realization of oir National food Security agenda; especially the Goals of the 7th National Development Plan to eliminate the number of people living in hunger and poverty at all levels by the year 2030.

The challenge in agricultural research and development is by keeping previous output accomplishments. By enhancing agricultural invention and innovation which can distinguish outputs by value addition by making rural farmers have a meaningful proportion of output gains.

Food security can be said to exist when people, especially the low-income group, at all times, have access to adequate food supply for sustenance meeting every household dietary requirements for healthy living.

This is given the recent empirical observations that most activities by economic agents can be predicated upon the nature of institutional framework that is made even more viable and operational by a good feeder road system.

The Inadequacy of infrastructure facilities such as rural feeder roads among others further exacerbates poverty in rural areas by isolating rural farmers from needed inputs and access to sustainable and profitable markets.

On the other hand, the availability of basic amenities especially feeder roads can increase the returns for farmers in rural communities can realise from their farming endeavours. For instance, it has been noted that in rural Zambia, the provision of rural feeder roads has the potential of increasing internal rate of returns by 12 to 15 %. Pressure from rising populations is also affecting already declined resources, further threatening food production.
Over-farmed land, deforestation, and overgrazing are severe in many parts of the country for citizens want to settle were there is easy access to roads.

As much as we appreciate the efforts by the Government under the Link Zambia initiative, we from the Eastern province and Chadiza district in particular are appealing to Government to reconsider their decision to downgrade the roads in Eastern province and rather upgrade them to bituminous standards.

We want to reinforce the sentiments by the Paramount Chief of the Ngoni, Mpezeni that; “its unfortunate that the Government has decided to downgrade the roads in Eastern province”

The Author is the 2021 MMD Chadiza Parliamentary Aspirant

”WHAT ONE DOES IS WHAT COUNTS NOT WHAT ONE INTENTIONED TO DO” – Pablo Picasso

Here is a simple question can you name one successful Zambian Brand that came as a result of Empowerment Funds?

Here is another one, when you go to the ”Success Stories” page of the Citizens Economic Empowerment Commission page, Can you recognize a single company there or business that you, even as a consumer or Labour market participant has ever engaged with?

Just something to think about…

This weekend the hot topic discussion has been youth empowerment funds specifically the launch of a K470million mega youth empowerment fund on Saturday 15th of August 2020, which was officiated by President Lungu himself. Now, I must categorically state that I do not take joy in the failures or imminent failures of President Lungu and his administration because I believe that when you are on a plane you HOPE FOR THE PILOT TO SUCCEED. However, should the pilot be showing signs of reckless endangerment, then one has to call it out for the safety of the passengers. Unfortunately looking that the way this has been put together the government is better suited taking the same K470 MILLION pilling it together, pouring gasoline on it, and lighting it on fire as a bonfire because at least it will serve one night of use as warmth. I can confidently say the economy and the people will derive no value from this fund at all.

As well-intentioned as Government Managed Empowerment Funds Tend to be, they always fall short because of the few simple inherent flaws in their structure:

1. Inefficient Deployment and Dispensation of Capital
2. Use of other people’s funds and not personal capital creates a bad incentive for excessive and miscalculated risk-taking
3. The Failure to comprehend that +67% of the critical support that early-stage entrepreneurs need is Non-Financial.

According to a combination of the 2018 Citizen’s Economic Economic Empowerment Fund Annual Report and 2018 Auditor-General’s Parastatals Report approximately K300m has been deployed in business empowerment loans and 50% of that is sitting as non-performing loans leading to the statement that the companies are either failing or non-functional. It looks like this new iteration of empowerment funding is simply doomed to follow in the graveyard of its ancestors and predecessors.

The truth is no matter how much money is pumped into Government Empowerment Funds their failure to succeed is driven by structural factors not financial ones.

If you have ever had the chance to watch ”SHARK TANK” or its alternative ”Dragons Den”, you will see something remarkably different and you will see a much higher success rate with Shark Tank Businesses than any Government-Backed Empowerment Funds anywhere in the world.

The website Company Inc did an analysis of Shark Tank Companies that were invested and found the following outcomes;

– $143million in capital investment has been deployed
– 600 companies have received investments
– 56% of Applicants to Shark Tank Recieve investments
– Investments are experiencing significant revenue growth
– 75% of businesses are profitable
– 95% of companies are Operational

Shark Tank’s success is based on a few simple factors;

1. THE SHARKS ARE INVESTING THEIR OWN MONEY and this leads them to invest wiser, more carefully and objectively and offer greater support to guarantee their returns. When an investor is using their personal money they tend to be more objective and less corrupt.
2. THE SHARKS ARE SUCCESSFUL ENTREPRENEURS THEMSELVES so having gone through the entrepreneur’s journey themselves, they know how to spot a good business and talented and passionate entrepreneur and can offer mentorship and guidance.
3. THE SHARKS OFFER MUCH MORE THAN MONEY – When you get a shark you don’t just get the money you get a partner who sits on your board and offers a lot more than money. They offer mentorship and guidance, business structuring, business systems, new business relationships, new markets, supply chain renegotiation, and Valuable Brand endorsement. Venture capital studies and analytics show that most companies in the early stages are valued by management, ideas, and social/relational capital while total monetary capital is only valued at a maximum of 35%.

These are all factors that are missing from the Zambian Government Empowerment Funds which tend to serve more as a political sideshow than an investment vehicle.

The usual Lazy response in Zambia will be that Shark Tank is American and this is Zambia and that would be the easiest way to dismiss success while subtly state that one has low expectations of Zambia [which is quite racists to be honest] and Dismissing Shark Tank’s and Dragon Den’s success in Canada, Japan, England, South Africa, and Australia.

When Asked what Shark Tank Investors are seeking in an Entrepreneur they stated the following:

1. Passionate and Determined Entrepreneurs [THE MOST IMPORTANT FACTOR]
2. Growing Sales or visible potential grow sales
3. A solid business model and value proposition

Instead of just being a nagging citizen I would like to offer a possible solution because I was once told it is easier to find consensus on Solutions than it is to complain about a problem. Therefore I would say the government of Zambia is better served to support the following initiatives:

1. A reduction of Regulatory requirements for startup enterprises and guidance on micro standards, for example, a micro food processors guideline that is easier to comply with
2. Removal of Regulatory Bottlenecks giving problems to startups such as decentralization of product testing from ZABS to private hospitals
3. Raising of the Turnover Tax Threshold to K10 MILLION in annual revenue
4. Allowing Young Entrepreneurs to access loans equivalent to 35 percent of their Personal cumulative NAPSA contribution from Private Banks with NAPSA Deposits as Guarantees
5.  Incentives the Development of private industrial incubators and hubs that train people on Business Model Development, Value Models and Brand Models
6. Introduce Seminars to young people on how to startup business in a lean fashion and fly in speakers and entrepreneurs from around the world to talk to them and teach them
7.  Support for Business Mentorship program that incentivizes successful local entrepreneurs to mentor young entrepreneurs
8. Turn PACRA into a CLOUD BUSINESS SYSTEMS HUB where people can access cheap-cloud bases interconnected business systems.
9. Encourage the reading of Business Books by successful brands from around the world to help them understand and possibly get inspired.
10. Encourage young people to start businesses and enterprises in areas they are passionate about.

In a talk about why government investment doomed Professor Burton Folsom of Hillside College stated the following-

”Sustainable Economic Growth Comes from entrepreneurs risking their own money and not from politicians risking Taxpayers money”
Watch the full Video on the PragerU Youtube Channel