By Taderera

A long way we have come.

Here is where we are; what

then is the direction we are

to take into the future? A

long way we have come

and so much we have

learnt in our journey as a

people. Once upon a time,

there we were, a time that

we have since lost memory

of, a time when we were

kings and queens of the

land. No, not in the manner

that the kings and queens

of this world today conduct

themselves, but in a man-

ner that is much more

human, a manner which

was understood and appre-

ciated by the people. A

time when all our people’s

needs were met. No one

ever went without food,

without shelter, no one ever

wanted for anything. Being

human was a blessing to all

creations of the earth.

But then, what happened to

us? In a twinkle of an eye,

all became lost to us. What

we now know of ourselves

is that which was written

and narrated to us by

people foreign to us, people

of a foreign land. A people

that does not hold our best

interests at heart, this is

what we know now. How

can other people ever tell

the truth about us? A peo-

ple so keen on taking even

our continent as their own

and reducing us to slaves.

A people whose hatred of

us is driven more by jeal-

ousy and greed? How can

such a people tell us any-

thing about us; and if we

were greater than them and

more human and blessed

than them, would they ever

let that truth out? Rather

they decide to keep such

truth hidden , a truth they

themselves know to be

true!.

What they have told us

about ourselves is that we

were just like wild animals

when the Egyptian civiliza-

tion reigned supreme.

Were we indeed just like

wild animals living with the

beasts of the veld? But

then it is well known who

was a beast of the field

when Egypt was the Sun of

the world.

We were then told that

after Egypt there came

another civilization, and

another, and another.

Where we inhabitants of the

forests, among wild beasts

for all this time? Rome

came and collapsed and

Britannica arose.

(continued on p.3)

Africa Land of My Birth

Who is Behind TOTF Bulletin

The concept of Thoughts

of the Future (TOTF) Bul-

letin is a brainchild of

progress minded individu-

als from Africa who met

through social media

discussions. This is a

platform for unbiased fact

-based voices that want

to express thoughts to

produce a positive change

in the world in general,

and Africa in particular.

TOTF Bulletin aims to

connect minds from all

four corners of the globe,

especially people from

Africa, for the purpose of

raising our awareness of

life so that we may shape

our future by what we do

here and now. Contribu-

tions to TOTF Bulletin are

open to all.

To have your articles

published, email them to:

totfzim@gmail.com

Special points of interest:

Conscious Living

The Time is Now

In The Corridors of Money and

Power

Business Networking

Africa Land of My Birth

Somewhere in Zimbabwe

Thoughts of the Future

FIRST EDTIO

N

Volume 1, Issue 1

Newsletter Date

however, is why this outburst of energy;

this creative impetus to bring out the

deepest potentialities inherent in the

universe; why, this expression of man’s

relevance on earth as a beneficiary of

its gifts and a partaker of its glory;

why is it not benefiting the majority of

humanity?

The ever widening gap between those

who have and those in dire need

speaks of a civilization in need of di-

rection. The rampant abuse of the

same knowledge for the subjugation of

those without it, demands attention and

calls for a change of heart. There is

just no longer any plausible excuse for

the flawed and selfish habits that char-

acterize the way human affairs are

administered.

We stand at a place where two raging

seas meet, at a space between the end

of night and the beginning of day. We

By Augustine Shamuyarira

It cannot be denied that the scientific

advances that have been witnessed in

this past century have been unprece-

dented in the history of discovery and

invention. Discoveries in medicine, in

information, transport and general pro-

duction, have far exceeded expectations

and they continue to be perfected.

Suddenly, the once huge globe has

been shrunk down to a tiny village. We

have indeed torn the universe apart

and revealed unimaginable power from

within it. It has been suggested that if

humanity was to cease all search for

new material knowledge, and focus on

using the knowledge that has so far

been accumulated on things that are

beneficial to man, we could safely go

for another hundred years without

wanting for new knowledge.

What is hard to accept and live with,

face a unique dilemma as a generation

and we have to act decisively. We

stand with one half in darkness and

the other half in light. The light repre-

sents the untapped opportunities and

potentialities that exist. The choice is

ours to make and it cannot wait.

Never has such an opportunity been

presented to man in such measure

throughout all his history. Some have

called this the “Century of Light”. We

have to choose between languishing in

darkness and stepping into the light, a

light that will inevitably engulf all things

and revolutionize our political systems.

The darkness of ignorance and fanati-

cism is waving goodbye and the light

of unity and progress beckons with

hope.

Page 2

Somewhere in Zimbabwe : Keep Smiling

The Time is Now

T HOU GHTS OF T HE F UT U R E

V OLU ME 1, ISS UE 1

(continued from p.1)

Britannica looked into the wilderness and

found us a people not worthy to be a

people, but cannibals, naked brutes and

savages. Her tears rolled as she felt pity

for what she saw before her – cannibals.

Her children felt the need to take us to

civilization enmasse. They brought with

them their merciful ropes and ships,

dragged and tied us like logs in their

ships for transportation to the ‘first’ world.

There, they freed their beasts of burden

and unleashed us in their stead. Animals

for domestication we became. Wealth they

created. May the Lord remember this and

wield the rod of our strength.

Someone of these ‘civilized’ people came

up with an idea and complained; ‘now this

savage people is multiplying in our land.

Soon they will become many and outnum-

ber us, let’s send them away. At least we

can send some away into their jungle

Africa.’ Another one rose and expatiated

on that; ‘instead of bringing this people

into our land as a beast of labour, we

can use him as a beast of labour in his

own land.’ Colonialism was hatched. Both

the African, and the African land and its

people bled to create wealth for the

‘civilized.’

When consciousness rose amongst our

people, we fought against it but the

‘civilized’ beast could not let go of its

free source of livelihood. It transformed

itself into another beast identified as neo

colonialism. We lived under it and in it,

the people’s blood continuously being

sucked, the land kept bleeding the same

way it bled under colonialism. Now, as we

continue to live in the later stages of neo

colonialism, and have come this far what

are we going to do to become masters of

our own lives and never to be tricked

again, buy the foreign investment lie?

Was there no foreign investment under

colonialism? Is it not foreign investment

that was used to steal our sons and

daughters from the land to the land of

the wicked? Foreign investment maintains

the status quo which was there during

colonialism. Foreign investment is part of

the equation leading to neo colonialism.

Africa, the land of my birth... A long way

we have come. Here is where we are;

what then is the direction we are to take

into the future? A long way we have

come and much we have learnt on our

journey as a people. What then are we to

do from this day onwards?

great times for all Zimbabweans. Noth-

ing could be further from the truth

though understandable, given people

like Tendai Biti were students, Morgan

was an underground employee on a

mine, the likes of Elton Mangoma were

window dressers at Hunyani in the

early 90s. So in truth it is the whites

like Eddie Cross, Roy Bennett, Ian Kay,

David Coltart et al that were determin-

ing the rhetoric that come out of MDC.

The likes of Biti were still living in one

of the poorest suburbs in the country.

Dzivaresekwa was specifically built as

quarters for northern suburbs’ domestic

workers where both his parents worked

and he stayed with them in their Boy’s

By Tichatonga Mwanawevhu

I was one of the lucky ones who went

into private sector management at a

time many whites were fleeing black

rule while the more enterprising were

consolidating their wealth and strangle

hold on the Zimbabwe economy. Those

that stayed were well ensconced and

business owners or farmers.

The moment exports to Europe and

other places were opened up without

previous sanction busting, many white

farmers went into contract farming for

mostly British Supermarkets on fruits

and vegetables, then tobacco and

grass to the Arab world, rhodes katam-

bora grass mainly, many if not most

members of the CFU stopped staple

maize production concentrating on the

stock feed yellow variety as they

milked the quota for beef exports

under the LOME convention. Horticul-

ture and flowers to the Holland Europe

wholesale markets boomed for them.

Affretaire was almost entirely exclusively

used for this route.

This was truly a golden time for THEM!,

and it’s what MDC-Tsvangirai allege was

Khaya where he was raised and got

school funding from his parents’ boss

for subservient loyalty. Consequently he

was ensconced at Scanlen and Holder-

ness whence his fake meteoric window

dressing rise to be partner at 24 in a

die rhodie company, his gratitude is

still with him and he cannot see the

woods for the trees. But I digress.

The following is the reality of the early

years. Zimbabwe was never the bread

basket of Southern Africa. Communal

farmers were producing the surplus

maize we exported to our neighboring

countries because the new ZANU-PF

government was prioritizing their pro-

duction with annual provision of seed

maize and fertilizers and the weather

was consistent, with droughts coming

after every three years or so as op-

posed to now where weather patterns

are more erratic and government is not

prioritizing communal farmers as it

focuses more on the newly resettled

farmers. We are still in transition and

that is the simple truth.

(continued on p.5)

Page 3

Africa Land of My Birth

In the Corridors of Money and Power

Page 4

Conscious Living - Setting the Base

T HOU GHTS OF T HE F UT U R E

By Livingstone Bvumbi

The primary goal of this column is to

empower us to consciously make deci-

sions that are in our favor by enhancing

our ability as a collective to discern right

from wrong. The ability to know what is

right in a world filled with wrong will allow

us to live life the way it was designed for

us to live, consciously, therefore the col-

umn is rightly named, Conscious Living.

When we operate from the same base by

having a set way of thinking and as-

sessing ideas and motion to distinguish

right from wrong, that will cancel out

concepts like opinions, beliefs, assump-

tions, and theories etc. which are other

ways of admitting that we do not know

the definite. In this day and time, we have

to know the definite and operate from it

to avoid all the traps in life that are

causes of unnecessary pain and suffering.

When we operate from the same base, or

utilize the same formula to derive the

definite or absolute of everything, we

automatically eradicate chaos and confu-

sion in our lives.

In order to judge anything accurately, one

has to be able to discern right from

wrong utilizing facts. To know what is

wrong one has to know what is right.

Right is that which can be proven and is

in harmony with Nature and promotes Life

and Peace. The blueprint that shows us

what is in agreement with Life and Nature

are the laws of nature. These are laws

that govern thought and motion to ensure

that intelligent motion is perpetual. To

fully grasp this concept of right and

wrong, we are going to explore where the

idea of right and wrong came from in the

first place. What is to be shared here

regarding the reality of right and wrong is

self-evident if one explores the areas and

experiences in their own life.

There are two forces in existence. Positive

is the initiating force that is the generator

of all positive thoughts and motion. Nega-

tive is the reactionary force which is the

generator and conductor of all thoughts

and motion that are geared to bring the

positive ideas and intelligent motion back

to nothing. Positive gave the energy that

was in space doing nothing aim, purpose

and direction. Creation came out of the

want to BE. To stay in existence as some-

thing, the positive force behind the intelli-

gent motion we now call creation or Life

had ideas formulated and implemented in

a manner that is perpetual, or never end-

ing. So ideas that positive put in

motion are to add or magnify this

want or will to stay in existence for-

ever. This is where right and wrong

comes in. All ideas and motion that

is in agreement with this will for per-

petual intelligent motion known as

Creation are right, and everything

opposed to it is wrong. Right is a

pattern of thought and motion that

ensures Life or Creation stays in

existence and wrong is the reaction

to this pattern working to bring eve-

rything back to the state of nothing

as it was before Creation, meaning

energy or matter having no aim, pur-

pose or direction.

Since we are all part of Life, it is a

matter of self-preservation that we

practice thinking and doing right, by

ensuring all our thoughts and motion

complements Life or Nature. Doing

anything contrary to positive equates

to working against self and promoting

death, a state of motionlessness. All

the dualities in life are manifestations

of these two forces, positive and

negative i.e. Right or Wrong, Life or

Death, Truth or Falsehood, Order or

Chaos, Excellent Health or Disease

etc. Life is a beautiful expression of

infinite possibilities and never-ending

growth, which we should promote as

intelligent beings. This small writing is

to set a base so that we may explore

further what Life is and how to live it

right, consciously.

Peaceful Conscious Living

V OLU ME 1, ISS UE 1

(continued from p.3)

Anyway, as I was part of the blacks in

middle management and running the

show, I can testify that at this time a

lot of window dressing blacks, Tsvangi-

rai style, as some would say, were put

up and given widespread publicity as

they issued press releases etc as direc-

tors and chairmen of boards. In hind-

sight I realize they were mere PROs.

The West poured money like crazy into

what was dubbed rehabilitation of in-

dustry, after many years of war. The

reality however, was that many, if not

most whites, were taking advantage of

the situation and our inexperience

through under invoicing on exports and

money laundering. Only a fraction of

the exports were remitted back to the

country, with the rest being deposited

in private accounts in Europe where

they held dual citizenship. This is why,

as they later realized this, the govern-

ment banned dual citizenship. No

blacks were dual citizens at that time,

please note. There was an element of

disloyalty and contempt of the blacks

and their government which only had

political power. They had their little

rhodie enclaves and country clubs

where they were insulated from ordi-

nary Zimbabweans’ daily runnings. This

is the nostalgia they suffer from and

MDC-Tsvangirai is complicit on this

mass deception of bread basket non-

sense.

When exactly was Zimbabwe a bread

basket? What was it doing or producing

or selling to Africans? If someone gives

some statistical data you will be em-

barrassed. MDC-Tsvangirai managed to

hood wink the electorate with such

blatant lying at the instigation of unre-

pentant defeated, born and bred racists

and their western based racist sympa-

thizers. This is much akin to the Boer

authored PROUDLY SOUTH AFRICAN

nonsense while the Marikana miners

and the majority of blacks are tin

shack dwellers.

The reality is our independence result-

ed in whites consolidating their eco-

nomic strangle-hold while we enjoyed

the euphoria of political independence

much like the current situation in South

Africa. I was responsible for the pro-

cessing of CD1s and Duty Draw Backs,

including Allocation Certificates of forex

on the basis of export orders and

earnings. I was responsible for all inter-

national procurement and sourcing

forex per given criteria from all govern-

ment and private sector umbrella

organizations like CZI and ZNCC in

terms of the way import control was

broadly structured much as it was in

sanctions busting rhodie days. This is

how I met Gideon Gono for the first

time and became friendly with him, not

friends, but a friendly working relation-

ship as he transacted with other banks

the ESAP Funds disbursement as Gen-

eral Manager of the Zimbabwe Develop-

ment bank. This past is summarized to

give you the gist of what was happen-

ing and my role in it as a key man-

agement operative, albeit at middle

management.

All of the ESAP money and I mean all

of it never benefited blacks except as

cheap labour. This is how it was decid-

ed how much a company would get

and how it was processed. Whites at

CZI house at Rotten Row would, in

liaison with commercial and merchant

banks under the supervision of RBZ

under Kombo Moyana presented prior

to budget, statistical data of exports

and key sectors requirements to ex-

change control and a criteria would be

agreed and CZI would run the industrial

and commercial allocation via the vari-

ous exchange control departments at

banks. This would tally with data based

on CD1s at Exchange Control Authority

at RBZ.

So understand that no black firm was

processing any CD1 as most blacks

were into bottle stores, public transport,

taxis, pirate and regulated, bars, shops,

clubs etc. Don't get me wrong, well-to-

do black industrialists had emerged,

the likes of Boka, Paweni, Guy Georgi-

as, and George Nyandoro at Art Group.

There was also the stationery maker

Bosha Enterprises and many others but

none were exporters and got currency

at the basic requirement level.

(continued on p.7)

Page 5

In the Corridors of Money and Power

NO COMPROMISE WHEN IT COMES TO EMPOWERMENT

By F. Tambudzayi

Emergence and Operations of Black

Owned Business in Zimbabwe

The wake of a free Zimbabwe from

colonial rule paved way for the Black

people to own their own businesses.

These opportunities came in the form

of; a). Existing businesses from some

vacating White Rhodesians, who no

longer desired to stay in the country.

Some were sold in haste while others

were passed down to loyal employees

and/or associates b). Informal business

ventures.

These operations were and some still

are, entrenched with local traditions,

culture and follow a range of informal

rules that are based on reputation and

social sanctions. Using operating cash

for personal expenses, lack of supplies

and poor customer service, nepotism,

reduction in population, the myth that

‘all things foreign means better’ and

failure to adapt with changes in the

economic environment has seen these

businesses go out of business.

The quality of such systems can be

improved through a variety of measures

including access to new skills and tech-

nologies, improved training standards,

provision of basic skills such as literacy

and numeracy, improved access of

young women to male dominated

trades and improved formal recognition

of skills acquired in the informal econ-

omy.

How to Run a Successful Business

1) Plan for success. Analyze every area

of your business, from service or prod-

uct development through to after-sales

care. Put together a formal business

plan. This should include a statement

of your business objectives, a brief

history if you are already operating, a

description of your product or service,

a market analysis and details of your

resource and finance needs. Also in-

clude sales and profit projections, a

cash-flow forecast and a projected

balance sheet.

2) Document precisely how you pro-

pose to make your money, what it will

cost you to produce and deliver the

product or service and how much profit

you expect to achieve.

3) Set budgets and monitor perfor-

mance against plan. Keep tight reins on

expenditure and reconcile your bank

account on a weekly or even daily

basis. Pay bills on time. Chase any late

payments from your customers with

timely reminder letters and, if neces-

sary, follow-up telephone calls. Imple-

ment a procedure for handling delin-

quent accounts, making sure you con-

form to prevailing legislation. Bank all

income straight away.

4) Monitor sales revenues and margins.

If sales or margins fall short of expec-

tations, take remedial action and review

your profit forecasts. Regularly reassess

your break-even point and determine

the impact of falling sales or reduced

prices. Beware of chasing business by

engaging in price wars, because large

volumes of low-margin business can

have a devastating effect on your bot-

tom line.

5) Evaluate your market. Keep up to

Page 6

Business Networking

T HOU GHTS OF T HE F UT U R E

date with changes in your market sector

and assess how these impact your busi-

ness. Watch your competitors and monitor

developments in products and technology.

Be ready to adapt to market changes.

6) Manage and motivate your employees. If

you own a small business, avoid becoming

"best buddies" with members of your team.

Get the best out of your staff by providing

adequate training and development oppor-

tunities, and a safe and comfortable envi-

ronment.

7) Comply with all relevant legislation gov-

erning your premises, employees, financial

reporting and contracts. Keep up with

emerging legislation and regulations, partic-

ularly those specific to the product or

service you provide.

8) Conduct ongoing risk assessments

and identify areas of vulnerability. Con-

sider political, economic, social and

environmental factors that may threat-

en your business success, and take

steps to minimize their impact. Examine

operational risks such as product ob-

solescence or over-reliance on a single

sector, supplier or customer and take

the required remedial action.

9) Care for your customers. A satisfied

customer is an asset to your business,

but a dissatisfied client can immeasur-

ably damage your reputation. Imple-

ment first-class after-sales care poli-

cies to achieve both repeat business

and client recommendations.

10) Avoid complacency. Your sales

and profits are on target. Maintain a

marketing effort and remain constant-

ly alert to changing opportunities. Be

prepared to push your business for-

ward or move it in another direction

should the need or opportunity arise.

For procedures to start a business in

Zimbabwe check out:

http://www.doingbusiness.org/data/

exploreeconomies/zimbabwe/starting-

a-business

V OLU ME 1, ISS UE 1

regulatory role mandated by RBZ Ex-

change Control, literally controlled all

the funds of ESAP as we brought in

literally train loads of machinery from

Germany, UK, USA and Europe for their

enterprises. I doubt there was then any

black owned firm that got a penny of

the ESAP funds as they did not meet

the criteria and were too inexperienced

largely just like their government then,

so there was an element of gullibility

which sadly is very manifest in MDC-

Tsvangirai in this day and age.

I was among some of the first to start

mass importations from China and

India, mainly industrial chemicals and

ink raw materials. The bulk of the mon-

ey went back to the west in imports of

machinery and white corruption using

their dual citizenry. That was ESAP 1,

ESAP 2 a.k.a ZIMPREST with its RACIST

STYLE LAND REFORM was actually

abandoned as Mugabe at that time

made an executive decision mid stream

that whites were benefitting while infla-

tion for the masses was sky rocketing.

Every day I was looking at global ex-

change rates and white industrialists

would adjust production costs at the

slightest movement by double the per-

centage points, it was terrible and we

were part of it unwittingly as Zimba-

bweans through our government

I will catch up with you on how the

likes of Fanuel Muhwati, Xavier Kadhani,

Enock Kamushinda, Strive Masiyiwa,

Roger Boka, Bernard Mashata Paweni,

(continued from p.5)

So this meant when ESAP was pre-

scribed by the Bretton Woods and

adopted by government, its thrust was

to help bring full capacity utilization

and modernization for industrialists and

commercial exporters primarily to pro-

duce higher quality goods at more

competitive costs for the export market.

Now understand this, white farmers

owned the land and would sale their

tobacco, flowers etc. and invest in

shares right from Old Mutual, Mashona-

land Holdings, Natfoods, Delta Group,

Hunyani Group, Tregers Monarch

Groups, TA holdings, various mining

houses etc., all the listed blue chip

companies.

Even health care under commercial and

industrial medical aid society (CIMAS)

was owned and controlled by whites

yet as in Old Mutual and others the

vast majority of members were blacks

mostly using subsidized public hospitals

while whites used private medical facili-

ties including overseas treatment; in

effect being subsidized by the black

majority. So all the ESAP money wit-

tingly or unwittingly ended up benefit-

ting the whites who at the time were

colluding in controlling prices from

basic commodities to the clothes we

wore. In other words through their

complete ownership of the means of

production, banking etc. and umbrella

body, then lily white CZI that had a

Chemist Siziba, etc. JOINED THE ECO-

NOMIC OWNERSHIP BAND WAGON

WITH GOVERNMENT POLICY HELP! With

the late arrival on the scene of Mutum-

wa Mawere, James Makamba and many

others, including then pretenders Phillip

Chiyangwa and his best friend Peter

Pamire. Before all this we had the win-

dow dressers with titles like Board

Chairman with non executive part not

being mentioned, then we had MD that

reported to chairmen that were most

executive. Again the executive was si-

lent to give the impression that the

black MD is the ultimate boss which

was not the real case.

A classic example were the early years

of Robbie Mupawose as chairman of

Delta but somehow not enjoying the

same style of apparent benefits as Pat

Rooney, even the likes of Joe Mutizwa

only started showing their high execu-

tive profiles in recent years, even

though there were many of these

blacks from mining houses like Rio,

Anglo America etc. It was also the

norm in other companies like TA, BAT,

Blue Ribbon, Natfoods etc.

Page 7

In the Corridors of Money and Power

Title of Painting: Mother Theresa

About the artist

I'm Lekau Matsena from a township in Tembisa, East Rand, Ekurhuleni. Studied at Johannesburg Art Gal-

lery and Artist Proof Studio. Currently I teach visual arts at Jiyana Secondary School and coordinate art

projects focused on the development of young people within my community. I'm a proud owner of an en-

tity called Art.nexus!

Synopsys

My art is inspired by the consciousness of black people in general, regardless of region, country or conti-

nent. We find that we are dependant on the so-called investors, imperialists, bosses or the G20. But in

reality I don't think the investors can survive a day without the black man or resources from Africa. I'm

trying to show the reality by projecting it in my artworks.

My work is intended for the lay men on the street to comprehend with ease! They (investors) act like

Mother Theresa, while having a knife behind their back!