Cry My Beloved Zambia

Zambia is crumbling under the corrupt clutches of the government.

A bold statement, I know, but allow me to explain myself. Walking through the streets of Lusaka and Kitwe, I can't help but feel like our cities are disintegrating like an ailing human being. The roads are riddled with potholes and what little pavement there was has been taken over by endless rows of street vendors selling anything from fried sweet potatoes to hardware supplies. I don't even want to begin to talk about the garbage disposal, or lack thereof. All one needs to do is walk down Freedom Way in Lusaka or drive past Chisokone Market (picture) in Kitwe to see the mountains of waste that serve as breeding grounds for all sorts of bacteria and disease. And by the looks of things, nobody seems to mind.

This made me ask myself: Has poverty caused us Zambians to disregard the beauty of our country while we allow our leaders to unjustly benefit from government coffers?

Having lived in Cape Town for the past three years, I have grown accustomed to the paved roads, efficient garbage trucks, and endless highways. Don't get me wrong: Cape Town is not without its flaws—take, for example, Khayelitsha (the fastest growing informal settlement in South Africa). It is hard to believe that such a place exists in the same city as the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront—an upper class mall in the Cape Town City Bowl. 

What strikes me the most, however, is the fact that residents of Khayelitsha are not comfortable living in less than sanitary conditions—no flushing toilets, no garbage disposal, and, in many cases, a corrugated iron structure that serves as a home. Because of the many service delivery protests, the government and the public are fully aware of the hardships experienced in townships like Khayelitsha. When the residents unleash their wrath, entire highways close down and faeces are thrown in the airport departure building.

While I don't agree with their methods, I think South Africans have the right idea when it comes to speaking out; we need to make our grievances known to the Zambian government one way or another. But, as is evident in South Africa, complaining alone will not change Zambia; what we need are SocialEntrepreneurs.

What’s that? You ask. Well Social Entrepreneurs are people in society that address the most demanding problems of the society in which they live with new ideas. It’s that simple: the very people who live in disadvantaged communities are the same people who hold the power to draw those communities out of seemingly impossible situations.

That’s not to say that this is not happening already because all over Zambia there are many non-governmental organisations that are teaching Zambians at the grassroots level the value of self-sustainability. A few examples include, Lusaka Global Shapers, Camfed, and Your Changing Lives.

However, all hope in the Zambian government is not lost. With the current government we have seen more roads being built, more schools, more hospitals and even the presence of street cleaners picking up litter and cutting the grass along major roads: creating jobs that didn't exist before. 

If Zambians embrace their full potential and take on the government, it will be a much better place to live in a few years from now. As the revolutionary Matero Member of Parliament, Miles Sampa, puts it: “Only Zambians can make Zambians wealthy.”