Ethnic Collaboration is the missing link to the wealth of black South Africans and the bridge is a simple tolerance of Black foreigners near them.
Opportunity is often disguised as potential conflict; wisdom or foolishness then determine the outcome. Here is an opportunity to see different. Read on!
An understanding of ethnic collaboration can cause a Black African foreigner to enter South Africa, and in 150 weeks, build relationships with other Black African foreigners and establish small businesses in more than seven African countries, with minimal capital.
This is a situational analysis is based on empirical research – observations and interactions, with all possible people on the wealth spectrum in South Africa, external investors, local business owners, over a three-year period. As is in a situational analysis for a business, collaboration is a serious missing link affecting the South African citizen.
Ethnic Collaboration is the inter-relationship management between people of same colours from different countries for the betterment of their socio-economic situations in any given environment. According to researchers from Case Western Reserve University, “a nation with good ethnic relations will be able to strengthen the cohesiveness of its citizens continually through positive internal integration, so as to reduce administrative and operational costs, enhance the efficiency of social and economic organizations, and to strengthen its economic power.”
Ethnic Collaboration has emerged as the missing link to ensure that black South Africans are able to participate in an economy that has historically been inaccessible for them. The current state of poverty for most Black people stems from a lack of access to resources, monetary capital, and opportunities. For many years, economic growth and development has been focused on a Western market-driven model with white supremacy at its core. This led to the over-exploitation of African resources while marginalizing Indigenous knowledge and natural resources which were seen as unimportant or not worth investing in.
The Ethnic Collaboration model has recently emerged as a practical way by which young people, including non-Westerners can nurture their creativity – while building skills that will exponentially benefit their communities.
All laws for business and labour favour the black South African more, but the money, the resources are not in the hands of the same. Why? To have those resources and money, the colonialists had to collaborate, so why not collaborate to return it to the masses, or at least tilt the scales gradually.
This can only happen with ethnic collaboration.
In South Africa most white people are referred to as “Whites”, when in fact there are Dutch-South Africans, German-South Africans, British-South Africans, Italian-South Africans, Swedish-South Africans, American-South Africans, Lebanese-South Africans, Jewish-South Africans, Canadian-South Africans, and more, who have disguised their hatred of one another to share resources to sustain their hold on the economy. They are some legal and illegals within these communities. However, collaboration is key to the financial strength and resourcefulness of all white South Africans.
Without collaboration, not even the United States of America could have become the wealthiest economy on earth, and the black South African can bit their lounge as US business owners to with China, to tap into knowledge and skills, for the benefit and profit of the South African. US small businesses rely on supplies from China’s small businesses in China. In wealth creation, there is no room for limited thinking, because if the US has a market for Chinese goods, the Chinese small business owner focuses first on producing for that market, and worry about hate speech later, if at all they have time for it.
The rise of entrepreneurship, self-employment, and home-based businesses by more households in South Africa is reason of black South Africans to convert intimidation into integration of knowledge.
Based on observations in South Africa and volumes of money transfers from South Africa, the most collaborative Africans in Africa are Nigerians, Ghanaians, Kenyans, Congolese, Zimbabweans, Mozambiquans, Tanzanians and others.
“Put South Africans first” or “South Africa for South Africa” is a limited way of looking at employment or business ownership, as modern economics has moved away from monochromic developmental approach to multi-dimensional approaches that are all about collaboration.
Why does African need to unite in South Africa, instead of fixing their own countries? Europe united in South Africa to create a continuous economic engine that controls Africa. That is collaboration, and the height of its brilliance is in play today, from South Africa to every African country. If the Black South African uses same method, they can convert their poverty into riches, without travelling anywhere.
Without collaboration, South Africa is incapable of being allowed to host a stock exchange valued at US$1.36 trillion (JSE, Jul 2022), whilst its economy’s GDP is three times less, sitting at US$435 Billion (2022). It takes collaboration to be able to host all top African companies in Banking, Retail, and Telecommunications.
Scale this down to township residents, they can apply the same methods to take over ownership of the debated township economy. There are many opportunities to explore though collaboration between the Black South African and the Black African foreigner in South Africa.
Take for example, the case of Zimbabweans in South African townships.
There are many consumer goods, whose import tariffs have been dropped or removed by the Zimbabwean government, which can be pushed in small quantities from South Africa to Zimbabwe. In South Africa, acquiring an import-export license has become a simple, fast, and affordable process for a black South African. Howbeit the Soweto black South African gets an export license, partners with a Zimbabwean vendor selling at the taxi rank, or renting their Zozo (tin house), and start exporting for profit, considering profit margins are no less than 150% for most items. Four million Zimbabweans in South Africa are four million opportunities for South Africans to team up and make money in Zimbabwe, just as Edgars, Nedbank, Standard Bank, Mukuru and other financial services have realised.
Take another example, the case of Zambians in South African townships.
There is a rise of malls construction, disposable income, and construction in general, and lowering of tariffs and fees for doing business. Zambia hosts the COMESA, and other important treaties for trade in Africa. There are plenty Zambians in South African townships, howbeit a South African and Zambian team up, to register create franchise deals between South Africa and Zambia, to tap into the Zambian markets. This is how the big South African brands are doing it and is accessible to smaller businesses too. Collaboration is the missing link. This is one, of many examples, that are available for exploring collaboration between the South African and the Zambian.
One may argue, “what if we do not want to collaborate, but just need them to go back home”? A noble idea from an ownership and “it’s our country” perspective but limited for wealth creation from an opportunity perspective. If one is used to and grew up in a form of a desert, but suddenly, for some inexplicable reason, finds themselves in a river filled with large bash and tilapia fish, it would be foolish to ignore the opportunity, and get out of the river or kick out the fish, and go home, only to say, “there are no opportunities in this world”. Nonsense! (in a Malema voice).
Lest we forget that during the many liberation wars in Africa, victory for these countries came through collaboration with other Black Africans in other countries. Now that all countries are independent, suddenly Black Africans are throwing away these collaborative cultures. Therein lies the challenge; non-collaborative living in a global economy that calls for collaboration.
There are 2,500+ Shopping Malls in South Africa, with 80% of the retailers being international – having a presence in Africa, Europe, Asia, and America. Realise that 80% of the shops that black South Africans go to buy from at the Mall are owned by companies or individuals that chose to collaborate, so that they occupy more countries instead of being self-limiting in circumstances of diversity afforded by the global economy.
Collaboration matters more to Zara, Gucci, Revlon, BMW, which is why they occupy most economies in the world. A simple fact, which is about tolerance and open-mindedness for profitability.
Jobs exist in South Africa, but they are not available for those that cannot tolerate, and job interviewers will never outright say it to the face of interviewees, lest they be viewed as discriminatory. Some jobs and wealth creation are in the form of innovative collaboration, as is the case of Lerato Bhebhe (not her real name), the founder of a small NPO for media and tourism, who now collaborates with five embassies of African countries in Pretoria. She is a qualified South African journalist, from a school that had international students in Johannesburg. After graduating, she began collaborating with her foreign colleagues, publishing videos about current affairs, and profiling tourism sites in and around Pretoria, until she caught the attention of one African embassy, whose relations have led to another, and so forth. She is a fulltime customer services employee, who also runs the NPO and a media company. That is ethnic collaboration.
Employing a black South African before a foreign Black African has many benefits which include an increase in debt-consumption with allows for other things to also grow. But in the same light, many in the construction and retail industries are preferring to employ foreigners than locals, even if they know this fact, only because of intolerance and an over-emphasis of freedom. At work, one must work, but today, employing a local Black person is like employing a Human Rights Activist, Labour Lawyer, Psychologist, and Political Official, all in the name of “I will produce results when I want, not when I must”. There is a crisis, and it is more attitude than ethnicity.
The voice of the hardworking, collaborative South African is swallowed by agenda driven Dudularism that stigmatises people and then backtracks. The missing link to employment of more black South Africans is ethnic collaboration, nothing else.
There is more wisdom in refraining expression of hatred, to learn and adapt from the Black foreigner, by the Black South African, as is visible amongst white locals and white foreigners, because at the end of the day, more ownership and empowerment territory is recovered and expanded.
Nhanhla Lux is leading in tactics, not in strategy, because the if the goal is to increase ownership and empowerment of the Black South African, Operation Dudula must first dudula (push back) paradigm limitations of wealth and employment. You cannot be wealthy without tolerance, neither can you keep employment without it too. Operation Dudula needs to be turned into Operation Collaborate.
Andrew Tate, the TikTok visionary of the Hustlers University said, “billionaires have no time talking about race, gender, ethnicity, because that is for the poor, to keep them hating each other and never become wealthy.”
In the same light, this article is not for those who cannot comprehend ethnic collaboration, but those that have understood, shall change behaviour, and improve their life in this openminded Africa.
Source: Case University, MCAIO
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