Around 140 employees will be affected

Luminar announces 20% reduction in workforce, shifts LiDAR production

ByDwaipayan Roy

May 04, 2024

What's the story

LiDAR technology leader, Luminar, has announced a 20% reduction in its workforce as part of a strategic restructuring plan.This move is aimed at transitioning the company toward an "asset-light" business model.Approximately 140 employees and most contract workers will be affected by this decision.The restructuring process is set to begin immediately, marking a significant shift in the company's operations.

Open letter

CEO addresses company's strategic shift

In an open letter published on Luminar's website, CEO Austin Russell acknowledged the company's current challenges.He stated, "Today, we stand at the crossroads of two realities: the core of our business has never been stronger across technology, product, industrialization, and commercialization; yet at the same time the capital markets perception of our company has never been more challenging."Russell clarified that their existing business model and cost structure were no longer suitable for Luminar's needs.

Business impact

Restructuring to expedite product launches, cut costs

The restructuring is expected to enable Luminar to speed up product launches, significantly reduce costs, and better position the company for profitability.According to a regulatory filing by the company, these changes are projected to decrease operating costs by $50 million to $65 million annually.Additionally, Luminar plans on downsizing its global presence by sub-leasing parts or entire facilities.

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Future plans

Luminar maintains Florida operations, strengthens TPK partnership

Despite the restructuring, Luminar will continue operations at its Florida facility for research, development, and testing activities, confirmed spokesperson Milin Mehta.In April, the company began shipping production-specific LiDAR sensors to Volvo for its EX90 luxury SUV.Russell also disclosed plans to strengthen Luminar's partnership with Taiwanese contract manufacturing firm TPK Holding, which has committed to an exclusive relationship with the company.

Could lithium transform Zimbabwe’s economy or will the opportunity be squandered?

Zimbabwe has Africa’s biggest lithium deposits but China is acquiring many of the mines and a question mark hangs over the extent to which the local population will benefit from the mineral wealth.


4.5.20245:24
by Staff Reporter


Zimbabwe’s Bikita lithium mine reportedly holds the world’s largest-known lithium deposit. / bne IntelliNews


The country’s vast mineral resources – in particular iron and lithium – place it in a critical position in the global energy transition. With its large lithium deposits, some experts say it has the potential to meet up to 20% of the global demand for the light metal. However, in 2021 it produced only 1% of the world’s lithium and ranked sixth amongst the leading lithium-producing countries after Australia (52% of global production), Chile (25%), China (13%), Argentina (6%) and Brazil (1%). In 2021, Zimbabwe’s total output was 1,200 tonnes compared with Australia’s 55,400 tonnes. In 2022, it had the planet’s seventh biggest proven lithium reserves, estimated at 310,000 tonnes (Chile had the world’s biggest reserves at 9.3mn tonnes).

As well as lithium, the country is blessed with a treasure-trove of close to 40 other minerals. It has some of Africa’s largest deposits of coal, diamonds and gold, as well as vast quantities of chromium, nickel and platinum group metals (PGMs) — many crucial for emerging clean energy technologies. The country boasts the second-largest platinum deposit and high-grade chromium ores in the world, with around 2.8bn tonnes of PGM and 10bn tonnes of chromium ore. It is also one of the continent’s largest exporters of nickel ore, with South Africa and Mozambique the main destinations. It boasts a massive 37bn tonnes of good-grade iron ore reserves that are yet to be exploited. It will soon start exporting iron and steel from the Manhize plant in Midlands Province – a giant China-funded, $1.5bn project set to position the country as the biggest steel producer on the continent.

Endowed with over 4,000 recorded gold deposits, Zimbabwe enjoys the second largest gold reserves per square kilometre in the world. As the country’s largest export, gold is vital to country’s economy, serving as the main driver of economic growth in the short term and attracting the most foreign direct investment. Held mostly in the country’s Great Dyke – a 550-km linear early Proterozoic layered mafic-ultramafic intrusion – the country’s resource base of PGMs offers a unique opportunity to develop world-class mines and processing facilities.

The government also had the aim of increasing diamond production to 11m carats in 2023 and the diamond industry is poised to contribute at least $1bn to mining output revenue. Accounting for around 3% of global diamond production, Zimbabwe is the world’s seventh largest producer of the mineral, with an output of 3,414 carats recorded in 2022. Production is expected to increase by 3% between 2022 and 2026.

However, its lithium, in particular, is considered world class. Despite modest investment levels so far, President Emmerson Mnangagwa – who has been in power since 2017 and is now aged 81 – wants to raise $10bn a year in revenues from lithium exports alone but analysts say that is an overly ambitious target.

Zimbabwe’s mining sector has enormous potential but the country faces an array of challenges. It has a $47bn economy and 16.5mn people. This year the IMF forecasts an inflation rate of a staggering 222% compared with an estimated 314% last year. It is estimated that the economy expanded at 4.1% last year and it is forecast to grow by 3.6% this year. The mining sector accounts for about 12% of GDP and 80% of national exports. The Chamber of Mines reported the mining industry generated $5.6bn in 2022 compared to $5.1bn in 2021, and it projected 10.4% sector growth in 2023.

The government set a target of $12bn in minerals’ revenues by the end of 2023 and lithium is expected to contribute at least $500m to the target. However, challenges such as persistent power shortages, foreign currency shortages and policy uncertainties have not been addressed and the target was probably missed. The country reportedly earned only $209mn from lithium exports in the first three quarters of 2023.

One of the biggest issues that Zimbabwe faces is sanctions. At the start of March 2024, the US removed sanctions against many Zimbabweans and companies but imposed new ones on President Mnangagwa and a few senior leaders. The sanctions list was originally introduced in 2001 for alleged election-rigging and human rights abuses. Those on the new list include First Lady Auxillia Mnangagwa, Vice-President Constantino Chiwenga, Defence Minister Oppah Muchinguri, senior security officials and businesspeople found to have facilitated state corruption.

Analysts say that the more limited sanctions list is a welcome move. The government will now be able to borrow money, while businesses will be able to obtain credit, buy machinery and make payment clearances.

However, the country’s mining industry has also been hamstrung by power cuts – mines have experienced blackouts of six to 12 hours a day amid a protracted energy crisis. Moreover, Zimbabwe’s staggering debt of $17bn and its arrears to the IMF and World Bank preclude it from receiving fresh capital from multilateral development banks that could be used for expanding electricity access and putting energy generation on a more durable footing.

Foreign currency retention requirements have also challenged mineral exporters, particularly at times when the parallel-market exchange rate diverged greatly from the official rate, which resulted in smuggling. In February 2023 the government increased foreign exchange retention to 75% from 60% for mining companies, something that mineral exporters welcomed. But a new requirement that mining companies must pay electricity bills in foreign exchange means effective retention falls to between 60% and 65%. Exporters complain that the high export surrender requirements make it difficult to access foreign exchange for critical capital expenditure and to finance operations.

Other revenue leakages the mining industry faces include mineral smuggling, superficial government disclosures, limited capacity of regulatory authorities to enforce compliance in mines and a lack of coordinated information dissemination in government institutions. Government departments also have limited skills to evaluate mining data and they lack verification and assaying processes. The industry also has problems with obsolete technology and a dire need for spare parts.

Companies are required to export all minerals through the state-owned Minerals Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe (MMCZ), except gold, which must be sold to the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe’s subsidiary Fidelity Printers and Refiners. Individual companies may receive permission, however, from the government to sell minerals directly to avoid US-targeted sanctions on the MMCZ (that could now change following the introduction of a new sanctions list).

Given how tight lithium supply chains are globally, lithium exports could potentially help Zimbabwe escape its status as a pariah state, largely isolated by Western politicians and investors. But a big scramble is under way for the country’s critical minerals and at the moment China is winning it.

China has announced a massive $2.79bn investment in its lithium mining operations in Zimbabwe. In September 2023, there were more than seven lithium exploration and mining projects at different development stages, with Chinese companies leading the race.

In February 2022, Sinomine Resource Group, a Chinese mining company, acquired the country’s only lithium producer, the Bikita Lithium Mine, from African Metals Management Services and Southern African Metals and Minerals, for $180mn. The mine is located in Masvingo province in the southern part of the country, roughly 300 km south of the capital city of Harare, and reportedly holds the world’s largest-known lithium deposit at 10.8mn tonnes of lithium ore grading 1.4% lithium, resulting in 0.15m tonnes of lithium oxide.

Sinomine plans to invest $200mn to expand the mine’s production capacity by another 2m tonnes per year (tpy). The investment will also allow it to produce lithium spodumene.

In 2022, Zhejiang Huayou, the world’s biggest producer of cobalt, acquired controlling rights to the Arcadia mine from Prospect Resources, an Australian mining company, for $422mn. Zhejiang has commissioned a $300mn processing plant at Arcadia. The mine has capacity to process 4.5m tpy of lithium ore and produce 450,000 tpy of concentrate.

In 2023, there was also speculation that China Natural Resources, Feishang Group and Top Pacific (China) would jointly acquire a Zimbabwean lithium mine for around $1.75bn. By March 2024 this investment had still not happened.

One of the few major projects that is not Chinese owned is the Zulu lithium and tantalum project, Zimbabwe’s largest undeveloped lithium-bearing site. It consists of 14 mineral claims covering a surface area of 3.5 sq km, which are prospective for lithium and tantalum mineralisation. Owned by Premier African Minerals, the strategic metals and minerals developer listed on the London Stock Exchange, the project will explore an inferred lithium carbonate equivalent resource of 526,000 tonnes, grading 1.06% lithium oxide. It has 107,000 tonnes of lithium in the inferred and indicated categories as well as 1,000 tonnes of tantalum (pentoxide).

The mine is set to develop a 50,000 tpy pilot plant by research and development company Suzhou TA&A Ultra Clean Technology to the tune of $35mn.

Australian investors also still run the Step Aside Lithium Project, located 35 km from Harare (and around 8 km north of the Arcadia Lithium Mine Project). It comprises around one hundred hectares of claim within the Harare Greenstone Belt.

Western investors remain reluctant to work in Zimbabwe and are concerned about the human rights situation. They fear sanctions, political uncertainty, security of investments and reputational risks. Analysts say that this is one of the reasons that the Australian investors behind the Arcadia mine sold their mining rights to the Chinese.

In December 2022, Zimbabwe banned the export of raw lithium in an effort to build out the country’s capacity to process battery-grade lithium domestically. The ban excluded companies that are already developing mines or processing plants. The ban has since been replaced by the Base Minerals Export Control (Unbenificiated Base Mineral Ores) Order and adds critical minerals such as nickel and manganese ores to the list of metals whose exports are limited.

The ban is also meant to deter artisanal miners from exporting ores abroad. Smuggling to South Africa and the United Arab Emirates reportedly costs the country $1.8bn in lost mining earnings.

In May 2023, Winston Chitando, the country’s Mines and Mining Development Minister, said lithium miners must go beyond the production of concentrates and develop production capacity for battery-grade lithium. However, the country’s challenge is whether it will be able to attract adequate capital and investment for processing and refining lithium into finished products such as batteries.

Zimbabwe has huge mineral resources and tremendous mining opportunities. Yet, its potential has been hamstrung by power cuts and sanctions. The recent US decision to introduce a more limited sanctions list against Zimbabwean leaders should be a fillip to the mining industry. The government must now make a huge effort to end black outs so that the industry can take off. However, obvious concerns about the country becoming too dependent on China will persist. – bne IntelliNews

Post published in: Business

 

Is Qur’an View Of Jews Killing God’s Prophets False? – OpEd

 May 4, 2024  

By Rabbi Allen S. Maller

In the following eight verses the Qur’an asserts that the Jews killed their Prophets. Is this correct?  No and yes. No, because the Jewish people themselves wrote down and preserved the words of their many prophets. The rabbis identified 55 prophets by name 48 males and 7 females.

For more than one thousand years following the covenant made with God at Mount Sinai, the Jewish People were blessed with dozens of God inspired prophets. But yes because on more than one occasion Jewish rulers ordered their agents to get rid of their Prophet critics. 

The Qur’an states: When it is said to them, “Believe in what Allah has revealed,” they say, “We believe [only] in what was revealed to us.” And they disbelieve in what came after it (the New Testament and the Qur’an) while it is the truth confirming that which is with them. Say, “Then why did you kill the prophets of Allah before, if you are [indeed] believers?” (2:91)

“Those who disbelieve in the signs of Allah, and kill the prophets without right, and kill those who order justice from among the people; giving them tidings of a painful punishment. (3:21)

“They have been put under humiliation [by Allah] wherever they are overtaken, except for a covenant from Allah and a rope from the Muslims. And they have drawn upon themselves anger from Allah and have been put under destitution. That is because they disbelieved in the verses of Allah and killed the prophets without right. That is because they disobeyed and [habitually] transgressed. (3:112) 

“Allah has certainly heard the statement of those [Jews] who said, “Indeed, Allah is poor, while we are rich.” We will record what they said; and their killing of the prophets without right, and will say, “Taste the punishment of the Burning Fire. (3:181)

“And for their breaking of the covenant, and their disbelief in the signs of Allah, and their killing of the prophets without right, and their saying, “Our hearts are wrapped (and sealed)”. Rather, Allah has sealed them because of their disbelief, so they believe not, except for a few. (4:159)

 In the above passages it even sounds like all Jews killed all prophets which were sent to them — note the definite article: “the prophets”. On the other hand, there are two passages which formulate more cautiously that the Jews killed (only) some of them:

And We did certainly give Moses the Torah; and followed up after him with (with 55 male and female prophets as) messengers. And We gave Jesus, the son of Mary, clear proofs and supported him with the holy spirit. But is it [not] that every time a messenger came to you, with what your souls did not desire, you were arrogant? And a party [of prophets) you denied and another party you killed. (2:87)  

We had already taken the covenant of the Children of Israel and had sent to them messengers. Whenever there came to them a messenger with what their souls did not desire, a party [of messengers] they denied, and another party they killed. (5:70) 

[They are] those who said, “Indeed, Allah has taken our promise not to believe any messenger until he brings us an offering which fire [from heaven] will consume.” Say, “There have already come to you messengers before me with clear proofs and [even] that of which you speak. So why did you kill them, if you should be truthful?” (3:183)

The most outrageous case was that of Prophet Zechariah, son of the high priest Jehoiada, who was stoned to death in Prophet Solomon’s HolyTemple (2 Chronicles 24:21). According to the Talmud, his blood bubbled (because the rulers did not repent) for two centuries, until the destruction of the Temple (paid its price). 

Thus, “a priest and prophet were killed in the Temple” (Lamentations 2:20) is a reference to this incident, presenting a reason for the destruction of Jerusalem and its Holy Temple built by Prophet King Solomon.

Professor Rabbi Marty Lockshin points out in an article in the Times of Israel (8/1/22) that the book of Jeremiah, written soon after the destruction of the First Temple, asks the big question: What caused the destruction? Jeremiah 9:11 states: “What man is so wise that he understands this? To whom has God’s mouth spoken, so that he can explain it: Why is the land in ruins, laid waste like a wilderness, with none passing through?”

God’s answer (Jeremiah 9: 12-13) follows: “God replied: “Because they forsook the Torah I had set before them. They did not obey Me and they did not follow it, but followed their own willful heart and followed the Baʿalim (pagan idols), as their fathers had taught them.”

God accuses the Judahit (rulers) of ignoring his laws and worshipping the Baʿalim, pagan gods. Centuries later, rabbinic texts adopted Jeremiah’s answer, but added two more sins (Talmud Yoma 9b): “Why was the first Temple destroyed? For the three [cardinal] sins: idolatry, illicit sexuality, and murder.

In contrast, the poetic laments in the book of Lamentations list no specific sins the Judahites committed: Lamentations 1:5 …God has afflicted her (Jerusalem) for her many transgressions…Lamentations 1:18  “Jerusalem has sinned…  Lamentations  4:6 “The guilt of my poor people exceeded the iniquity of Sodom”

The author is certain that the destruction was warranted, and sees it as God’s will, but doesn’t suggest specifics; but one phrase in Lamentations has been interpreted as describing one specific appalling sin: Lamentations  2:20 “See, O Lord, and behold, to whom You have done this! If women eat their own fruit, their new-born babies! If a priest and prophet were slain in the Sanctuary of the Lord!” (they deserve it)

The classical rabbinic sources are clear in understanding the verse as a reference to an Israelite sin called: The Bubbling Blood of the Prophet Zechariah: The Talmud in a  passage often studied on Tisha be’Av, the rabbis describe the destruction of the First Temple by the Babylonians (Talmud Gittin 57b): Rabbi Yehoshua ben Korḥah said: An old man from among the inhabitants of Jerusalem related to me: “In this valley Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard [of the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar], killed 2,110,000 Jews, until their flowing blood came in contact with the blood of Zechariah, to fulfill what Hosea said (Hosea 4:2): “And blood came into contact with blood.”  

[Nebuzaradan] saw that the blood of Zechariah was bubbling up. He said: “What is this?” They said to him: “It is the blood spilled from sacrifices.” He brought [animal] blood and it did not look the same. He said to them: “If you tell me the truth, it will be well with you. If not, I will rake your flesh with iron rakes.” They said to him: “What shall we say to you? He was a prophet among us, who used to rebuke us about religious matters, and we rose up against him, and killed him, and for many years now his blood has not settled.”

The murdered prophet Zechariah mentioned in the Talmud appears in a story in Chronicles. During the reign of King Joash, after the death of the righteous high priest, Jehoiada, the people began to sin, prompting God to send a prophetic warning through Jehoiada’s son, Zechariah: Chronicles  24:20 Then the spirit of God enveloped Zechariah son of Jehoiada the priest; he stood above the people and said to them, “Thus God said: Why do you transgress the commandments of the Lord when you cannot succeed? Since you have forsaken the Lord, He has forsaken you.” 24:21 They (the king’s agents) conspired against him and pelted him with stones in the court of the House of the Lord, by order of the king.”

Reading the words in Lamentations 2:20 as referring to the story of Zechariah, the Talmud understands the word “and,” that separates the nouns priest and prophet as not two individuals, but a single person who was both a priest and a prophet. 

As he dies, Zechariah prophesies that God will take vengeance: Chronicles 24:22 “King Joash had no regard for the loyalty that his father Jehoiada had shown to him, and killed his son. As he was dying, he said, “May the Lord see and requite it.”

Given the two centuries-long gap between the murder of Zechariah, in the time of King Joash, and the destruction of the Temple in 586 B.C.E., the Talmud is envisioning the blood of this murdered priest-prophet as having bubbled for over 200 years.

In the New Testament, Matthew (23:31–35) quotes Jesus as chastising the scribes and the Pharisees, telling them that “You testify against yourselves that you are the descendants of those who murdered the prophets,” promising that “upon you may come [punishment for] all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Barachiah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar.” (2Chronicles 24:20-22) 

The theme of the Jews as murderers of their prophets appears three more times in the New Testament. (See Luke 11:47-51, Luke 13:34, and Revelation 16:6)

The Talmud’s understanding of the verse requires reading it as a dialogue. After the lamenter says “How could you (God) have done this to us? How could you have reduced us to eating our own children?” God answers, “How could you have committed the terrible crime of the murder of Zechariah?” That is how Rashi (1040–1105), who follows the Talmudic interpretation, explains the verse: “The Holy Spirit [i.e. God] responded to them, “And was it proper for you to kill Zechariah the son of Jehoiada?” …he was a priest and a prophet, and they killed him in the Temple.” (see 2 Chronicles 24:20-22)

The Jezebel/Elijah narrative in the Book of Kings refers to the killing of prophets. 1 Kings 18:4 relates, “when Jezebel (who was not Jewish) was butchering the prophets of Yahweh….” Later Elijah refers to the killing of prophets during his conversation with God on Mt. Horeb (Mt. Sinai) where he fled from the wrath of Jezebel’s husband, the Israelite king Ahab. When the Lord asks him what he is doing there Elijah responds: “I am full of jealous zeal for Yahweh Sabaoth, because the Israelites have abandoned your covenant, torn down your altars and put your prophets to the sword. I am the only one left, and now they want to kill me” (1Kings 19:9-10).

I say Shia Islam and Judaism share a yearly day of mourning and fasting for a very tragic and sad, historical religious event that happened centuries ago. For the Shia it was the slaughter and the tragic martyrdom of Prophet Muhammad’s grandson Husayn, and most members of his family, who were massacred by their enemies on the 10th day of the Islamic month of Muharram, in a battle in 680 CE. For Jews it was the destruction of the holy Jerusalem Temple; first in 587 BCE by the Babylonians, and then again by the Romans in 70 CE. Both Temples were destroyed on the 9th day of the Jewish month of Av. This year the 9th of Av and the 10th of Muharram coincide on Sunday August 7, 2022. 

Actually, the 9th of Av is on Saturday, but because the joyful celebration of Shabbat overrides the mourning for the Temple, the observance of 9th of  Av is shifted to the 10 of Av and thus coincides with the 10th of Muharram. So Jews and Muslims can use this coincidence to think we should learn to share our sorrows with each other. 

The Shia do not charge all, or even most, Sunnis with killing Prophet Muhammad’s grandson Husayn, who they believe should have become the true ruler of the Muslim Community. In the same way Muslim teachers and leaders should not interpret the above verses as applying to all, or even most Jews. 

Many leaders of the various tribes in Makkah joined in on the plot to kill Prophet Muhammad yet nobody blames their descendants for plotting to kill Prophet Muhammad. Justice demands that we punish only the rulers who order these terrible deeds. 

Everyone knows how important fasting during Ramadan, and daily worship and prayer are in Islam; but few know that Islam considers reconciling people better than many acts of worship. 

Prophet Muhammad said: “Should I not tell you what is better in degree than prayer, fasting, and charity.” They (the companions) said: “Yes.” He said: “Reconciling people, because grudges and disputes are a razor (that shaves off faith).” (Ahmad, Abu Dawood, and At-Tirmithi)

Even more amazing, Prophet Muhammad said: “The one who reconciles people is not considered a liar if he exaggerates what is good or says what is good.” [Ahmad] 

This is an excellent guide to dealing with the three-generation old Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Rather than focusing mostly on the pain and sorrow that the other side did to us, we should focus on how the conflict has hurt all of us, and how much better our future would be if we could live next to each other in peace. 

If the descendants of Prophet Isaac and Prophet Ishmael negotiate a settlement that reflects the religious policy that “…there is no sin upon them if they make terms of settlement between them – and settlement [reconciliation] is best.” (Quran 4: 128)  

The Qur’an refers to Prophet Abraham as a community or a nation: “Abraham was a nation/community [Ummah]; dutiful to God, a monotheist [hanif], not one of the polytheists.” (16:120) If Prophet Abraham is an Ummah then fighting between the descendants of Prophets Ishmael and Isaac is a civil war and should always be avoided.

If all Arabs and Jews can live up to the ideal that ‘the descendants of Abraham’s sons should never make war against each other’ is the will of God; we will help fulfill the 2700 year old vision of Prophet Isaiah: “In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria. The Assyrians will go to Egypt, and the Egyptians to Assyria. The Egyptians and Assyrians will worship    together. On that day Israel  will join a three-party alliance with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing upon the heart. The LORD of Hosts will bless them saying, “Blessed be Egypt My people, Assyria My handiwork, and Israel My inheritance.”…(Isaiah 19:23-5)

Rabbi Allen S. Maller

Allen Maller retired in 2006 after 39 years as Rabbi of Temple Akiba in Culver City, Calif. He is the author of an introduction to Jewish mysticism. God. Sex and Kabbalah and editor of the Tikun series of High Holy Day prayerbooks.

Steve Biko and the envisioned

self

by Ngomakurira
 

4.5.2024

THE ZIMBABWEAN

Recently, on a visit to South Africa, I met a priest who was deeply concerned about where the country was going. Elections are due this month and he felt there was widespread anxiety about the ability of whoever wins to deliver what is needed.

Unusually, he was critical of Mandela. While he recognised the sacrifice he made and the achievement of freedom he facilitated, he felt Mandiba did not follow through after 1994 in inspiring people to have confidence in themselves and hold their new rulers accountable. He looked back to Steve Biko, killed by the regime in 1977, as one who had devoted all his powers to developing a sense of who they are in black people.

Passing through Durban’s King Shaka airport, BIKO’s name stared at me from a book stand and I purchased a 40th anniversary edition of his I Write What I Want. I remember the excitement at the time when Biko’s affirmation of ‘black consciousness’ first came to our attention. It took time to understand what he was saying and even today, 47 years later, we still don’t tease out the hidden strength contained in his teaching.

Basically, Biko held that far worse than the physical restraints and humiliations of apartheid was the psychological imprisonment of which blacks were often unaware. He analysed the ways in which blacks unconsciously measured themselves against white standards and acted as though white was right. He applied his lens to society, culture and religion and found each of them encroaching on black self-understanding and warping it. South African society is still divided today though differently than fifty years ago. Here are his words:

Once the various groups within a given community have asserted themselves to the point that mutual respect has to be shown then you have the ingredients of a true and meaningful integration. At the heart of true integration is the provision for each man, each group to rise and attain the envisioned self. Each group must be able to attain its style of existence without encroaching on or being thwarted by another. Out of the mutual respect for each other and complete freedom of self-determination there will obviously arise a genuine fusion of life-style of the various groups. This is true integration. (p. 22)

Biko was deeply affected by the society he found himself in at university and, in effect, abandoned his medical studies to devote his energy to working out what it was that caused his unease. He had the courage to follow through on his reflections, share them with others and refine them – and eventually die for them. At first the regime thought he was on its side by his emphasis affirming blacks and so seemingly separating black and white, but they soon came to realise he was doing this to strengthen blacks so that they could, in time, confront the white takeover of their country.

He wrote, 

In all we do we always place Man first and hence all our action is usually joint community oriented action rather than the individualism that is the hallmark of the capitalist approach. We always refrain from using people as stepping stones. Instead we are prepared to have a much slower progress in an effort to make sure that all of us are marching to the same tune. (p. 46)

Do politicians, in their quest for power, respond to the hidden, hardly conscious, desire of people to ‘attain to their envisioned self’? 

 

The Horn Of Africa States: The Impoverished Region – OpEd

 May 4, 2024

By Dr. Suleiman Walhad

The Horn of Africa States region is part of Africa and shares many of its ills with the rest of the continent. These would include marginalization and dependence on others involving, in the main, foreign actors and forces in its socio-political and economic systems. The foreign actors include the historical colonial Europeans and Americans, the Russian-Ex-Soviets, the entry of China into the continent and, indeed, the rise of non-governmental organizations (NGOs), which have become pests feeding on Africa and which have disabled most of the institutions, be they health or educational and others, that were inherited from colonial Europe after independence. These have together not only kept the continent marginalized ever more but also increased its dependency on others.

This has contributed to the rise of corrupt leaderships, who mostly lack self-confidence in themselves and hence rely more on their tribal/clan backgrounds to rule over vast territories inhabited by populations generally considered internal tribal/clan enemies instead of co-citizens in the countries whose contours and maps were made by Europeans.  Instead of serving these populations, the corrupt leaders in European-style suits continue to serve the foreign actors and forces, who themselves continue to exploit the region’s wealth and natural resources.

There was hope and expectations of development, and forward march into a better future in the region, after independence. However, and unfortunately, those leaders who took over the nations of the region were no more than the servants and puppets of the colonials who pretended to be leaving but never really left. The hopes of the general citizen in the region like the rest of their brethren in the rest of the continent were thus dashed to dust. This brought in coups and military involvement in governance, which further disrupted freedoms and enabled more, the involvement of tribalism and clannish management systems, underpinned by the colonial masters indirectly, harboring thus instability and conflicts which still continue today.

The main actors of the world of economies and finance such as multi-lateral corporations, investors and merchant banks made themselves scarce and stayed away from the region and still do. Unlike other regions of the continent, the resources of the Horn of Africa States region including among others its sub-soil wealth, its large markets, its enormous blue economy potential, and its geostrategic location remain underexploited.

Given this dismal involvement of the main actors of the world economy in the region, the region’s economic performance remains at best jaundiced and of no interest to major business executives around the globe. Perhaps one would encounter foreign adventurers of no consequence in the region signing major contracts with governments, which they cannot implement as they neither have the financial nor skills and experience to carry out their parts of the bargain expected by the corrupt leaders of the region. None of the contracts signed with foreign parties ever succeeds till to this day.

One would have noted in the region oil and gas exploration and drilling contracts, major agricultural projects, port development contracts and others that have not really developed or got implemented the way they were designed in the beginning or to the expectations of the host countries.

Many international investors and major merchant banks prefer to leave the continent for the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, which have so far not proved themselves to be of worth for the continent, prescribing for it wrong and ill-advised processes that only increase the dependency of the continent on others. The Horn of Africa States region is not spared from this phenomenon. These have only resulted in the region’s poor economic performance, civil conflicts involving tribal/clan competition for power and hence the scarce and small economic pie, poor infrastructures and inefficiencies in governance and the rule of law, which remains in the hands of a few tribal/clan chieftains in the region.

Like the rest of Africa, the region, with the exception of Somalia for being generally anarchic in governance, have turned to China with respect to development projects and the Chinese have not disappointed it. Unlike Europe and the Americas or the West in general who link governance and democracy on their own terms with respect to assistance and investments, China does not seemingly involve itself in governance. They are reported to stay aloof on how Africans govern themselves although this is not probably the case. They must maintain close contacts with the governing groups with all that it entails to protect their interests. 

Ethiopia, the largest country in the region, Djibouti, and Eritrea which is not generally in good terms with the West, all deal with China on the economic front, mostly on infrastructures such the building of railways, roads and ports.  The many actors and forces in Somalia including the multitude of NGOs, the IMF and the World Bank, the West, and the new entrants into the region, the GCC countries, with their enormous wealth, and the terror groups that have been imported into the country, have kept Somalia confused at best, anarchic and directionless at worst. Somalia’s governance is clannish, and each clan throws up the worst among them to face off the other clans, which only produces poor leadership for the country.

The region, after the collapse of the military dictators, could have had a second chance but it did not. It only turned to the animalistic tribal/clan safety net which, of course, denies  and stands in the way of any form of national development, let alone a regional aspiration. This has only impoverished the region more, in addition to the worsening climatic changes and world stage political and economic maneuvers of major powers.

Despite its ownership of a multitude of resources including its geostrategic location, the Horn of Africa States region, unfortunately is more impoverished with every year that passes, giving rise to a mass exodus out of the region and the continuation of the tribal/clan competitions for power which is the root cause of all the instabilities in the region. Its inability to sift through the many forces entering the region have cost it enormously. Every country and every actor that comes into the region is not a friend and many are pursuing their own interests and securities which is perhaps contrary to the interests of the countries of the region. 

The world’s competitions elsewhere which, at times, are in the form of wars such as the NATO/Russian proxy war in Ukraine, the Palestinian/Israeli war and the problems of Asia, and those of some other African regions, all affect lives in the region as supply chains get disrupted and prices rise. These all further add to the impoverishment of the region.

A major discourse that the region misses is related to the rule of law, fairness and just treatment of one’s fellow co-citizen. The fact that competition is tribal/clannish, denies fairness and equality under the law. It denies sharing of opportunities among the citizenry as the tribal/clan chieftains in power show and act preferentially towards their own tribes and clans, which only accentuates misgovernance and hence the conflicts and the continuing instabilities in the region. These add to the impoverishment of the region as focus is no longer on development but on tribal/clan wars either fighting each other within a country or tribal/clan uprisings against the center.

 It is ironic that over thirty years the region is at war with itself while the world is watching it. The region must be the laughingstock of the world as the  people who pride themselves as having been there from the cradle of mankind keep tearing each other apart with significantly no explicable reasons other than just tribes and clans. The fact the region cannot produce its own food and relies on others for everything, without earning its living from its own resources, clearly paints it as a hopeless region with a hopeless leadership. A country is just a refection of its own leadership, and the impoverished nature of the region may reflect an impoverished intellect or the misguided priorities of its leadership, but in any case, an impoverished region.

Dr. Suleiman Walhad

Dr. Suleiman Walhad writes on the Horn of Africa economies and politics. He can be reached at suleimanwalhad@yahoo.com.