Thug Life – Life of a hustler and survivor (extracts from my Book SA Chapter)

"Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me." - Psalm 23:4

Welcome Azania, my entry in rainbow nation was unplanned and a spontaneous decision I made out of frustrations of unemployment, and living on hand-outs from my cousins and brother. I felt like I was being punished for having left my job in government as I struggled to find a job in the private sector because of a lack of qualifications, though I had more than 5 years’ experience working for government.  Sadly during our time there was nothing such as career advice to help young people decide on their career paths, it was all a matter of who you knew(probably still the case)as most large private companies were largely in the hands and control of the white minority management who were at the time in control of Zimbabwe’s economy.

Though my dad was a very prominent individual in society and probably capable of asking the many progressive people in society to assist, I cannot blame him for my failure to secure any type of employment in Zimbabwe at the time, as the decision to leave government was mine and not his. Regardless he however was a very principled man who during his entire career perhaps because of his religious beliefs maintained a strict path in terms of staying within the confines of the Zimbabwean law. I know many may at this point want to question that argument but I would prefer to view any negative allegations that followed in his career as those based on his private and personal life rather than his actual service to the nation.

Anyway back to Mzansi, I had illegally borrowed by brother’s car, my cousins friends money, my other cousins Hi-Fi stereo and I was at the same time avoiding a police enquiry by Bulawayo police regarding an imported car from South Africa a friend of mine had asked me to help sell through the assistance of another cousin relative based in Bulawayo. So in other words unemployment and the desperate need to try and make a quick buck may have unconsciously linked me to a controversial car sale deal that had probably gone wrong. Anyway young as I was I could not imagine my young life coming to an end because of some controversial car deal especially knowing how the police in Zimbabwe treated such enquiries having been a policeman myself at some point.

My arrival in South Africa was a whole new experience as the symptoms of apartheid were still visible especially between the Beitbridge border and Petersburg, also considering I was driving a Zimbabwean registered vehicle as a young black male. I had been tipped off whilst in Zimbabwe by friends who had travelled to South Africa that one had to try keep some ten rand notes just in case they were stopped by South African Police. I think if you find yourself driving during daylight and not getting stopped then you are certainly blessed as that rarely happens with foreign registrations not sure what it’s like these days.

Johannesburg, Hillbrow and Berea were to become my first places of residence and induction into the crime infested and gangster world. To live in those areas at the time(early 90's) you had to learn how to live amongst criminals, in fact when I look back it would be unfair if I termed it a criminal society but rather a society using whatever means to survive and live an equally decent life in the face of the discrimination that existed within its institutions and economy that had very high unemployment due to remnants of the apartheid system laws. I made friends with different types of 'criminal professions', those who woke up in the morning to go and work on fraudulent schemes, robberies, carjacking specialist, drug dealers, Nigerian money makers ‘wash- wash’ experts, con artists commonly known as ‘botch’ dressed in business attire to the night stalker’s who used knives and guns to rob people in dark streets to professional prostitutes who all became part of my family of friends.

Don’t get me wrong, I did have some working friends too, of all races but in spite of all this negativity, the this sudden change of environment made me feel independent as no one actually knew my background, who I was and where I was coming from. For the first time in my life I felt free and independent, I felt a sense of belonging because behind all those criminal minds and deeds there was always a lot of love and caring for each other, it was rare that one could go to sleep without a meal as this circle of illegal professionals always provided. There were barbeque spot’s where the money maker’s would go celebrate their days earnings, somewhat it became normal for them to buy a lot of food as they knew there were always new comers to the trade, I guess it was also a platform where they could identify potential talent for their ranks, and one had to learn to be street wise in order to survive in such a complex criminal environment. Money made was shared in its own unique way, it was a form of independent governance with the tax being payment to the law enforcement agents in form of bribes and land lords rent.

Social life was a pretty dangerous experience especially if you were a new kid on the block, there were rules to be adhered to when in clubs or simple walking the streets, the most important one knowing who not to flirt with and not to stand next to anyone you don’t know, because that could be your last experience of life. There were gangs that went to the club just to start fights just to look for an excuse of beating someone up, then there were the untouchable’s, the ring leaders and night club owners who in most cases had peddled drugs to acquire most night spots. Those normally had a pool of girls working for them and sometimes their own personal favourites amongst those serving drinks, so again flirting with bar ladies or waiter’s was asking for a death sentence as it was a viewed as a sign of disrespect. You had to get permission and approval through the right channels. Then there was the false accusers who would tell you that you stepped on their toe and seek immediate compensation in the form of drinks for their crew, this was all a tactic to try and identify target victims for mugging outside the club, so one really needed to move around as part of a crew else you would end up a victim every time you went out for a night. Of course there were other forms of social entertainment like ‘bashes’ at Universities, Technikon’s and sometimes by the local parks where people came together for music concerts and barbecue’s.

Anyway my very first job (illegal work) was selling mathematics sets on commission for high school students; it was illegal because I did not have a work or resident permit but just a temporal 6 month entry visa. Having a car made it pretty easy for me to get jobs without too much worry, but most of the jobs were basic salary based on commission. When you are young you do not know how difficult it is to meet the sales targets to meet the requirements for a basic salary, and at the same time you take jobs without calculating the cost of fuel, by the time you realise what a rip of the sales job was you would have actually only worked for your fuel money as the basic in most cases is impossible to reach.

My migration to South Africa meant my family back home would not know where I was unless I communicated with them, I actually left without telling anyone and no one had an idea where I was and how I was where ever I was. Soon my temporal import visa for the car would expire and I would either seek an extension or have to return the car back home, in any case the car also required a tax disc so I had to start looking at making peace with those I had left without notice. As I was unsure about what would happen if I returned to Zimbabwe, I decided not to return and arranged for one of my cousins to travel to South Africa to come fetch the car. Life without a car meant opportunities for employment were drastically reduced as I also did not have legal paper’s to be employed by more reputable companies, and guess who came to the rescue? My criminally minded friends and a few others who were on low income jobs became my immediate family. This obviously also put pressure on me to be seen as making an effort to be also actively seeking a source of income, life became highly risky and daring as I was gradually being drawn more and more into a life supported by crime. I had to make some serious choices on where I wanted to be and that meant always having a plan B which in most cases was high risk activity.

“Often the difference between a successful person and a failure is not one has better abilities or ideas, but the courage that one has to bet on one’s ideas, to take a calculated risk – and to act.” ~ Andre Malraux

Rising above the odds in a negative environment

Do you know what it feels like to be pre-judged, pre-classified or considered a minority in a particular socio-economic or political environment?  This state of being actually exists in all works of life depending on the circumstance and the situation we find ourselves in. However no state of being is always the right one to be in, as either have their positives and negatives.

I have had the privilege and opportunity to experience different socio-economic environments in my life time. From the pre-independence era when my parents were teacher’s living mostly in accommodation provided by the Church as my dad was also a Methodist preacher, living in high density housing where I was mostly socialised, living as a refugee in the USA’s multi-racial society’s, returning briefly to high density life, moving up the social ladder to what could be termed upper class, after which I moved back to what may be called middle class when I started my working career. I believe this could be where I have finally settled in though there are times when I have to fight and struggle to get things done for my family. That’s my life based on my social environments.

I feel there have been some very drastic changes in my life, especially having been a family member of a high profile political figure. I have realised people in general tend to assume that, if one has lived under the image of such a highly recognised political office they should certainly have come out with vast amounts of wealth. I understand why people’s perceptions and thought processes are the way they are, it’s most likely because of how they see the current President and other African Presidents live their life styles.

However with us it is not the case, we live average lives, far below the general public’s perceptions of ‘rich’. Perhaps if the government of Zimbabwe did respect the contribution made by Canaan Banana during his term in office and included him in the modified constitution in terms of retirement packages, things could have turned out differently. The current Presidential Bill in Zimbabwe only covers Presidents and their deputies from 1992. There is probably a good reason why there’s no link to this controversial government, but at the same time annoyed about this seemingly unfair and unjustified alienation of Canaan Banana’s recognition of the contributions he made to the development of Zimbabwe.

The negative publicity that followed after the alleged trial of Canaan Banana unfortunately cast a dark shadow in the career progression of the Banana family member’s, some members of the family have suffered irrecoverable psychological and emotional problems as a result. The decision to migrate in order to find peace of mind brought about some temporal relief but however also had its negatives in terms of career progression. At times I question if my quest for human rights and justice is influenced by events in society or rather by the experiences I have noted within members of my family. I have learnt to understand the frustrations associated with the perceptions by people as they may view us as this golden opportunity with vast amounts of wealth (celebrity syndrome) when in actual fact we are the simplest of individuals perhaps not as well off as they are.

The assumption of being something else may make us feel that we are on the stronger side, giving a false sense of identity. On the other hand being in the majority may make us feel that we have to compete with many others like us to be recognized. More of us in any particular location make us ordinary and so we have to struggle even harder to hold our own identity. Either way it is obvious that we carry a burden, in the minority weakness in numbers and in the majority weakness as an individual.

The truth is what makes us strong in both cases is what we have in our spirits. Regardless of whether we find ourselves in the minority or majority at any given time who we are from inside will always remain the same. It then becomes an advantage to be in either category. In the minority we would set an example for others to follow. 

Our challenge is to become leaders for others to learn from and believe they can accomplish their desires despite the odds stacked against us in numbers. In the majority we take pride in rising above many like us to be seen as special. Despite the odds in numbers we are still identifiable as individuals, again leading others to seek the same as we did.

It is obvious to the naked eye that there are more poor people than rich people in our world. The negative side to this is while the rich man seems to have all the facilities and amenities available for him to get richer the poor man seems to have none of these allowing him to remain poor. 

“Physical wealth only matters when we do the right thing with it. If we are poor in spirit and wealthy physically then we are still poor. If we are rich in spirit and blessed with wealth then God has given us both as he desired. So wealth is not a bad thing if we are righteous within.”

Carrying the torch from generation to generation is something professions do. Doctors have such familial pairs - everyone knows stories about father/son doctors. Lawyers and architects and accountants, too, have parent/child professionals working side by side. The child eventually takes over the practice of the parent. However in political roles especially where predecessors were seen in a bad light it becomes almost impossible to break ground, the pre-judgement perception takes precedence over ability and capability. 

The stakes and standards are set higher and any opposition aspirant’s jump at every opportunity to discredit such family linkages as they are seen as domineering and a negative rather than a positive. It’s more complicated when society also has its own existing differences based on human classification and affiliation.

I guess the best role for me in our socio-economic environments, since our political climate is marred by so much uncertainty, is to focus on leadership and community development initiatives.

The Struggle for Economic Freedom and Justice

Apparently when you become an advocate for justice, you sign a life time commitment to fight for human freedoms, economic emancipation and their rights in life. I independently chose this path a few years ago, and the challenges that lie ahead are beyond my wildest imagination. In 1980, I never imagined in future I would ever be on the opposite side of any of our leaders, especially those I recognised as our liberator’s, but I guess with responsibility comes free will. Free will enables individuals to make choices between good or bad decisions, however once they have used their free will and made a decision, if in any way the result of that choice causes harm or injury to another human, they are morally responsible to accept the punishment for their free will actions. When we see someone in a life threatening situation, it is our moral responsibility to help them to survive, but we independently have the free will to choose that moral decision or act unethically in an immoral way.

Human rights are rights inherent to all human beings, whatever our nationality, place of residence, sex, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, language, or any other status. We are all equally entitled to our human rights without discrimination. These rights are all interrelated, interdependent and indivisible.

Universal human rights are often expressed and guaranteed by law, in the forms of treaties, customary international law, general principles and other sources of international law. ‘International human rights law lays down obligations of Governments to act in certain ways or to refrain from certain acts, in order to promote and protect human rights and fundamental freedoms of individuals or groups.’

The principle of universality of human rights is the cornerstone of international human rights law. This principle, as first emphasized in the Universal Declaration on Human Rights in 1948, has been reiterated in numerous international human rights conventions, declarations, and resolutions. The 1993 Vienna World Conference on Human Rights, for example, noted that it is the duty of States to promote and protect all human rights and fundamental freedoms, regardless of their political, economic and cultural systems.

Nowadays organizations and society are concerned about unethical behaviour. One type of unethical behaviour common in African governance and management is crimes of obedience, where followers are influenced by a leader to engage in behaviour they would otherwise consider unethical. People who see themselves as leadership material and hold leaders in high esteem are more likely to view leaders as having more responsibility for ethical decisions and behaviours than followers. Consequently, such persons when placed in a follower position may be more susceptible to commit crimes of obedience through the process of moral disengagement by displacing responsibility for their behaviour onto the leader.

Research findings indicate correlations between moral disengagement levels and individual differences such as locus of control, sympathy, social dominance orientation, and cynicism (Baker, Detert, & Trevino, 2006); academic efficacy and self-regulatory efficacy (Bandura, Caprara, Barbaranelli, Pastorelli, & Regalia, 2001); and demographic characteristics such as gender and age (Bandura, Barbaranelli, Caprara, & Pastorelli, 1996). The moral disengagement mechanism that is particularly applicable to crimes of obedience is the displacement or diffusion of responsibility (Bandura, 1999a; Wood & Bandura, 1989). Followers who obey unethical orders from a leader may do so because moral disengagement through the displacement or diffusion of responsibility is facilitated by their belief that followers are less responsible than leaders for the consequences of their actions.

I have chosen to include this academic research finding into my blog article today as I have found it effective in translating the Zimbabwean leadership - follower scenario. Our society has gradually accepted and in some cases adopted a corrupt system of governance supported by a morally unjust culture full of greed and deceit. Perhaps my statement may be a bit harsh to those amongst us who still struggle to build a morally cohesive society that believes in the values of ‘ubuntu’’chivanhu’. So perhaps the justice we seek now is actually beyond just leadership, we should re-examine ourselves as citizens of one nation, our relationship and understanding of our shared values and beliefs.

Do we actually have a cohesive society that understands the basics of family and neighbour relations? Are we actually respecting each other as citizens of one nation and the world? I fear our society has been polluted and infested with negativity associated with class divisions, race, and tribe, political affiliation, rich and poor. I do not believe we are doing enough to rectify these destructive classifications in our society. This is not the sole duty of community leaders, our reliance on leadership for direction has made us dependant and less innovative and productive.

Those progressing are either capitalising on these destructive elements or have simple chosen to manipulate the situation in their favour. Economic empowerment will not be handed to anyone on a silver plate; we have to demand a fair and just system that can provide fair opportunities for growth and development of all members of our society, we don’t need selective justice based on classification or affiliation.

“Ultimately economic freedom and justice will be brought about by a united people acting together for a common good, not individual leaders as has been the traditional approach. Only when people can fully utilise their combined power to demand justice will we have the socio-economic environment we want to see. There’s too much power in the hands of a few men.”

Blame vs. Accountability

In the last few years I have been involved in several public debates and have noticed a very strong blame culture come to life that has somehow done little to address current problems faced by Zimbabwean society. As I write this article I automatically become a victim of such a culture as I attempt to identify the causes and possible solutions around this seemingly never ending thought process that has been strengthened by our current leaders since independence. How many times in the last 30 years have you heard the word 'colonialism', 'imperialism', 'tribalism', 'neo-colonialism' and all the other isms? I'm sure we all know that those words have been associated with some kind of negativity affecting Africans and other developing countries, but has the continuous use of the words changed anything? Has the use of the words changed our socio-economic environments to benefit a broader society? Is blaming the past in-consistences going to fix the present in-consistences? I think history has taught us a lot of sad stories about the past but should we continuously dig the past in order to create a better future? Well I'll leave you to be your own judge to those questions, we are all obviously motivated by different things in life, if constantly being reminded about the negative past drives your work output or general outlook on life then let it be, however I believe positive thoughts influence positive actions.

I have through time realised that this constant investigation into our past develops a loop to the problems we currently face, as in most cases no one is prepared to take responsibility or more so accept that a particular group is responsible for creating the problem in the first place thereby forcing it to spiral on a continuous endless loop..

‘When problems occur, we are likely to start looking for someone to blame before we start looking for a solution.’

Let us analyse the difference between blame and accountability, accountability is holding someone responsible for an action, whereas blame is more associated with accusation. Blame also induces fear, which I think explains the Zimbabwean leadership crisis and political impasse which has been caused as a result of past wrongs, be it human right violations to corrupt governance. Because of these existing and constant accusations from the past, our leaders fear has been transformed to a violent defensive action to resist any change demanded by the people of Zimbabwe.

The difference between blame and accountability is particularly significant in political governance issues and the traditional work place. Fear can induce a person to work, but it cannot cultivate enthusiasm. A good example of this type of fear is common in public servants who have been highly politicised especially security services where service delivery is based on orders, which in most cases are punishable if not followed. Fear can also put a person off entirely especially in circumstances where a safe and open environment for protest does not exist. Unfortunately, blame doesn’t stop at hurting someone. It has the potential to seriously damage a career or a relationship. Fear of being blamed holds people back from acknowledging their mistakes or shortcomings and also destroys opportunities to learn from them. This I believe has been Zimbabwe’s greatest challenge where senior government officials have too many skeletons (wrongs) hanging in the closets and therefore fear leaving their positions of authority and power out of fear of prosecution for past offences committed whilst in official government service.

A more productive approach would be to hold people accountable if necessary create legislation to enforce this. In the case of governments accountability would require a non-partisan enforcement agency that cannot be influenced by political leadership. If a mistake is made, it should be acknowledged so that a lesson can be learned for the future. People rarely get fired for making a few small mistakes, but they do lose their jobs if they go on making the same mistakes over and over again. The challenge for new leadership lies in changing this blame culture to a more accountable system of governance, this obviously will require a complete over-haul of public service systems through reforming of the politicised public services so that law enforcement can take place without any outside interference hopefully creating a more respectable society regardless of any individuals social status or authority (position in society).

If we held our leaders accountable they wouldn’t feel like they were being blamed but rather held responsible for their actions. Blaming is malicious and has the capacity to injure. Injury leads to lies and deceit as the blamed attempt to defend and justify their actions. Holding someone accountable, on the other hand, requires the person to take responsibility. The biggest difference between the two approaches is their effectiveness when it comes to encouraging error creator to learn from the problems so that future mistakes can be avoided. 

Fear of getting blamed prevents new thoughts (creativity) and ideas from taking wing. How we hate to hear someone say, “This sounds like a good idea, but if it backfires, you will be solely responsible!” Comments like this very effectively nip new ideas in the bud. But with some minor linguistic changes, the same sentiment can be expressed in an encouraging manner. What I’m trying to say is the language used by our media to describe negative events though sincere may actually turn out to be very intimidating and quite scary to someone with great responsibility and power involved in those negative events. The result becomes the power of the pen (Media) and voice (people) versus the power of authority (politician) and force (Military) which equals dictatorship or continuous socio-economic instability.

Conclusively mistakes cannot be ignored, nor can we gloss over them with evasive language. Ultimately it is important to face mistakes and learn from them. Mistakes must contribute to the quest for perfection and growth. Blaming someone for a mistake allows neither of these things to happen. In the process, it tears down existing structures of confidence and passion-vital ingredients for professional development. It's time for a progressive culture, one that seeks solutions based on analysing past mistakes.

“The best years of your life are the ones in which you decide your problems are your own. You do not blame them on your mother, the ecology, or the president. You realize that you control your own destiny.” ~Albert Ellis