Helen Zille claims the benefits of colonialism where
Independent judiciary - Does she even know that much of democratic norms evolved after colonialism. For example women were not even allowed to vote. Only in 1918 did Britain allow women who were over 30 and married to vote, meaning my friend Unathi would not have had the right to vote.
Secondly the monarchical system that prevailed in the UK everything depended on the monarch. Most enterprises and companies were enable by royal charter not any fair justice system. Zimbabwe my country was colonized by a private company (British South Africa Company) which had been given a royal charter by Mrs Victoria Wettin, British ruler at the time.
Transport infrastructure, piped water - I would love for Helen Zille to tell us what model car Cecil Rhodes was driving and what his private aeroplane was. She cannot. There were no cars therefore no tarred roads in the whole world. There were no aeroplanes or airports. In short colonialists could not have brought what they did not have at all, to Africa. They did not bring roads, they did not bring airports, they did not bring water engines, they did not bring tractors to farm the land.
Colonialists came here because they were running away from disease (black death, plague, etc) poverty and hunger in Europe. We were rich they were poor. They only became rich and us poor after they took our land, minerals, and in some cases livestock.
Much of the technology we take for granted today, evolved DURING colonialism. It did not exist in Europe before colonialism, therefore colonialists could not have brought it.
The real truth is that because of racist restrictions to the self-determination of Africans, and wholesale theft of their resources, land and minerals, colonialism was a jackboot on the neck that prevented Africa from keeping pace. It was not an enabler of any sort.
How could Africans keep pace when their land was taken and they could not even build homes where they wanted? Africans as squatters (informal settlers) to this day because of that land theft. How could Africans keep pace when their movement, hence corrdination was restricted?
How could Africans keep pace when their organisations and associations like the ANC were banned. How could Africans keep pace when their inteliintisia like Mandela were thrown in jail. If Mandela and thousands of other Africans did not have to spend their lives fighting just for self determination who knows what they could have achieved.
In her twittirade Helen Zille compares Singapore to South Africa for the past 50 years, supposedly to juckstapose the progress of the former to the lack of thereof of the latter. What befuddles my little mind is how could she do that and fail completely to mention the role apartheid had in those years. Is she simply being dishonest or is she trying to erase apartheid from our memories? Pretend as if it didn't exist.
It is clear Helen Zille lays responsibility for the past 50 years at the feet of the current black leadership of the country. Juxtaposing it with Singapore is just her own round about way of saying blacks are stupid and can't run a country.
Take also her assertion that colonialism 'brought' things that clearly were invented or evolved after it happened. It his her way of saying Africa could not have adopted that technology if there were no white present on the continent. That also boils down to the same racist blacks are stupid thinking.
Helen Zille is evidence that someone can be a racist without knowing it. Maybe they know but just want to pretend to be progressive.
