Wealth is Sovereignty by Sihlangule Siwisa

In ‘The Wealth and Poverty of Nations”, the author David Landes writes about the need for a new global partnership that prioritizes the need to create jobs, reduce inequality and eradicate poverty in a manner that transforms global economies through deliberate programs of sustainable development and impact investment. It is this need that inspired me to write to brief note to those among us who have accumulated enough resources to not just cover basic needs but have abundant harvest with which to sow in the lives of others. 

It is my fervent belief that wealth is sovereignty in the sense that it places within the grasp of an individual the ability to chart the path of one’s growth by being able to resource one's dreams and finance the dreams of one's children. I believe that within the heart of each child in the world; regardless of race, ethnicity or economic background; is a desire to live a life that resonates with meaning. Beyond all else, wealth enables you to own your own time, which is the primary commodity that the employed trade for salaries and the skilled trade for wages.

In the words of Mzamo Masito who is the Chief Marketing Officer at Google Africa, "(As Africans) ...we should stop looking at ourselves through the eyes of others, and measuring our souls by the tale of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity."

I am of the belief that Africa’s place in history is being rewritten by the millions of enterprising young people who understand that attaining freedom from colonialism and segregated development was but the first step in the continental revolutionary agenda that inspired iconic leaders such as Joshua Nkomo, Oliver Tambo, Seretse Ka Kgama, Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela and Mwalimu wa Taifa and Julius Nyerere. 

These are leaders whose understanding of the need to recognise women as the powerhouses and pillars of all communities led them to champion the cause of equality of races and genders as is enshrined in the Freedom Charter that was signed at the assembly of the Congress of the People in Kliptown in South Africa on the 26th of June 1955.

Inspired by the contribution of selfless leaders of our struggle such as Adelaide Tambo, Winnie Mandela, Graca Machel, Charlotte Maxeke, Ruth First, Fatima Meer and countless others, We need to take up the cause to restore Africa’s place as an equal at the bargaining tables of the world. We need to elect to use our position in the world to bring young people along with us on this journey by investing in their dreams and co-creating a new reality in Africa.

I am convinced that as young people, we are the Leaders we have been waiting for and we are the Prophets we have been praying for and trusting the Creator to send.

I believe that what is critical in this late hour of our history is the realisation that there are no shortcuts to greatness. The path to our dreams cannot end with imagination alone, we have to labour to bring the beauty of our dreams to life. I am persuaded that we can do this collectively, by each making an individual decision to be fully engaged citizens of the world and cross-pollinating each others dreams with tangible investments in the form of time, money or goods. 

We therefore need to make a pledge to change our continent one village at a time and not just create wealth for the few, but to enrich souls by opening desired career pathways and finance dreams that have benefits that accrue financial as well as social benefit. To do this, we as young people have to learn to lead ourselves first and then society will follow.

Nkosi sikelelela ilizwe lokhokho bethu.

God bless the Land of Our Ancestors.

African Child, Our Time has Come.

We are the Leaders we have been waiting for

We are the Prophets we have been praying for 

And trusting God to send