African diamond crusade

TODD MAJAYE | Friday April 1, 2011 00:00

The Almighty God is going to be taking us on a long diamond journey that will ultimately take us to where God has destined for us as a nation and as a continent. It is a long winding road, and certainly one with thorns, sharp needles, poisonous serpents, masweswa, scorpions and all wicked vices. But it nevertheless is a road that must be travelled.

It is an effort motivated by the desire to serve the continent, and to contribute to the shifting of mindsets towards the direction of continuous improvement in our diamond industry, for the benefit of all. It is motivation born out of discontentment with the continuous deviation from the purposes for which God gave us huge deposits of diamonds - a finite resource which God gave us for a season. It is a cry for total independence!

In this journey we shall be led by the story of Isaac's sons; Esau and Jacob, as recorded in the holy bible. We shall also lean on the history of Moses and the children of Israel's transition from slavery in Egypt to freedom in the Promised Land, as well as other recordings as contained in the holy bible.

The bible in the book of Genesis 25:20-24 tells about the twin sons of Isaac - Esau and Jacob. Esau was the first born and a hunter by profession, while Jacob was a shepherd. Jacob reared animals, nurtured and multiplied them. He kept a good stock of animals for food and for trade, and replenished them all the time. Esau on the other hand hunted animals for food. In order for him to have relish on the table he had to spend the whole day in the bush chasing after animals. When he killed one, he ate it all before going back into the bush to labour hard for the next meal. He only killed one animal at a time. On the other hand Jacob would get in the kraal at the back of the yard to pick one of the many animals he had, if he needed meat. He did not have to sweat and hurt his feet in order to have a meal.

One day Esau came home without a kill, exhausted, feet bleeding and very hungry. He went to Jacob and begged for a meal to eat. Jacob said to him, no problem my dear brother; I will give you a meal. But as you know, I am a businessman. If you want me to give you a meal you have to surrender your birth right to me as of today. Esau said to Jacob, what use is the birthright to me when I am dying of hunger. You can have it, just give me the food.

Jacob said to him ok then; swear to me of this day that you have surrendered your birth right to me. He swore unto him and surrendered his birth right that day. A covenant was sealed. Jacob gave Esau the bread and the red stew that he so much craved for to gobble, whilst he in turn took the birth right. Thus Esau traded his birth right for one dinner meal that day.

Since that time our world has produced people with the Esau mentality and those with the Jacob mentality. Nations with the Esau governance system and those with the Jacob governance system. People with the Esau mentality kill everything they find. When they enter a system that was founded under the Jacob system they kill and replace it with the Esau system. This is evident in many African nations that inherited infrastructure and administrative systems from their colonial rulers. They destroyed it all and replaced it with dilapidation and corruption.  Just like Esau focussed on one animal at a time, nations operating the Esau governing system spend all their energies on whatever income generating commodity they find, so that their economic systems depend on that one particular commodity.

They do not process what they produce. If the commodity is minerals they sell them to the Jacob nations in the form that God created them, and import finished product at 4 times the value at which they sold them. If it is cattle they sell both the meat and hides to the Jacob nations. They do not produce leather garments including shoes, but import them at 3-4 times the value at which they sold the hides. They are the ones that God spoke about in the book of Proverbs 12:27, when he said, 'The lazy man does not roast what he took in hunting' (NKJV).

They are followers and lazy thinkers, but good labourers. They may labour hard to produce the commodity, but are lazy to apply their minds in search of better ways of adding value to what they produce. They leave all the thinking to the Jacob nations, which they also pay exorbitantly in consultancy and advisory fees. They do not take pride in the abilities of their own people, and have no confidence in themselves. Their dependence syndrome has been with them for so long that they no longer see anything wrong with it. To them it is the way of life, it is normal.

The bible further tells us that Esau asked Jacob to feed him with the same red stew that Jacob was fond of. Even when selling his birth he did not demand a better stew than that which Jacob was fond of. And he did not at least ask Jacob for the recipe so that in future he could make his own stew. Aah! Aah! He wanted the same red stew as Jacob's. Nations who operate the Esau system are also like that. They are not creative. They want whatever the Jacob nations produce. They have no interest in learning the technicalities of how to produce the same. If they do learn, it is for the purposes of labouring as employees of the Jacob nations. They end up learning as much as the Jacobs are prepared to teach them, and therefore never attain the level of independence enjoyed by the Jacob nations.

Nations with the Esau mentality are also like the 10 Israeli spies that Moses sent to spy the land that God said He had given to them. The land that flowed with milk and honey, as God said. The Angel of the Lord guided and protected them on the journey. They went and saw the land. It was as God said it was. They even brought samples of the luscious fruit of the land to show to the Israelis that the land was indeed as God said it was.

But the land was occupied by huge human giants. When they gave the report back, they said that although the land was as God said it was, there was no way they could possess it, because of the giants. Their cowardice even made them to exaggerate the sizes of the giants, by saying they were so big that they themselves felt like grasshoppers before them.

They put so much fear on the people, such that the people cried all night saying they were better off as slaves in Egypt and wanted to return. The sad thing was that the eight coward spies were not ordinary people, but leaders of their clans like ministers, members of parliament corporate leaders.

Only two men, Joshua and Caleb said to Moses and to the people that although the land was occupied by giants, the Israelis were capable of defeating them and take over the land that God had given to them, because the gods that protected them, i.e. the giants, were dead.

But the eight cowards were angry with Joshua and Caleb for saying that. They said the two were trouble makers, controversial and difficult people who wanted to lead the nation of Israel into destruction by the giants. They saw them as blocking the passage back to slavery, and in turn influenced the people to kill them and return back to slavery in Egypt, which they said was better than the freedom that God had given them.  Thus they could not part with their slavery mentality even after God had delivered them from it. Even when God had told them that the gods that protected their tormentors were dead, the fear of the giants continued to torment them. Thus they feared the giants more than they feared and reverenced God who created the giants and their dead gods.

Esau nations are also like that. When giants occupy the land that God gave them, their governments fear to temper with the system that the giants created. They submit national resources to the giants and enter into agreements that give the giants the largest share of the national resources whilst they do with the little they can have for the nation. Because of the slave mentality of colonialism, (their Egypt), the national decisions they make are based on the advice they get from the giants, through expensive consultancies, partnerships and service contracts.  With these advices they labour very hard to create and implement systems that favour the giants. The giants command them to keep the people who put them in power in the dark about their dealings with them. They comply, and in the process some of them benefit as individuals from the few crumbs that fall under the dining tables of the giants. That makes them very happy and with that they oppress their people even more, particularly those who oppose their ways.

The giants do not have to struggle to get what they want. They only need to shoot small arrows at the bellies of the Esau's and a deal is sealed - a birth right is sold. When some Joshuas and Calebs rise amongst them and say, look fellow countrymen, God gave the land to us and not to the giants, let us go in and claim the land, and subject the giants under our control. The gods that protected them are dead. Like the Pharisees of old, who paid tribute to the Roman Empire; they come together and in one accord decide the fate of the Joshuas and Calebs that will please the giants. The giants do not have to tell them what to do - it is the slave mentality that works for them.

They may be one or two Nicodemuses amongst them but they do not pay attention to their advices because they function under the yoke of the giants advices, which to them are yes and amen! Just like the Pharisees killed Jesus to please the Romans, they agree to kill the Joshuas and Calebs, either physically or economically, to appease the giants. They kill them! For that they are rewarded with few more crumbs of their own bread. This makes them are very happy and satisfied. With that they intensify the persecution of their own people.

Poor souls, they do all that oblivious of the reality of the presence of the one that created the giants. The one that gave His people the land. The one who knows the hearts of men, and the end from the beginning! They sell their souls and that of the nation, because of the dictates of their bellies. When the giants feel they have used them enough, they vomit them and appoint fresh ones, and so the cycle of dispossession continues.

After the giants had plundered all the rich produce of the land, they walk away, leaving the Esaus to starve because they did not keep anything in stock for the future - they did not use God's gift to diversify their economies or build a skills base that would enable their economies to continue to thrive, after the commodity ran out. Can God be happy with these nations? Certainly not! The bible tells us that He was very angry with the Israelis slave mentality that He wanted to destroy all of them except Moses, Aaron, Joshua and Caleb. Moses had to plead very hard with God to spare their lives.

Jacob people and nations on the other hand seek God's wisdom in managing and maximise the value of what He gives them. If it is diamonds they build their human capacity such that they have excess capacity to export to other needy nations. They use their people to mine, value, process and market their diamonds. They do not depend on foreign Government Diamond Valuators to value their diamonds and to advice on the direction that their industries should take. They take pride in the abilities of their own people to perform these functions. They stock pile diamonds and trade at huge profits in times of global scarcity.

The holy bible tells us that eventually Esau was able to change his foolish mentality and began to build much capacity that when Jacob came back from self exile with much property and offered some to Esau, he kindly said to him, thanks my brother, but keep what you have for yourself because I now have plenty of my own.

Just as Esau mindset eventually changed, it is time that African nations change their foolish mindsets, such that when Europe, America and Asia say to them, we have set aside some budgets to aid your nations development,  Africa will be able to say, thank you brothers, keep it to yourself. We now have plenty of my own.

When they say we have valuators that your governments can use to determine the value of your diamonds, they will be able to say, thank you brothers we have built our own skills base over the past 40 years and are self sufficient in this area. When the Indians say we are coming to help train your people to cut and polish diamonds produced from your soil, Africa will be able to say, 'Thank you brothers, but, we have sufficient skills built over the past 40 years to perform these tasks. Brothers, spare your resources for your declining economies, and let us know if we can assist in any way' This is what Africa should be saying, instead of foolishly shouting, 'Hurray! The Indians are coming to teach us about our diamonds.' And, this after so many years of political independence and mining them.

The story of Esau and Jacob has a lot to teach us on the manner in which we should manage the land and resources and in this instance diamonds that God gave us. The questions we need to ask ourselves are; do we have full control of our land and diamonds? Do we process what we produce? Do we preserve or kill our Joshuas and Calebs. Do we dictate terms of trade? Do we take pride in the abilities of our people to chart their own national destiny? Do we sell our birth right?