Africans: Are we intellectually self-sufficient?

Immanuel Shivute Kaapanda writes; Autarky is a word used to describe the quality of self-sufficiency usually applied in economics and political systems of governance. Self-sufficiency is a state of total independence, and independence from external support for survival. In any public discourse in Africa as in other continents, self-sufficiency is more questionable than anything else used to aid the calculations of economic and political systems given the type of self-sufficiency under scrutiny. “Intellect” is a faculty of logical reasoning, understanding and interpretation of abstract matters relating to the theory of knowledge. We define intellectual self-sufficiency therefore, as an act of independent thoughts to seek the truth which aid us to determine self-reliance in order to become totally independent in our decisions. African societies produce many intellectuals from universities around the globe. But the question is we (Africans) intellectually self-sufficient? If you answer yes, how? If no, why not? Africans are members of religions that historically come from Europe and why is this so? Africans rely on technologies that are mainly invented in other continents, why? Why do Africans speak and respect foreign languages from other continents? African people are abandoning their traditional languages and cultures and using languages like English and proficiency in the language earns one the educated label. Why is this so? Administrative and operational systems in African countries whether judicial, economic, political, academic, or health, are aligned to systems from other continents. Africa has suffered from colonial oppression and the people subjected to colonial mentality that made the people think they are inferior. It will take a long evolutionary process which needs supervision and knowledge of self for Africans to realise and become confident. Currently, everything that we do seems to require supervision or intervention of a white person in order to be regarded as perfect or to be seen as viable, sensible or even logical sometimes. This raises a question of whether we are intellectually self-sufficient. A good example is whenever we need development which in many cases is pro-white. We need some foreign owned companies to have a stake in such a project in order to mitigate faulty situations which will lead to incomplete projects due to incapacities or even incompetence when offered by the locals. When are the systems of development going to be converted into the languages of Africa? Are we not recognised by the world? When is computer software going to be converted into our local languages? These are all the regrets we live with today. The scramble for Africa owes us not only restoration of our ancestral land and lives but also our knowledge and self-confidence. We have a lot of universities in Africa today, but given that most of our African people are not literate, we remain in the hands of our colonial masters, we operate under the supervision of the white man and it raises a question if we are intellectually self-sufficient. In the final analysis, education remains the most important tool to overcome intellectual dependency from other continents. As one of politically independent countries in Africa, our intellectual independence is yet to be realised once investments are directed to educate the people of Africa. We have therefore gained political independence but we need to sort out the dream of becoming a nation of total economic independence and we must begin to raise a generation of educated people in order to become a continent which is intellectually self-sufficient.