Last week I was reading about a lucky Spanish woman – a centenarian who survived the great flu of 1918 and recently recovered from Covid-19. But then I realised millions of us in Africa do not have to be envious of her. For if you were born before 1979 when Zimbabwe became Africa’s last country to get independence from an external force, then you too are living through two great episodes: Decolonisation and now the recolonisation of Africa.
Understandably, the local agents of the second colonisation can argue for hours, days, or even years that it is not taking place. Why shouldn’t they? After all, the second colonisation does not look like the first one. Just like the ‘new normal’ of changing lifestyles and work methods after Covid-19, the new colonisation which is underway is executed differently from the first. But the key elements are the same.
