'If talking was a commodity, Africa would not have any problem,' quipped Gary Magadzire, President of the Zimbabwe National Farmers Union. He was chairing an industrial seminar for executives in Harare, the Zimbabwean capital. 'We have entered another colonialism called tribalism and laziness,' he continued. 'We need to look at the concept of change in the right perspective -change for yourself first, not others.'
The recent Harare seminar is one of a series aimed at developing 'qualities of initiative and teamwork amongst industrial leaders, trade unionists, employers' organizations and government'. David Kuwana, Personnel Manager (Liaison), Anglo American Corporation, stressed the importance of getting human relations right in any system. 'If people who run the system have wrong motives and we all come under the pressures of fear and the pressures of other people's attitudes - they make the system fail,' he said.
Dr Jonathan Gapara, Director of the Zimbabwe Institute of Public Administration and Management, introduced a discussion on how to create 'the moral infrastructure so much needed in Zimbabwe today'. 'If my performance as a senior public servant and my humanity as a person are to be measured by the standards of Moral Re-Armament, where would I be?' he asked. 'Am I by my words and actions building or destroying Zimbabwe?'
'A man or woman of ability who is not committed to the development of all of our people is quite useless. Ability may enable us to make the right decisions, but it is commitment which impels us to dedicate ourselves to implement them.'
Paul Dzviti, Deputy Director of the Employers Confederation of Zimbabwe, introduced the topic 'Managing in a changing environment', and Godfrey Kanyenze, representing the President of the Zimbabwe Confederation of Trade Unions, led the discussion on 'Teamwork'.
