Indlela ibuzwa kwabaphambili (an African twist to the new growth theory)

“An investment of human capital is the main aspect of the new “endogenous” growth theory by Romer (1986), Lucas (1988) and others. This theory states that the economic impacts of population ageing depend, not only on changes in the labour force and savings, but also on changes in investment on human capital and research and development (Fougère & Mérette, 1999: 4). This highlights the importance of the human capital stock accumulated by living generations being transmitted to future generations, as a way of ensuring a balanced growth path that will benefit the future generation. Therefore the returns from investing in education now will result in a higher stream of net revenue from future labour supply (Fougère & Mérette, 1999: 9-10). This aspect will therefore attract investment as it suggests a skilled labour market currently and in future.”

The above paragraph is taken from my research project which was on “The impact of an aging population on investment in South Africa”. While working on this research project a thought crossed my mind, my understanding of the new growth theory led me to a Zulu proverb “indlela ibuzwa kwabaphambili”. This Zulu proverb means that the road is asked from those who came before us. It basically states that the young generation should seek advice from the old generation, as well as the older generation should give advice to the younger generation. The older generation should pass on their knowledge to the younger generation so that they are better informed, which will help them to make better decisions in future.

Therefore both the new growth theory and this Zulu proverb, speak about equipping the younger generation with knowledge so that they can be better in future. In essence this also means investing in human capital (through education) to secure a brighter future.

So much excitement ignited within me after making this “discovery” LOL. It is so amazing to note that such a proverb has existed for centuries and never have I thought I would one day link it to economics. This goes to show that a part of what I am learning at university has existed in the African community for a long time; it’s just that I understood it differently. In this case I feel like universities are teaching us what we have already learned from home; however we are hardly aware of that because we have never taken the time to relate Western and African education for ourselves. Maybe it's because we believe that western education is better since we pay for it and it also seems far-fetched from our daily lives hence we don’t relate to some concepts. Besides the world would understand me better if I spoke about the new growth theory than a Zulu proverb that only makes sense to me and my fellow black South Africans.

What I am trying to say is that, it would’ve been so easy to use this proverb to explain the new growth theory to me, I am pretty sure I would have understood it the first time I heard about it. Maybe this is what decolonised education is all about, that is teaching an African child in a way that better relates to her. However the problem is who will teach us in this manner, for example, an economics professor might not know African proverbs or customs to be able to fuse them within the university curriculums. My solution is that we young elite Africans must take it upon ourselves to learn as much as we can from our elders at home and lecturers in university, so that we can be able to fuse the two and teach the next generation, therefore securing a better and brighter future.