Liberation and Zdagdashi

Weak governments and economies in Africa make it very hard to support the fast growing population. Overpopulation occurs when the ratio of people to the amount of land is very close. This is why an explanation of the relationship between space available and population in Africa is necessary to show that Africa is underpopulated. However, Zwane argues that "in terms of the inefficiency of the economies of the African countries to sustain their population, Africa is overpopulated." (53) Therefore, the problem in Africa is not overpopulation, the problem is the weak governments that can't support the population which make it seem like Africa is overpopulated. Zwane uses other populated developed countries as an example to show that as long as the economy is strong, there is no overpopulation.

"One might find it rather confusing that a country like Botswana covering an area of 222,000 square miles with a population of 671,893 (in 1971) is said to be overpopulated while a country like England covering a surface of 94,216 square miles (including the inland water) with a population of 55,347,000 people is not said to be over- populated."(53)

Therefore, for Zwane, who is a true African and knows what's going on in his motherland, a weak economy that can't support its population, gives the image to the rest of the world that it is overpopulated while it's not.

Weak governments and economies in developing countries are results of years of colonial oppression. When looking at overpopulation in Africa, one should take all the years of oppression into consideration. Colonial powers forced people to have more children to use them as slaves, and crushed governments that tried to developed, keeping them in poverty and illiteracy to satisfy the needs of the developed countries. Instead of using modern machinery, the colonial powers used the Africans to do the job. The agricultural sector is the predominant sector in