There was free trade in Africa. There was free enterprise in Africa before the colonialists came.
Africa has more dictators per capita than any other continent.
Across Africa there is what I call a colonialist mentality or orthodoxy. Orthodoxy in the sense that a lot of things have gone wrong in Africa in the post-colonial period. And time and time again, any time something went wrong, the leadership claims that it was never their fault.
Socialism is always wrong.
Back in the 1960s Africa not only fed itself, it also exported food. Not anymore.
To be sure, dictators are crafty, evil geniuses with awesome firepower at their disposal. They are also brutally efficient at intimidation, terrorism, and mass slaughter. However, a force is able to dominate because the counterforce is either nonexistent or weak.