Africans are said to be lazy. If this assertion is true, then this proverb tells us why: because a strong man, who is supposed to be hardworking, is likely, due to his lack of vision and purpose, to have a negative impact on others. This is the reason why a fish rots from the head down. Said differently, underdevelopment in Africa is the result of a lack of enlightened leadership.
Africans, therefore, are not born lazy; if we even pretend that they are. Their apparent laziness is a hologram induced by the strong men who are ruling over African nations. Actually, the vast majority of Africans are surviving on a daily basis. And survivors are the anti-thesis of lazy people. They are actually hardworking people who have to fight every day to feed their family. In other words, they have a lot of energy which could be directed towards a common purpose (i.e. development) if only African rulers were actually leaders with a clear and shared vision regarding Africa's future.