A controversial project to build private, self-governing cities is facing a defamation lawsuit from its former Africa lead, exposing deep internal fractures as it attempts to expand from Central America to the African continent. The legal battle comes amidst a swirl of online controversy and fierce debates about the model's ethics and viability.
Magatte Wade, the Senegalese entrepreneur who was leading Prospera Africa's efforts to establish its first autonomous 'startup city" on the continent, has filed a lawsuit accusing the organisation and its principals of a malicious smear campaign. The suit, filed in a U.S. federal court in Wyoming, alleges that after her resignation, executives falsely told her business contacts she had committed crimes and attempted to embezzle over a million dollars.
This internal rupture strikes at the heart of Prospera's ambitious and contentious plan to replicate its Honduran model in Africa. The project, which creates special economic zones ZEDEs operating with their own legal and regulatory systems, has been promoted as a radical solution for economic growth but criticised as a form of neocolonial corporate sovereignty.
