If I were to become the President of Zimbabwe, one of my first decisions would be to rescind all deals done by Zanu (PF) with the Chinese. I am disgusted and angry to learn that Anjin, one of the companies mining diamonds in Marange, is 90 percent owned by the Chinese and 10 percent by the army.
The company is clandestinely diverting huge diamond revenues that effectively belong to Zimbabweans. How could we be so stupid as to get into a relationship where the army owns a paltry 10% of a very valuable national asset? Interestingly enough, they are the very ones talking about how they will defend 100% indigenisation of the corporate sector.
As far as I am concerned, the extraction of national assets and revenues from Zimbabwe by the Chinese is no different to the Western imperialism that resulted in the underdevelopment of Africa last century+. This time, we have Chinese imperialism happening with the consent and participation of our so called liberators.
Our politicians continue to tell us how the imperialists want to destroy Africa and keep it underdeveloped, but right on our doorstep is de facto Chinese imperialism. I think our “liberators” have been naïve to believe that looking East will create advantageous economic relations compared with the West. Personally, I have not heard of any African country that has developed rapidly because of the involvement of the Chinese.
Yes, they have built infrastructure in Africa, but the cost to our future generations is unimaginable. Their economic agenda is that of extracting as much wealth and value out of Africa as possible. It’s all about them. Zimbabweans have allowed the Chinese to ride roughshod over locals in almost every sector of the economy.
There are many disturbing instances reported, not only about the ridiculous quality of their products, but on how badly they treat workers here and how they boast that they are untouchable. In addition, their utter disregard of our environment is evident in many places.
Remember that, despite China’s wealth, the Chinese are one of the most poor and rural populations in the world. Those who end up in Africa are not necessarily the best of breed. This was the same pattern during colonialism, where Africa was the dumping ground for those escaping poverty elsewhere.
Chinese products that have flooded the market are certainly cheaper than local ones or those imported from South Africa, but their quality and durability is atrocious. All one has to do is to walk around Harare shops and witness Chinese imperialism in action.
Our factories are closed and unemployment is high because we have allowed the Chinese unfettered entry into our markets and yet, worldwide, countries are protecting their economies and the livelihoods of their people from Chinese competition.
The Minister of Trade and Industry has a responsibility to protect Zimbabwe’s borders from unfair trade practices and cheap imports. Unless I am misinformed, I have not heard of him aggressively addressing this national security issue.
Unfortunately, Zimbabwean consumers are also naïve participants in their own underdevelopment. Whatever happened to the buy local campaign? Of course we have a fundamental problem in that our factories are unable to meet local demand and prices are high due to the cost of capital. But unless we protect our economy with a very aggressive local industrialisation policy that builds local capacity, we cannot expect this economy to rebound.
Just think of the economic and social disasters that have been caused by the ill-conceived policies of Zanu (PF). From a land reform programme that affected two million families and created serious food insecurity, Operation Murambatsvina that affected 700,000 families, the disastrous monetary policy in 2008 that effectively made every Zimbabwean poor – and now to the indigenisation policy that will destroy viable entities and further discourage foreign investment that we desperately need. Everything these “liberators” have touched has been a disaster. Now we have a case where billions of US dollars that we need to develop our country are going to China on the pretext of fighting imperialism.
This makes me really angry because, it is the poor Zimbabweans that I see every day that are suffering while the ‘chefs’ are getting fat. Wake up Zimbabwe! – Vince Musewe is an economic analyst based in Harare. Email: vtmusewe@gmail.com
Post published in: Analysis