Chinese companies wreak havoc in Zimbabwe

By Andrew Mambondiyani

In Zimbabwe, China has spread it tentacles to all sectors of the economy. Its footprint is evident in the energy, mining, agriculture and construction sectors as well as in flea-market stalls and at informal market places.

China has been pouring money into Zimbabwe for many years now – investing in cement, platinum, agriculture, mining, steel and of late the lucrative diamond sector. Last year, trade between China and Zimbabwe topped $1, 1 billion.

According to statistics from the Chinese government, bilateral trade between the two countries reached $1,102 billion by December 2013, up by 8,53 percent compared to the previous year.

Relations between the two countries were strengthened when Zimbabwe adopted the Look East Policy in 2003, and since then, China has become a major source of imports. In 2003, trade amounted to $197 million, $275 million in 2006, before quickening to $842 million in 2011 and $915 in 2012.

Serious problems

However, the successful Chinese model of development has come with serious problems, chief among them the brutal labour practices by Chinese employers and failure to observe environmental and labour laws.

As revealed in the China Reform Monitor, problematic Chinese-African labour relations have made headlines from Sudan to Zimbabwe. Some Chinese employers have been accused of even sodomising workers and other horrific treatment. Though no arrests were made it was revealed that the perpetrators were deported back to China.

Cosmas Sunguro, a former worker at Anjin diamond mining company, leads a mining workers union. He said working conditions at the Chinese mining company were appalling. “There is lot of fear among workers; hence many are suffering in silence. Even some of the workers who were sodomised refused to come out in the open for fear of losing their jobs,” Sunguro told a recent meeting organised by the Zimbabwe Environmental Law Association (ZELA) in Mutare.

Cephas Gwayagwaya, one of the people relocated villagers by Anjin from Marange diamond to Arda Transau, said: “These people (Chinese) don’t care about us. They want to exploit our resources and go”. Chief Zimunya weighed in adding that Anjin had turned graves upside down in Arda Transau to make roads. “Some of the bones are still lying in the open. It is disturbing and we have never heard of such a callous thing. These Chinese companies must consult locals,” said the chief.

Running out fast

In recent months Anjin has sent some of its workers on unpaid leave arguing that diamonds at their Marange claim were fast running out.

These abuses are happening despite assurance by the Chinese vice premier Wang Yang during a meeting with President Robert Mugabe in May last year that Chinese companies would observe local labour laws.

“What I want to emphasise here is that Chinese companies that are here in Zimbabwe want to make money,” Yang said, adding that: “I had a meeting with representatives of Chinese companies and I told them it is important that companies make money in a moral manner and we should not make profits out of immorality in Africa.”

And a high-level delegation from the Overseas Chinese Affairs Committee (OCC) of the National People’s Congress of China came to Zimbabwe in 2011 to hold seminars that encouraged Chinese nationals to live harmoniously with locals in an effort to boost relations between the two countries.

The leader of the Chinese delegation, Yu Linxiang, met with various stakeholders including the President of the Senate, Edna Madzongwe. But despite these two high-powered visits by senior Chinese government officials, events on the ground at Anjin Investments and other Chinese companies show that they are still breaking Zimbabwean laws with impunity.

Gruesome tale

In a gruesome tale of how the Chinese employers ill-treat employees, Sunguro narrated how he was forced to eat a dog while working at Anjin Mine in Marange. “The Chinese are very ruthless. After working for long hours without food, they left you with no option but to eat the food they provided which included dog and donkey meat,” he said.

Samuel Mutsago, a 70-year-old villager from Marange area said people in the area expected to benefit from proceeds from the diamonds but the diamonds have added misery to their lives.

“I am too old to work in the mines but I was hoping that my children and grand children would be employed in these mines but the situation at Anjin is not encouraging. As local villagers we cannot do anything but the situation is bad,” Mutsago said.

“I understand that China assisted us during our war of liberation but as villagers here we are now wondering if it is payback time. If it is payback time then the price is too big for us”. The National Union of Quarry Workers of Zimbabwe recently accused Chinese employers in Zimbabwe of allegedly ill-treating and underpaying their workers.

Beating up workers

The Confederation Industry Federation of Zimbabwe president Philip Chiyangwa, who is a close ally of President Mugabe, also expressed displeasure at the level of cruelty by the Chinese employers. “We have failed to put heads together and make sure those who come, do not eat first before us. We have laws that protect us, but there are people who are making sure they give preference to Chinese who are even beating up workers here,” Chiyangwa charged.

A Zimbabwean human rights lawyer, Sarah Logan, said loans from China have kept the government afloat for the last three years, but with the country’s rising external debt, even China was wary of extending further unsecured credit to Zimbabwe.

“Unable to borrow from anyone else (due to its appalling credit record), the cash-strapped government is currently negotiating a comprehensive financial rescue package with China, valued at an estimated US$10 billion. But what can Zimbabwe offer China as collateral? Beyond the country’s mineral wealth, there is little of financial value in Zimbabwe. It should not be surprising, therefore, that the government intends to use the country’s gold and diamonds to secure the Chinese loan,” she said.

However, the silence by the government and its failure to act on various anomalies, including labour issues, signifies a treacherous alliance between a self-serving government and greedy investors who do not have the interests of the poor at heart.

Because of the abundance of natural resources on the African continent, China is taking its economic relations with Africa very seriously. But with the brutal labour practices being exhibited by Chinese employers, it remains to be seen whether Sino-Zimbabwe relations will continue without triggering xenophobic unrest. The Zimbabwean