LUSAKA - Votes cast
for presidential contender Michael Sata in the
recent election suggest a growing discontent among
Zambians over the effects of increased Chinese
involvement in their country.
In Beijing,
however, a spokesman for the Ministry of Commerce,
Chong Quan, defended China's growing economic ties
with Africa, saying Chinese investment and trade
had promoted economic development and local
employment in the continent.
President
Levy Mwanawasa won the September 28 poll, but Sata
received an overwhelming
majority of votes in the capital - Lusaka - and
the Copperbelt, two areas where Chinese traders
and investors have a strong presence in the
economy.
Despite the cordial relations
that exist between China and Zambia, resentment
towards Chinese businesspeople is widespread among
small-scale Zambian businesspeople and poorly-paid
workers.
Neo Simutanyi, a political
scientist at the University of Zambia, says the
anti-China sentiment that Sata raised in the
run-up to the election endeared him to many voters
in Lusaka and the Copperbelt.
Simutanyi
believes the labor practices of especially Chinese
businesspeople spurred some people to vote for
Sata. The Chinese are frequently accused of being
the main culprits in the use of casual labor,
which involves lower pay and no social security
benefits.
According to the Chinese
Embassy, investment by its nationals in the
Zambian economy stands at more than US$300
million, spread across 160 enterprises and
employing more than 10,000 Zambians.
Sata,
who was Mwanawasa's main challenger, made China's
presence in Zambia's copper mining and trading
sectors a campaign issue. "They ill-treat our
people and that is unacceptable. We are not going
to condone exploitative investors. This country
belongs to Zambians," Sata said of Chinese
investors.
At another event he said,
"Foreign relations must benefit all concerned. It
must not be one-way traffic. Chinese investment
has not added any value to the lives of the people
of Zambia. We want investors - local investors,
foreign investors - who add value."
Sata
is not alone. The Federation of Free Trade Unions
(FFTUZ) in Zambia threw its weight behind his
campaign, and trade union leaders made similar
accusations.
Mwanawasa defended the
Chinese when Sata first made the threat to review
state contracts should he come to power. Later,
Mwanawasa agreed with the general complaint about
the quality of investment, saying he would order
the arrest and prosecution of investors in the
copper mines that broke labor laws.
Although the president did not single out
the Chinese, it is generally believed that they
were the ones he was referring to, as Chinese
businesspeople have been accused of mistreating
miners.
Such sentiments have become more
pronounced in the wake of deteriorating working
conditions at Chinese-owned factories. For most
residents on the Copperbelt, home to most of the
copper mines in Zambia, memories are still fresh
of the BGRIMM factory blast that killed 40
workers.
The BGRIMM factory, which
manufactured explosives, blew up with workers
locked inside. Questions have been asked as to why
all the Chinese workers escaped. Compensation
claims have also not proceeded well.
In
another incident, six workers were shot to death
at a Chinese-run mine this year after they
demanded an improvement in working conditions. The
Zambia-China Mulungushi Textiles of Zambia has
struggled despite Chinese investment, shutting
down several times.
Zambian traders in
Lusaka are also unhappy with Chinese traders who
have taken up shops in the sprawling market of
Kamwala. It is the city's oldest trading place and
has historically been dominated by indigenous
Zambians.
Traders say that since the
Chinese moved in a few years ago the textile
business has never been the same. The Chinese
retailers bring in cheaply-priced garments which
have lured customers away from the Zambian
traders.
"Ever since the Chinese came in,
things have got worse for us. In the past, we were
doing fine," says Mwamba Chibesa, a trader in
Kamwala.
Her colleague, Charity Besa,
agrees that people now prefer to buy cheap Chinese
garments instead of the salaula
(second-hand clothes) which has been a booming
industry for Zambian traders since 1991, the year
that the country moved to free market economics.
It is people like Mwamba and Charity and
their dependants - jobless youths - that Sata
largely appealed to. Chinese investors simply
became the embodiment of all that threatens
Zambians' livelihoods.
Union president
Joyce Nonde blames the country's weak legal
framework which allows foreign investors to abuse
Zambian workers with impunity. Fackson Shamenda,
regional director of Union Network
International-Africa and former Zambia Congress of
Trade Unions president (ZCTU), agrees that there
is a need to strengthen investment and labor laws
to make them more favorable to the Zambian worker.
Shamenda, who took over leadership of the
ZCTU from Zambia's second president - Frederick
Chiluba - says that laws should specify which
positions can be held by foreigners in a
foreign-owned company. Presently, investors fill
posts with their own staff even when qualified
Zambians are available.
Ironically, this
is coming against a background of strong economic
and political ties between Zambia and China dating
from pre-independence days. China has expressed
interest in helping the country build a
multi-million dollar national sport stadium.
Zambia is set to host the All Africa Games in 2011
but has no proper stadium for this event.
But in Beijing, Chong Quan, spokesman for
the Ministry of Commerce, said China's trade with
and investment in Africa had promoted economic
development and local employment in the continent.
The Chinese government has also done a lot
in releasing the debts of African countries,
increasing its aid to Africa while expanding its
trade and investment in the continent in the past
few years, Chong said.
Chong said that
since the establishment of Forum on China-Africa
Cooperation in 2000, Sino-African relations have
entered a new development stage.
Within
the framework of the forum, China has released a
total of 10.9 billion yuan (US$1.4 billion) in
debts of 31 underdeveloped African countries;
granted zero tariff treatment to some commodities
from 28 most underdeveloped African countries;
helped 40 African countries construct more than
720 projects; shouldered 58 preferential loan
projects in 26 African countries; and trained over
10,000 various talents for African countries.
Furthermore, China has encouraged various
Chinese enterprises to invest and launch factories
in Africa. Up to present, China's various
investments in Africa has reached $6.27 billion.
Thanks to these measures, economic
development in African countries had been promoted
and local employment increased, Chong said.
