Zambia has fallen prey to unscrupulous Chinese investors - Sata

Zambia has fallen prey to unscrupulous Chinese investors - Sata
By Brighton Phiri
Thursday October 25, 2007 [12:55]

ZAMBIA has fallen prey to unscrupulous Chinese investors, Opposition Patriotic Front (PF) president Michael Sata has charged. In his presentation to the United States of America (USA) based Harvard University Committee on Human Rights Studies Events Series on Wednesday, Sata said Zambia had been invaded by rogue Chinese investors.

"Zambia has also found it difficult to attract genuine investors and has become the prey of the rogue Chinese investors that have no regard for the welfare of those that are unfortunate enough to work for them, let alone the countries that have allowed them to exploit their natural resources and people," Sata said.

He said Chinese investments such as large scale-mining and construction firms had created industrial disharmony due to poor working conditions, which did not comply with Zambia's labour laws, environmental regulations and the occupational health and safety standards.

"They also pay slave wages. The Chinese investments have also created only a limited number of skilled and unskilled jobs for Zambians, because most technical and managerial positions, as well as a significant number of unskilled jobs are reserved for, and held by the Chinese workers, who have come along with the investment," he said. "The situation is worsened by disparities in wages paid to the Chinese and Zambian workers doing the same jobs, with the Chinese being paid substantially more."

Sata said due to the favorable treatment given to the Chinese by the immigration service, there were currently more than 80,000 Chinese nationals in Zambia.

"Government also ignores very serious reports of abuse of Zambian workers by their Chinese superiors. Failure to observe the occupational health standards at the Chinese government owned explosives factory even resulted in the death of 50 Zambian casual workers, in an explosion that destroyed the entire plant, but in which not a single Chinese life was lost," said Sata referring to the BILGRIMM Explosives accident in 2005. "Many questions surrounding the death of the 50 Zambians workers at the Chinese explosives factory to this day remain unanswered."

He said Zambia's failure to curb the violation of industrial and labor laws could be attributed to the overbearing influence of the Chinese government on its Zambian counterpart, through provision of generous gifts to the ruling Movement for Multi-Party Democracy (MMD) and the powers that be.

He said the Chinese private investment had also brought into Zambia unfair competition.

Sata said the Chinese traders sold cheap low quality products from China ranging from clothes to electronic household goods, which did not meet the local standards.

"The garments, for example, wear out after being washed once, but they cost substantially less, and uninformed poor people, buy such garments at the expense of stronger locally made garments," he said.

"Such trading activities are killing the local industry and taking away livelihoods from local people, such as tailors and traders selling better quality garments, not to mention the textile firms, most of which have collapsed not only in Zambia, but in Southern African region as a whole."

He said the entry of Chinese traders into the micro enterprise sector had worsened competition in an already over-crowded informal economy, which supported the bulk of the labour force.

Sata said the private investors from China enjoyed an unfair advantage over their competitors in Zambia because they had access to generous Chinese government loans and grants provided only to Chinese nationals and enterprises through the Bank of China, which had opened branches in Lusaka and the Copperbelt.

Sata said the increased clout of the Chinese in Africa had a bearing on consolidation of democracy and a culture of respect for human rights, because China did not subscribe to democracy and was inconsistent in upholding human rights at home.

"We should also bear in mind that poverty in Africa is pervasive, and has hardly spared any one, including the political leaders. The Chinese are aware of this, and are preying on the poverty of many African political leaders," he said.

He asked Africans to engage China in a more intelligent manner than they were currently doing.

Sata said the development of Africa and its people could not be achieved on the basis of designs and strategies of other people.

"The Africans ought to take responsibility and protect their heritage and the future of those yet to come. It is, therefore, critical for African countries to review their engagement with China," Sata said.

"The foreign policies of African countries should be based on the universal values of democracy, good governance, protection and respect for human rights. A human rights approach to policy formulation in Africa would guarantee human dignity and peace.

"It is for this reason that the Patriotic Front in Zambia finds it more prudent to cultivate relations with Taiwan, a democracy and a more advanced country than China, which can provide high quality investment and more equitable trading opportunities."