Maravi

Zhou accuses Kambwili of lies

Zhou accuses Kambwili of lies
By Kombe Chimpinde, Allan Mulenga and Bright Mukwasa
Wed 01 Feb. 2012, 14:01 CAT

CHINESE Ambassador Zhou Yuxiao says labour minister Chishimba Kambwili must be moderate in handling labour-related matters concerning foreign investors in Zambia. Irked by Kambwili's strong statement against him on ZNBC's Kwacha Good Morning Zambia programme, Ambassador Zhou said in an interview on Monday that Kambwili was making groundless accusations against him.

Kambwili had said on Sunday that Ambassador Zhou could not intimidate him over his remarks on Chinese investors. Kambwili explained that while he was on the Copperbelt inspecting some selected companies to check on workers' conditions of service, he was shocked by the treatment he got from one company run by a Chinese investor.

Kambwili, who is also former foreign affairs minister, said later Ambassador Zhou even phoned the acting President, Alexander Chikwanda to complain that he (Kambwili) was intimidating Chinese investors.

Kambwili had said he was disappointed with some Chinese investors who were exploiting Zambians.

But Ambassador Zhou said it was unfortunate Kambwili had blown out of proportion the incident which occurred at Sinozam Friendship Hospital where the minister exchanged bitter words with the chief medical officer Xisheng Qin over workers' conditions of service resulting in the revocation of his work permit.

Ambassador Zhou, who asked the government to clear up the matter, said he was on holiday the time the incident happened.

"The minister is making groundless accusations on me. I was not even in town when the incident took place. I was in Kariba, then Livingstone, showing my visiting daughter and my son-in-law around…showing my daughter around to enjoy the beauty of your country. I only heard about the incident at Sinozam (Friendship Hospital) much later. I did not react because I understand he (Kambwili) has been making statements everywhere, anywhere so I had no reaction towards that," he said.

"I believe a responsible government will come out and say something because I did not say a single word and I did not make calls to anyone apart from he himself and I was told his phone was off unfortunately." Ambassador Zhou said that it was unfortunate that Chinese investors were still being portrayed in bad light in Zambia.

"I do not know why this is so, because Chinese input in Africa is the largest among all African countries but the approval rate of China by Zambia is the lowest among all African countries. That doesn't mean China is doing the worst in Zambia. There is only one political party (PF) in Africa that makes China an issue," Ambassador Zhou said.

"Everybody is saying Chinese are doing bad things. Chinese are doing good things we are contributing to the development of Zambia. We are doing bridges, we are doing roads, hospitals conference centres and agriculture projects, technology all these are good things. If you say we pay low wages, low wages compared with what? Single out 10 Chinese companies of yours and I am going to choose 10 companies and rate them one by one. If you are talking about perfect things that should be done by Chinese companies, you take me to 10 perfect Zambian companies we make a comparison."

Ambassador Zhou however said not all Chinese companies were perfect but that it should not be portrayed as the worst and perpetual violators of labour laws.

"I am not saying Chinese Companies are perfect, but are Liberian companies perfect? How come nobody is reporting imperfections of Zambian companies. Every day I have reports of Chinese robberies of companies but those never get in the newspapers."

Last week, Kambwili ordered the revocation of the work permit for Sinozam Friendship Hospital chief medical officer Dr Xisheng, a Chinese national, for allegedly being rude.

Kambwili who toured Sinozam Hospital to verify alleged reports of poor conditions of service for employees was upset with Dr Xisheng when he started scolding Kambwili for quizzing him over the workers' conditions of service. Kambwili and Dr Xisheng took each other on, calling each other rude.

Dr Xisheng said Kambwili was being rude by pointing at him while talking.

Kambwili asked his ministry officials to contact the Ministry of Home Affairs so that Dr Xisheng's work permit could be cancelled. He gave him seven days to leave Zambia.

Kambwili said he would ensure all investors, whether Zambians, Europeans and Asians among others adhered to Zambia's labour laws.

But political analyst Sishuwa Sishuwa urged Kambwili to demonstrate sobriety in his conduct towards employers in the country. Sishuwa, who is also a doctoral student of Modern History at Oxford University, charged that Kambwili was abusing the deportation Act that should not be abused but used sparingly.

He said it was wrong for Kambwili to use emotions and his position as minister to sort out other people.

"It is important to note that Qin is being deported for his considered rudeness, not failure to increase workers' salaries or better their working conditions. And the rudeness that the China man visited upon the Roan MP was a counter reaction to our dear minister's own rudeness. Both of them should accept that they erred and apologise to each other. In any case, what gives Kambwili the confidence and authority to issue such instructions to the Minister of Home Affairs?" he asked.

"Is Kambwili telling us something about Kennedy Sakeni that we do not know, that Sakeni is of the same ilk as him, existing to issue or carry out another minister's orders? What if Sakeni refuses to follow his instruction, not necessarily because he (Sakeni) sees anything wrong with the instruction, but rather because he doesn't want to be instructed? What will Kambwili do?"

Sishuwa said Kambwili was better in handling labour issues than Shamenda, but advised Kambwili to work on his noted weaknesses at his previous station and demonstrate sobriety in the way he deals with employers and other people.

Relations between Chinese nationals and the local people have not been without problems.

Most Chinese investors are seen as exploitative and paying meager salaries to the workers including giving poor working conditions. The problems between the Chinese and Zambians are also made worse because of the language barriers as some Chinese investors have problems speaking in English.

China has invested about US$2 billion in Zambia, mostly in copper mining projects. The International Human Rights Watch had in its recent report cited China as the worst violator of labour laws in Africa.

Labels: CHISHIMBA KAMBWILI, LABOUR

posted by MrK @ 5:44 PM