guardian.co.uk,
David Smith in Harare, Monday 2 January 2012
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| Robert Mugabe is welcomed to Beijing by the Chinese president, Hu Jintao. China plans to invest up to $10bn in Zimbabwe over the next five years, more than in any other country. Photograph: Peter Parks/AFP/Getty Images |
In the
evening gloom the vast complex emerges into view. Beyond a high security wall,
insects dance in the beam of a giant floodlight. Men are still hard at work in
the skeletons of concrete tower blocks, and standing at the centre of it all is
the arch of a Chinese pagoda.
Zimbabwe's
national defence college is under construction within a sprawling,
heavily-guarded compound whose brooding presence sends a clear message to any
would-be revolutionary. Some have dubbed it the "Robert Mugabe national
school of intelligence".
The
construction site north of Harare has also become the lightning rod for another
source of simmering resentment – Chinese labour practices.
Surrounded
by a perimeter wall that runs for a kilometre through what was once farmland,
the shadowy military academy is being built by a Chinese contractor whose
managers are accused of meting out physical punishments, miserable conditions
and meagre pay.
"The
beatings happen very often," said a 28-year-old carpenter, wearing blue
overalls as he made the long walk home after a 14-hour shift. "They
ill-treat you and, if you make a mistake, they beat you up.
"I saw
some men beaten up yesterday. A guy complained: 'You're not treating us like
human beings,' and the Chinese replied: 'You should appreciate we've come to
assist you.' They beat him up and he was fired." He estimated that there
were about 600 Zimbabwean and 300 Chinese workers on the site. Around 50 of the
Chinese were managers. Some of the Chinese have "nice homes inside"
while others live in wooden shacks just outside the complex. The Zimbabweans
and Chinese rarely mix, he added. "They don't speak English so we use sign
language. The Chinese eat off plates, then give us the leftovers."
The
carpenter said he typically gets up at 4am and works from 7am to 9pm every day.
For this he is paid $4 (£2.50) a day, but at least it is work so he can feed
his wife and three children. "We don't have a choice because we need to
survive. But if it was possible to chase all the Chinese away, I would."
Reports of
abuse by managers at the Chinese contractor, Anhui Foreign Economic Construction Company (AFECC), are widespread, as are complaints that the
government is turning a blind eye because it cannot afford to lose such a
valuable partner.
A
26-year-old builder, on his way to a nightshift, said: "We tried to go on
strike but the leader of it was beaten up and sacked. The government doesn't
say anything, even though it knows people are beaten up. I saw them undress
some workers and beat them with helmets. Some of them were crying with the pain.
"We
feel angry but we need money, so there is no choice. If you don't work 10
hours, there is no money."
Attempts to
contact AFECC by telephone and email were unsuccessful. The company's website
refers to projects in Ivory Coast, Mozambique and Zambia, and describes how the
project team of the Zimbabwe national defence college raised $4,570 for a
carpenter, Chen Zongde, whose son needed treatment for leukaemia.
Zimbabwe
received a Chinese loan of $98m to build the college. It will be repaid over 20
years through earnings from the Marange diamond fields, which are being mined
by another Chinese firm amid widespread claims of human rights violations under
military control.
Okay
Machisa, director of the Zimbabwe Human Rights Association, said:
"Parliament approving such a debt without consulting Zimbabeweans is very
serious. Why are we prioritising an army intelligence college instead of
universities and hospitals?
"Harare
has no electricity most of the time and the water is not good for human
consumption. It shows we are trying to keep Zimbabwe under the control of state
security."
China's
commercial empire has expanded enormously in Africa over the past decade and
Zimbabwe is trying to catch up. Trade between the two countries stood at $550m
last year, according to the Chinese embassy.
The
government in Harare has announced that China plans up to $10bn in investments over the next five years, more than in any other country.
Diamonds
and other mineral resources are the main attraction, but Chinese entrepreneurs
have also seized opportunities in construction, manufacturing and retail.
Chinese restaurants are booming, attracting top politicians and businessmen.
Shops are flooded with cheap Chinese imports, or "zhing-zhong", of
dubious quality. Zimbabwean vendors claim they are being undercut and put out
of work.
Just as a
recent Human Rights Watch report alleged poor conditions at Chinese-run copper mines in neighbouring Zambia, so there is growing antipathy and mistrust in
Zimbabwe. Trade unions have called for action and even members of Mugabe's
Zanu-PF party have expressed disquiet.
Machisa
said: "We've got alarming, shocking human rights abuses in firms operated
by the Chinese. We've got empirical evidence that is going to shock the people
of Zimbabwe. They are physically abusing the workers. They are psychologically
terrorising the workers.
"But
they are not being prosecuted. There is a culture of impunity."
Others believe
the problem is a cultural misunderstanding.
A Chinese
immigrant, 29-year-old Li Chen, said: "If Chinese people work from 8am
till 8pm they have no problem. Sometimes they ask their employees to do the
same and it makes them unhappy. It will not happen.
"It's
a different culture. If people sit down and talk and understand each other, it
should change."
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