African relations with China

[Unregistered]

My freind u made i good question,its true in same cars we can save ourselves from china....everything is chinese goods but i was surprise that the biggest selling diamonds company in china gets it product from namibia but when they sell it they write proudly of south african diamonds ...does south africa have diaomands? what does our country do about this ? simple answer nothing ..... why we dont want to make our contry famous? this is why evryone think that we have nothing !!!!!! when i chinese ask u were are u from and u say namibia they will tell u straight forward i dont know namibia. namibians just imagines sameone saying that to u.

i see one thing in the relationship of china and african, thats only china benefit alot from it and our leader dont know that.......................

[miltonlouw]

Many Namibians have expressed alarm at the number of Chinese workers and business people entering Namibia. The most often heard complaint is that the Chinese are taking work away from Namibian workers because they are “willing to work for too little and much harder – even over weekends”.

Historically since the 1960’s, SWAPO has been a close ally of the Communist Party during the struggle for liberation. After Independence, these ties are still very good. Since 1990 China has provided more than N$ 1,2 billion in concessional and interest free loans. A further US$ 100 million credit line signed in 2007 has not yet been utilised.

Looking at the trade statistics, Namibia already imports 25% of its products (2006), and the rate is growing at 53% per year. (These numbers refer to countries other than SACU members.)

In my opinion the relationship with China is beneficial to our country. One of the most important things we can learn from the Chinese is the ability to work. I believe that rather than complain at the willingness of the Chinese worker, we should emulate their example.

As for the traders that have sprung up all over, this has been a good thing for our economy. It has increased the spending power of our consumers, provided jobs for our workers, and many of these entrepreneurs are marrying into our community. All of these have very beneficial long-term benefits. We must however guard against the creation of “china towns” that will lead to segregation rather than integration.

I would further propose we invite the Chinese Government to open a Confucius Institute in Namibia so we can learn more about their cultures, and also have the opportunity to learn the Chinese language. It is a good opportunity for Namibia to offer our country as gateway for Chinese investment in the continent, specifically into the Southern Africa Customs Union.

[der-die-das-namibia]

Considering that China is a one-party command economy, to put it euphemistically, we can safely assume that every Chinese citizen in Namibia was sent here at the expressed wish of the rulers of China.

Judging from what we know about Chinese immigrants in other countries, we can also safely assume that these people are closely being watched by, and have to report back to, their Intelligence services.

If one then considers that on various construction sites directed by Chinese "entrepreneurs", as Milton chooses to call the members of the Chinese Communist Party here in Namibia, it is extremely hard to find a single person being able to speak English, one starts to wonder about the intentions of the Chinese Communist Party.

If your intentions were benevolent, would you really send peasants, dealers and spies to represent your country? I have my doubts.

As a developing nation, we need qualified people bringing in knowledge and expertise, not unqualified constructions workers from the vast Chinese hinterland who do not even have a basic command of English.

The Chinese do in fact seem to know how to work hard, but at the same time, they also do not have a choice. At an individual level, they are just victims of their leaders' neo-colonial dreams (and the greed of our leaders).

[miltonlouw]

Thanks DDD,

As a matter of interest, China is presently supplying the USA with the money needed for their economic recovery. (US 4,6 billion in February alone.)

I do not wish to get into a discussion on the changes within the Chinese system - and they have been great and impressive. However, I state for a fact that the Chinese are the latest in the move to Africa. We should do like Düsseldorf and other far thinking cities and invite them to use Namibia as their base for their operations.

The argument you use is very similar to the one against Japanese coming to Europe thirty years ago. Düsseldorf exploited it and today they are considered one of the best cities in the world to stay in? Go figure. See also all the China towns all around the world - are they being sent by their Government?

Lastly, do not confuse the Chinese as being only workers. There are also the capitalist Chinese who are entering our markets from Hong Kong, Taiwan, etc.

[Mie1]

Does that mean my grandchildren should learn Mandarin (or whatever you would call the most common Chinese tongue) asap????? -------- or lose out?

[miltonlouw]

Ni hao Mie1,

wǒ shì xuéshēng (I am a student)

zàijiàn ( goodbye)

[pangkas]

How many Chinese speaks any Namibian language?

Let's stick for now to "Nam-lish" or rather try and learn an indigenous ligua franca, such as Nama, Herero or Kwangali for example.

Every one freak-out if people who were born with the Afrikaans as mother tongue, try to develop the Afrikaans language, as it is with all languages the case. In one way or the other as technology and sciences develop, so need languages adapt to change.

In the German laguage there are special "Rechtschreibung" processes with loads of arguments and debates about "Rechtschreibung" is it perhaps orthography?

Why not give a little space for our own languages for development? This will also culturally help in many areas of growth and stability.

Just a wee thought.

Any rate, does any one here perhaps employ some Chinese people or perhaps got a kick-start with capital from any Chinese?
That could change perhaps the picture or is this just day dreaming stuff again?

[Omer]

I assume the Chinese are not the one's that Sam wants to shoot in the back of the head?

[Mie1]

Omer, Homer,


Probably!!

PS ....... and the Russians!!!

[Oneword]

The dark underside of Chinese building boom

Windhoek — From Tuesday's Globe and Mail, Wednesday, Jun. 24, 2009

There might be a global recession, but you wouldn't know it from a visit to Namibia's booming capital.

This former German colonial city in southwestern Africa, with its tidy streets and Bavarian architecture, is alive with construction activity. Cranes are towering over the city centre, many flying the distinctive red banner of China.

But Globe and Mail interviews in Namibia reveal a dark underside to the building boom: illegal labour practices by state-owned Chinese companies that dodge safety rules and pay their construction workers far below the minimum wage.

These labour violations have become widespread at Chinese companies across Africa, giving them an unfair advantage and allowing them to push their local competitors out of business, a new study says.

The study, funded by trade unions, alleges that the Chinese investment boom in Africa is fuelled by the exploitation of African workers. While many African leaders have welcomed the Chinese business invasion, the study documents a pattern of labour abuses across the continent, suggesting that Chinese investors are achieving their commercial successes on the back of cheap wages and violations of labour laws.

In Namibia, for example, the study found that every Chinese construction company was paying far less than minimum wage. In Malawi and Ghana, many employees of Chinese companies are required to work up to 12 hours without a break, sometimes for seven days a week. In Nigeria and Kenya, workers at some Chinese factories are locked inside their factories all day to prevent them from leaving, resulting in dozens of deaths when fires broke out.

“Chinese companies are particularly notorious in terms of the impunity with which they flout national labour laws, including health and safety standards,” the study said. “In some cases these companies receive the support of government agencies to violate labour regulations.”
Workers in the Namibian capital, Windhoek, confirmed that they face the threat of losing their jobs if they object to the Chinese violations of labour laws. “If we complain, they fire us,” one Namibian worker said in a Globe interview at a construction site where a Chinese company is building the Works and Transport Ministry headquarters.

The worker said the Chinese company is paying him the equivalent of 63 cents an hour. The minimum wage for entry-level construction workers in Namibia is about $1.27 an hour.
A visit to several Chinese construction sites in Windhoek found that many of the construction workers were not wearing safety helmets. Some said their Chinese employers required them to pay for their own safety equipment. They were charged more than $4 for a helmet, $1.40 for gloves and more than $11 for overalls – substantial sums of money in an African country. “It's not a nice place,” said another worker at the ministry construction site, who said he was trying to find a new job.

The 420-page study by the African Labour Research Network, based on two years of research, focuses on Chinese employers in 10 African countries, where Chinese trade and investment has soared dramatically in recent years. China is now Africa's biggest trading partner, and hundreds of Chinese companies have set up a major presence.

In the vast majority of cases, the study found, Chinese companies refuse to sign employment contracts with their workers, treating them as “casual workers” to deprive them of their legally required benefits. This led to routine 12-hour days, forced overtime without extra pay, the firing of female workers who became pregnant and other abuses.
“Workers knew that a refusal to work such long hours would lead to automatic dismissal,” the report said.

“In blatant violation of local labour laws, most Chinese companies denied African workers annual leave, sick leave, maternity leave and compassionate leave. … In Angola, many female workers at Chinese companies were unaware of their right to paid maternity leave and as a result worked until they gave birth and returned to work shortly afterwards.”
The “locking-in” of workers at Chinese factories was a “particularly grave” violation of their rights, the report said. At a Chinese factory in Malawi, the researchers had to talk to workers through a window because they were locked inside during their lunch break.
Violations of health and safety rules were equally serious. In Malawi, workers at a Chinese construction company had to mix cement with their bare hands. “Only very few Chinese employers provided their staff with protective clothing and equipment,” the study said.
“The toilets at most Chinese companies were found to be in a deplorable state and posed severe health risks for workers. In some cases, toilets were also used as change rooms and even ‘canteens' where workers ate from.”

Herbert Jauch, a researcher at the Labour Resource and Research Institute in Namibia and one of the authors of the study, said the Chinese companies were among the worst employers in almost every African country that the study looked at. “African workers are going back to the same horrific working conditions that their fathers suffered under colonial rule,” he said.

“Our message to China is, ‘Your rhetoric about a new partnership with Africa, not a new colonial master relationship, has to be matched by better labour standards.'“ African companies are finding it “virtually impossible” to compete with the Chinese companies, he said. “It's getting more and more difficult to survive. We've already seen some companies disappearing. They've set the spiral in motion, and it's becoming a dog-eat-dog industry.”

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