by STANLEY KWENDA
HARARE, Jan 7, 2012 (IPS) – Alec Marembo has built his family fortune making bricks in Dzivarasekwa, a sprawling high-density suburb north of the capital of Zimbabwe. But due to the economic crisis of the last decade, his fortune started crumbling. Although he could break even when the downturn started, he finally gave in to competition from the Chinese.
“I don’t understand how our government can allow the Chinese to come here and take over small jobs that we consider family ventures and pass them on as investment,” Marembo told IPS as he gazes into the distance where a new Chinese brick factory lies.
The government of President Robert Mugabe introduced the “look east” policy in 2004, after top government officials and state companies were slapped with sanctions by the UK, the United States and other western countries for alleged human rights abuses.
The policy has encouraged China and other Asian countries to invest in Zimbabwe, which they have done without attaching any conditions in the manner of trading partners in the west.
Times have been hard for many Zimbabweans due to the closure of a number of industries caused by the crippling economic crisis.
So when Chinese investors started arriving they were welcomed with open arms. But the trade relationship is now raising questions.
“The Chinese, like any other investors, are welcome but they have to come and build industries which will offer people employment,” Thulani Mkwebo, a small shop owner in downtown Harare, told IPS. “If I had a choice I would drive them out.”
Inter Press Service for more