What is Africa’s strategy towards China? Is there a coherent strategy in place?

As Chinese President Xi Jinping and the Communist Party-led government of China host the 2024 Forum on Africa-China Cooperation (FOCAC) from September 4th to 6th, African nations eagerly anticipated the event.

The run-up to the summit has seen several African leaders engaging in pre-summit activities, "What is Africa's Strategy Towards China? Is there a Strategy?" The Chairperson of the African Union Commission Moussa Faki Mahamat and some African presidents have already met with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, and the photos depict high-powered delegations, mostly comprising politicians and ministers accompanying their presidents including meetings with Chinese government officials and visits to various industries and companies in China, all of which have been highlighted on social media platforms and many media outlets across the continent and beyond. Have our leaders been reduced to “commissioners” (commission seekers and takers), maybe that’s what they go to such summits to do.

One might wonder why entrepreneurs, inventors, innovators, producers, business people, and youth are not represented on these trips. 

The image of the Zimbabwe delegation meeting with the Chinese leader and his team has prompted discussions on social media, with users emphasizing the need for more comprehensive preparations and serious engagement from all participating delegations. It raises questions about whether our leaders are genuinely committed to such platforms, beyond being paraded embarrassingly.

The Forum on Africa-China Cooperation (FOCAC) was established by the Chinese government in 2000 to serve as a vital platform for fostering political, economic, and cultural ties between China and Africa. This partnership builds on a long history of interaction, dating back to the tenth century B.C. Some experts even point to the Bandung Conference of 1955 as a pivotal moment in the development of diplomatic and economic relations between China and Africa. In 1999, China introduced its 'Going Out' initiative, which encouraged Chinese enterprises to expand their operations beyond domestic borders. This resulted in a significant increase in Chinese involvement in Africa, leading to the creation of job opportunities for Chinese workers involved in various infrastructure projects on the continent. This strategic approach underscored China's expanding economic influence on a global scale. All of these instances serve as compelling evidence of China's strong commitment and strategy to engaging with Africa.

A critical examination of Africa's engagement with China reveals a lack of a comprehensive and consistent long-term strategy in dealing with China. While China has a clearly defined pathway for engaging with African countries, there seems to be a lack of coordination and consensus among African Union (AU) member states in their approach to China. There is no strategy, whether long-term or short-term, but just vibes and ideological posturing. Perhaps, this absence of a unified strategy may be attributed to geopolitical dynamics, Western influences, and lingering colonial legacies?

The individual experiences of African countries in their engagements with China also point to the absence of a cohesive strategy. This lack of a unified approach may leave Africa vulnerable to the challenges posed by China's growing power, potentially resulting in ad-hoc policies and measures being adopted as issues arise.

Terms such as "win-win," "mutual benefit," and "all-weather friend" have been used to describe the relationship between Africa and China, but without a clear overarching strategy, these descriptions may only serve as narratives and rent-seeking rather than strategic frameworks. 

The lack of unity among African countries, particularly within the AU, further undermines the development of a comprehensive and consistent long-term strategy for engaging with China. Consequently, the absence of a unified strategy hampers the articulation and implementation of effective policies in relation to China.

Going forward, it is essential for Africa to develop a more nuanced approach in its engagement with China. Therefore, there is a pressing need for a nuanced, consistent, and forward-looking long-term strategy. The African Union's priority should be to formulate and implement a strategy with clear guiding principles to advance the continent's objectives.

In order to accomplish this, regional economic communities such as the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the East African Community (EAC), and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) should devise regional frameworks that can be amalgamated into a unified African strategy towards China. This endeavor, though may present challenges due to the diverse interests of each region and the historical colonial influences that shape individual countries' relationships with China, but it can be a good starting point to come up with collective strategy on China.

Blessing Vava is a researcher on Africa China relations.

Four years after Mugabe, Zimbabwe’s ''blocked'' transition

By Blessing I. Vava 

The 17th  of November 2017 is significant in Zimbabwe's political calendar as it marked the end of President Robert Mugabe's 37-year reign through a military coup. As we reflect on the four years since the ouster of Mugabe and the ascendancy of Emmerson Mnangagwa as the country's leader, we must discuss the progress we have made in addressing the challenges the country faced during the years that President Mugabe was in power. 

For decades, post-independence in 1980, Zimbabwe’s political and economic environment kept regressing because of the ruling ZANU PF party’s misrule and bad governance. Under President Mugabe, Zimbabwe witnessed egregious human rights abuses mainly targeted at the opposition, the media and civil society activists. The opposition was labelled as enemies, while the exercise of freedoms and rights as guaranteed in the country's constitution was gradually whittled and became a preserve to be enjoyed only by ruling party supporters. Various pieces of legislation were crafted mainly targeting the opposition, the media and civil society as the ruling government sought to limit democratic space. Laws like the Public Order and Security Act (POSA), the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act were all enacted to target perceived opponents and silence dissent. 

 

However, without belabouring too much on the performance of the government during Mugabe's era, it is important to note that events happening in Zimbabwe currently are a sad reflection on the deceptive characters of the country's leaders who are continuing in the path of Mugabe, if not worse.  It is no longer in doubt that the country’s rulers are using the law as part of an agenda to create a one-party state where the opposition and civil society are outlawed. The ‘second republic’ has gone back to history to retrieve some archaic tactics of repression such as introducing obnoxious laws like the Law and Order Maintenance Act (LOMA) of 1960 which infringed on people's freedom of association, assembly, movement and expression and the banning of political parties such as ZAPU and ZANU.  

The reform promises that the coup plotters made in November 2017  ie; to restore constitutionalism and the rule of law,  to end corruption and promote human rights and democracy in their imagined "Second Republic" have turned out to be a farfetched dream. The second republic has perfected the repressive apparatus under Robert Mugabe with ruthless determination. The autocracy is deepening faster making a mockery of the promises of November 2017. Already, the country has witnessed the decimation of the main opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change Alliance (MDC Alliance) using the courts. The courts are being used to settle political battles and instead of the judiciary acting independently and impartial they have become subservient to the ruling party's wishes painting a gloomy picture on the future of democracy in Zimbabwe.  

Despite the country adopting a new constitution in 2013, the government of Zimbabwe has failed to align old laws to the new constitution. Instead of implementing the new constitution, the government opted to amend the constitution to concentrate power in the Executive.  Whilst the same government promised to do away with some bad laws such as AIPPA, POSA to mention but a few, the reality on the ground proves otherwise. VERITAS, notes that laws such as the Public Order and Security Act [POSA] were replaced with the almost identical Maintenance of Peace and Order Act; AIPPA was repealed, but the new regulations seek to maintain some of its odious aspects. Veritas further noted that Bills have been presented in Parliament to remove checks and balances on judicial appointments and to centralise power in the President.

The government continues to pay lip service to the reform agenda they promised in 2017. The most worrying thing now is the continued shrinking of the democratic space and if anything, what we are witnessing in Zimbabwe is the suspension of the constitution. Apart from the many statutory instruments which the government are busy crafting, various laws are being put in place also to regulate the operations of Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and civic work in general. This should be a worrying development for citizens as the government seems determined to muzzle the freedoms of its citizens. According to an analysis by the International Center for Non-Profit Law the proposed Private Voluntary Organisations Amendment Bill, 2021 states that The Minister has broad discretion to replace a PVO’s executive committee with provisional members, which allows the Minister to interfere with a PVO’s internal affairs. The Minister has broad discretion to require trusts registered with the High Court to stop collecting public contributions, including from outside the country, and to register under the PVO Act. This imposes double registration and restricts funding, which both violate best practices. This law threatens the existence of civil society and is a step backwards for the country's democracy and that is the very reason why citizens must resist the re-energised approaches of dealing with those perceived to be critical of the government. 

These laws are coming with a focus on the impending elections in 2023.  After ZANU PF orchestrated commotion in the opposition, it is now determined to ensure that civil society is crippled. The winds of change that blew in Malawi and Zambia have left the ruling ZANU PF party in a panic mode and thus determined not to leave anything to chance. 

Looking back to four years ago when Mnangagwa delivered his inauguration speech on the 24th of November 2017 at the National Sports Stadium in Harare, one would be left wondering how quickly the tide has changed as all the commitments and promises made have proved to be empty rhetoric. Mnangagwa had started on a good note, and quoting his speech he said: “.. we must, however, appreciate the fact that over the years, our domestic politics had become poisoned, rancorous and polarising. My goal is to preside over a polity and run an administration that recognises strength in our diversity as a people, hoping that this position and well-meant stance will be reciprocated and radiated to cover all our groups, organisation and communities.’’ A helicopter analysis today tells a completely different story. 

In conclusion, the “second republic” tenure is proving that Zimbabwe is well entrenched on the same trajectory it was going under President Mugabe. The only difference is that now it is an overt military state. With the level of determination and callousness the state is dealing with the opposition and dissenting voice (particularly the broader democratic movement) the 2023 election has to be a cause for concern to Zimbabweans, the region and the international community. It is, therefore, crucial to mobilise and organise citizens to resist this dangerous trajectory the ZANU PF leadership has placed the country on. There is a need to reawaken the citizens’ agency with urgency, and the mobilisation of communities to stop the government of Zimbabwe from imposing such dangerous pieces of legislation that seek to create a one-party state. The civil society and all pro-democratic forces need to join hands and create a formidable alliance of resistance to safeguard the little that is left for the citizens to enjoy their fundamental freedoms and rights as enshrined in the constitution.  It is also in the interest of regional bodies like SADC, the AU and the UN to bring to check the actions of the government of Zimbabwe which has declared war on its citizens. The laws being introduced in Zimbabwe are a clear violation of the many protocols and international statutes that Zimbabwe is a signatory to.  Mnangagwa's deceit must be exposed as he is proving to be even worse than former president Mugabe.  

Blessing Ivan Vava writes from Chipinge. He can be contacted at blessingvava@gmail.com 

Zimbabwe’s Looting Machine: Cartels, Smugglers, Stealing Country’s Wealth

 

Photos: Getty Images / Waldo Swiegers / Cynthia R Matonhodze / EPA-EFE/AARON UFUMELI

In early February 2021, South Africa’s  Maverick Citizen published an explosive report,  Cartel Power Dynamics, which dug deeper into Zimbabwe’s web of looting, illicit cross-border financial transactions by cartels causing devastating effects to the country’s economy.

As Tom Burgis observed in his 2015 book, The Looting Machine, “Africa’s troves of natural resources were not going to be its salvation; instead, they were its curse.’’ The mAVERICK Citizen report estimated US$3 billion a year in minerals like gold and diamonds being smuggled out of the country at the expense of the national economy. Zimbabwe remains poor despite the abundance of resources a phenomenon described by Burgis (2015) as the “resource curse” as a result of systematic looting.  In sequence, Macartan Humphreys, Jeffrey Sachs, and Joseph Stiglitz of Columbia University in 2007 wrote, “despite the prospects of wealth and opportunity that accompany the discovery and extraction of oil and other natural resources, such endowments all too often impede rather than further balanced and sustainable development.” Zimbabwe rightly fits in this jigsaw puzzle.

According to the Daily Maverick, the report sought to understand the extent and impact of cartels and state capture on Zimbabwe's political economy, exposing the contributing factors that have enabled these cartels to thrive. The report looked at the power structures behind cartels in Zimbabwe and analysed their impact on the economy, service delivery and long-term prospects of democratisation in Zimbabwe.

In its findings, the study exposed three types of cartels in Zimbabwe,  the first being collusive relationships between private sector companies; the second being the abuse of office by public officeholders for self-enrichment, and the third and main type being collusive relationships between public officials and the private sector.

The report also observed that these cartels thrive in Zimbabwe because of a complex mix of political, economic and social factors that create an enabling environment for cartel-based corruption. These include patronage, the militarisation of the state, unstable macroeconomic conditions, weak property rights, lack of rule of law and limited citizen agency to deal with corruption.

Overall, the study shows that cartels are deeply entrenched in many parts of Zimbabwean life and recommended for Zimbabwe to achieve economic stability there is need for cartels to be dealt with decisively.

Of interest is the exposé of President Emmerson Mnangagwa as one of the cartel ring leaders whose patronage and protection keeps cartels operating in the country. Kudakwashe Tagwirei, a businessman and advisor to President Mnangagwa, widely regarded as a key benefactor of ZANU-PF was also named amongst the fuel, agriculture and lately mining cartels and one of the key cartel bosses who is also at the centre of state capture. According to the report: “Tagwirei, who falls into this paper’s categorisation of money men, deftly managed the two by financing ZANU-PF’s 2018 election campaign and gifting both Mnangagwa and Chiwenga, their spouses and several top government and ZANU-PF officials with vehicles that were imported duty-free under the Command Agriculture Program (CAP). Tagwirei was recently described by President Mnangagwa as his favourite disciple, and Vice-President Chiwenga allegedly stormed out of a ZANU-PF politburo meeting when youths accused Tagwirei of corruption.”

Suffice to say, Emmerson Mnangagwa is a business partner of Tagwirei, in fact, Mnangagwa himself has said that Tagwirei is a relative – “my nephew”.

Thus, Tagwirei abuses the fact that he is in a corrupt business relationship with Mnangagwa to bully government departments and state-owned companies into illegally siphoning money from the state into their own pockets.

With the current legislation that guarantees access to information, credible sections of the media should have identified and quantified the number of contracts Tagwirei’s companies and subsidiaries have with the state. 

Such must be revealed because there has never been one single business empire in Zimbabwe that monopolises state contracts in the manner that Tagwirei has done.

In reality, what Zimbabwe is currently going through under Mnangagwa is a form of criminal state capture by his kinsman, Kuda Tagwirei is essentially in business with the First Family.  Therefore,  there is no doubt that the extent of capture is deeper than what has come out in this particular report.

Consequently, while the report drew ire from Civil society and citizens in general it is the lack of a coordinated campaign and programme of action by citizens to rise against this cancerous behaviour that is bleeding our economy. The issue seems to have died down, and how soon do Zimbabweans forget and attention has been divided to discuss Vice President Kembo Mohadi’s alleged philandering escapades with said subordinates. Typical of a citizenry whose consciousness has escaped and never said goodbye.

The silence of Zimbabweans over such an issue is alarming and at this rate, we will be left with no country.  This report is just the tip of the iceberg of the many scandals and grand looting by cartels who have captured the state in broad daylight.

Despite the abundance of information floating around our media has also been exposed for their lack of sophistication and rather limited investigative capacity to search for more and expose the shenanigans that have been happening over the past decades. The country has an adequate legislative framework to guarantee Zimbabweans media access to such crucial information,  but there is no one to genuinely pursue such because the media is either complacent, captured or compromised.

It is in this light that all right-thinking Zimbabweans must stand up against the Tagwirei kleptocratic syndicate because at this rate we will soon be left with no country.

In the final analysis, I would posit that the solution to dealing with cartels and state capture is to remove ZANU PF from political power, and Zimbabweans must never be apologetic about that.  However, the process in which ZANU PF will be removed from power is through elections, this is why therefore there has to be a clamour for electoral reforms to enable free and fair participation of citizens. This does not mean, however, that other means to remove a captured state will not be explored, because, under a dictatorship, electoral outcomes are not the true reflection of the people’s wishes and interests.

Blessing Ivan Vava is a blogger based in Chipinge. He can be contacted at blessingvava@gmail.com

COVID-19: Africa’s wins and big losses

 By Blessing Vava

One year after the first recorded cases of COVID-19 were reported in Wuhan, China in December 2019, the world is experiencing a second wave of the deadly COVID-19 pandemic with the emerging new variants leading to a rise in infections and deaths.

However, even with the emergence of the new variants, the rate of infections and deaths in Africa remains low as compared to the other continents.

The latest statistics from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control 25 January 2021 points out that Africa has recorded78,894 deaths; compared with roughly 969,992 in the Americas, 662,326 in Europe, and 324,294 in Asia.

Whereas in 2020, the U.N. Economic Commission for Africa in April predicted that the COVID-19 would spread like wildfire in Africa estimating 300,000 deaths by end of 2020, citing crowded cities where social distancing is impossible, poorly funded health sector and lack of testing facilities etc, it seems it has not happened as predicted.

Basing on the statistics, it seems the first wave of the coronavirus had less impact than predicted and to date, death rates haven’t met those worst-case scenario predictions as compared to Asia, Europe and Americas. The case-fatality ratio (CFR) for COVID-19 in Africa is lower than the global CFR.

Consequently, some theories are suggesting that those numbers might not actually reflect the reality on the ground due to a variety of reasons. Central to the argument being pushed suggest that testing for COVID-19 cases has been comparatively limited on the continent, which could be contributing to lower case numbers.

However, as the debates continue whether COVID-19 has had much impact on the continent or not, the realities on the ground are that though still low, the second wave is claiming lives more than we anticipated and this has exposed many governments in Africa for lack of preparedness and uncoordinated response mechanisms. With previous outbreaks of Ebola and Cholera etc we are still found wanting with our lack of preparedness.

As this is happening countries in the developed world, in particular the United States, Europe, China and Canada are running vaccination campaigns and inoculating their populations. In Africa, it seems we are always lagging behind and still negotiating with foreign governments for vaccines, why is that so? One wonders what the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention,  (a public health agency of the African Union to support the public health initiatives of member states and strengthen the capacity of their health institutions to deal with disease threats) is doing, what are our scientists, researchers doing? Since time immemorial we have been waiting for vaccines from outside the continent and now with conspiracy theories flying around on the negative effects of the vaccines, the question still stands why Africa has been failing to come up with its own vaccines compatible to our situation.  In countries like Zimbabwe, the government is said to have approached Russia and China for Covid-19 vaccines as the country battles to contain the spread of the virus which has claimed 3 cabinet Ministers in 10 days.

COVID-19…the Case of Zimbabwe

Whilst the country is on an extended 2 weeks hard lockdown with a 6 am to 6 pm curfew, with a surge in infections in particular in the first 2 weeks since the beginning of the year, hospitals have been failing to cope. From a public health perspective 2020, the imposed lockdowns were more proactive with concerted efforts being made to arrest the spread of the virus as compared to the current which is more or less reactive, based on the cluelessness of the Mnangagwa's administration. However, from a socio-economic angle, some would argue that the lockdowns are failing to work due to their economically destructive nature. It should be noted that the purpose of the lockdowns is to curb transmission of the virus and it should be a time for the state to prepare hospitals, source supplies and learn from treatment innovations perfected elsewhere. But instead, a lockdown which is not supported by the rolling out of a mass testing campaign, provision of personal protective equipment (PPEs), capacitating and expanding facilities, the fight against the pandemic will remain a pipe dream.

Enforcement of Lockdown

Furthermore, concerns have been raised in the manner in which the lockdowns are being enforced, and instead of it being a mitigatory public health issue lockdowns become security issues, police heavy-handedness to those found violating the regulations. In reality, the COVID-19 lockdowns have proven to be an opportunity for insecure regimes to close the democratic space.

In the same light, and despite the lockdown, the rate of infection is going down but deaths continue to rise with many people dying at home due to the inaccessibility of health facilities due to exorbitant fees, the lack of adequate infrastructure and equipment to treat COVID-19 patients etc.

And as we wait for the Russia/China vaccines a government official, Robert Mudyirama, the Head of Monitoring and Evaluation in the Ministry of Health and Child Care, announced that government was failing to procure enough Covid-19 vaccines adding that of the 3 Million doses set to be acquired under the COVAX scheme, would be prioritized to frontline health care workers, ministers, Members of Parliament, the security sector and senior government officials.

Though the government has backtracked on this announcement, such a move would not only have been shocking but very disturbing and priority should be given to high risk or vulnerable groups. In doing so, the government must ensure that there is equity, fairness in the rolling out of the vaccines and they should appropriate funds towards this initiative. The government of Zimbabwe should ensure a people-centred approach in the provision of health care, ensuring free testing, free PPEs and free vaccination should the vaccines come to the country.

However, as it stands it seems there is no clear plan to deal with the virus despite the lockdowns. Public health facilities remain deathbeds with ill-equipped facilities, poor remuneration of the health workers etc.

The country’s health delivery systems are dysfunctional as far as promoting the provision of core health services because of the nationwide economic decline, corruption and staff attrition.

It should thus be the responsibility of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, our governments and mandate to institute reforms and the creation of a Public Health Emergency Taskforce to guarantee a rapid response to outbreaks and emergencies on our continent. This should be complemented by robust mechanisms to strengthen the surveillance and response systems, as one of the major priorities.

Blessing Ivan Vava is a blogger based in Chipinge. He can be contacted on blessingvava@gmail.com

"Racism in China: With friends like these does Africa need enemies?"

By Blessing Vava

 

The recent photos,  videos of African nationals, living and/or working in China, being evicted from their homes by landlords turned away from hotels, despite many claiming to have no recent travel history or known contact with Covid-19 patients are quite disturbing. It’s disturbing because of the default assumption that COVID 19 started from outside China, yet it emerged from within and the world had to burden with the containment strategy on the same.

 In some of the videos, awash on social media, African nationals can be seen being harassed by police and others sleeping on the streets in the cold southern Chinese city of Guangzhou.

The unfortunate incidents have drawn ire from many parts of the continent particularly on social media with African social media users taking turns to attack the Chinese people, government over the racist and xenophobic actions exhibited in Guangzhou. In this regard, civil society organisations in Africa have launched a petition to the African Union on Chinese mistreatment of Africans in China.  

The Chinese government ought to be pressured to respond adequately and in a manner that shows they acknowledge the problem at hand. So far,  Beijing's responses have been inadequate, unconvincing and insincere.

Incidentally, American media and government found this as an opportune time to put a wedge between China and Africa in their diplomatic rivalry and battle for political and economic influence across Africa.  A statement from the US State Department said: "It's unfortunate but not surprising to see this kind of xenophobia toward Africans by Chinese authorities…Anyone who watches Chinese engagement in projects across Africa recognises this kind of abusive and manipulative behaviour."

Several African countries have remained mum except for a few who have released statements in that regard. Countries like Nigeria, Uganda, South Africa and Ghana to name a few have spoken out over what happened in China.

Zimbabwe, a country that has aggressively pursued an active and engaged relationship with China than other African states chose not to speak. However, the reactions so far from African countries are weak and quite disappointing, they failed to hit the bull straight in the eye. It appears as if they are also defending the actions of the Chinese. The responses by the African leadership are worrisome as they confirm suspicions on shady deals that are happening at elite levels without consent by African citizens.

In a majority of the statements, no country dared challenge the Chinese government to at least acknowledge and apologise for the barbaric behaviour towards African nationals. Despite  “expressing concern” over the incidents, our inferiority complex was exposed.  One country after the other re-emphasised on the "excellent" relations dating back to the decolonisation project in Africa. It cannot be business as usual and this is not a very good example of excellent relations.

Posting on his, Twitter handle yesterday April 13, 2020, the Chairperson of the African Union Commission Moussa Faki Mahamat claimed that he had a phone call with Chinese Foreign Minister Mr Wang Yi, who assured him of the measures  underway in Guangzhou to improve the situation of Africans, in line with  what he termed “the strong and brotherly partnership between Africa and China.”

For how long will Africa continue being beholden to China’s poisoned chalice, quoted in “generosity”?

One would have thought that Africa, through organised formations such as the African Union and her sub-regional blocs should aim at advancing and protecting its interests and that of its people first, but it seems there is a challenge of protecting our sovereignty in the face of a domineering imperial China.

In response, Chinese officials have repeatedly denied the stigmatisation and mistreatment of African nationals despite the overwhelming visuals of several of these incidents captured in Guangzhou. Several Chinese diplomats accredited to Africa had a fair share denying the allegations.

Consequently, the official statement made by Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian displayed sheer arrogance lacked an acknowledgement of what had happened and bordered on emotional blackmail.

While the Chinese have been at pains to acknowledge the racial discrimination, McDonald's China apologised after a video went viral, of a McDonald's employee in Guangzhou, China, holding up a sign that read: “From now on black people are not allowed to enter the restaurant”.

Instead of (1) issuing an apology, (2) an expression of regret (3) a commitment to investigate the allegations (4) condemning the barbaric acts; the Chinese Foreign Ministry went on counting fingers and toes on the number of African countries they assisted. Overall, the response from China is disgusting, arrogant lack sincerity and borders on a stinking superiority complex with clear insinuations that China is doing Africa a big favour.

The emphasis on mutual respect, brotherly love is not sincere as we have noticed that the relations between China and Africa are not as even as mutual as the emphasis being made. 

What is happening in Guangzhou is not new, racism against Africans once hogged the limelight in 2013 and still, no decisive action was taken. Negative attitudes toward the peoples of Nigeria have been fuelled by their alleged involvement in drug-related crime in Guangzhou, which is a rather low bar.

 In a 2014 Al Jazeera report on African migrants in Guangzhou, journalist Jennifer Marsh highlighted the plight of African migrants. She noted that “While the central government publicly welcomes the migrants, recent draconian visa legislation has sent a clear signal: Africans in China - even highly prosperous, educated economic contributors — are not welcome.”

This, coupled with how the Chinese have treated Africans working for Chinese  in Africa in places like Nairobi and Addis Ababa shows a serious challenge in the China-Africa relations. Several cases of racism, discrimination by the Chinese people in Africa with an exceptional case of a  Chinese boss in Kenya comparing Africans to monkeys.

China's relations with Africa have changed over the past half-century. In the decolonisation period, China played a critical role under the internationalism of its communist principles but as China emerges as a powerful capitalist state the relations have changed. Under the latest phase, China-Africa relations are now dominated by the search for natural resources and markets for its goods, in turn, African economies are loaded with debt and nationalist leaders are now shareholders in companies. Thus, the weak statements from African countries point out to three fundamental narratives, Firstly, the African elites are compromised and embedded in the soft power cocoon at Chinese business relations level and as such in most African countries, you would notice that much of the shareholdings are between the Chinese and local elites.  Secondly, the political party relationship between the Chinese Communist Party and ruling parties in most African countries are very cosy, the exchange programmes and scholarships that ruling party activists in Africa have been enjoying makes them compromised. Thirdly, African countries are benefitting from the Chinese Belt and Road initiative with infrastructural developments with the construction of airports, roads, railways and the telecommunications have left African leaders compromised and in this case, they do not have the moral standing to challenge China. The question is, are these relations simply going to be a replica of what Walter Rodney in the book How Europe underdeveloped Africa said about Europe: “It was economics that determined that Europe should invest in Africa and control the continent’s raw materials and labour. It was racism which confirmed the decision that the form of control should be direct colonial rule,” and in this case China. Considering the racism it seems Africa hasn't learnt anything from Walter Rodney. 

However, going forward, Africa (in particular the AU, regional bodies like ECOWAS, SADC, EAC and the civil society) must compile and document the evidence of the abuse of Africans in this regard and speak loudly against these abuses.  South Africa’s president Cyril Ramaphosa, in his capacity as the Chairperson of the African Union (AU), must show leadership and demand a public apology from the Chinese government over the racial xenophobic attacks committed in Guangzhou and other parts of China. China must be forced to apologise and put in place clear measures to bring this barbarism to an end before it escalates. There is a need for genuine engagements of both parties to ensure peace to improve people to people relations based on genuine mutual respect.

Further to the afore-stated, the peoples of Africa need to increase muscle as the agency in the holding of their respective political leaders through people to people solidarity. This is the time to consider such a move especially when African citizens are vulnerable in economic capitals with an enslaving mindset like China. In essence, if the AU is to be considered a serious actor in the global polity, it needs to move with speed to facilitate for the repatriation of African citizens, despite its Headquarters in Addis Ababa being a donation from China. Without citizen to citizen solidarity, Africans, you stand alone!

Blessing Vava is a Doctoral candidate researching on China-Africa relations in the School of Communications at the University of Johannesburg. He writes in his personal capacity and can be contacted on blessingvava@gmail.com