Business unusual

Article tools

	PRINT ARTICLE
	SEND TO FRIEND

Services

	Subscribe to newsletters		Feeds
	Become a Facebook fan		Follow Moneyweb on twitter

Chinese nationals dominate Zim businesses.

The number of Chinese nationals doing business and staying in Zimbabwe has phenomenally increased over the past three to five years whilst Chinese owned businesses – accused of selling non-durable and backyard manufactured goods – have taken up most of the clothing retail, fast foods and home appliances markets.

Zimbabwe is home to more than 10000 Chinese nationals, with half of this number owning businesses especially in Harare and the other smaller towns. The Chinese Embassy in Harare was not immediately available for comment. “The Embassy is closed at the moment, come back some time,” said employees at the embassy.

Sources at the department of Immigration told Moneyweb that Chinese nationals were increasing in the country, adding that some of them were coming from regional countries such as Botswana and Zambia. “The reason for their coming here is mainly business but others enter the country as tourists but overstay,” said a source.

Together with their Asian cousins from India, the Chinese nationals swathed Zimbabwe after the then President Robert Mugabe lead government crossed paths with Western nations over gross human rights abuses and introduced a Look East Policy.

Introduced in the early 2000 and reinforced in subsequent years, the Look East Policy, which sought to build up relations and trade ties between Zimbabwe and China as well as India, marked the beginning of an influx of Chinese nationals into Zimbabwe.

There have been complaints and counter accusations of unfair trading on the part of the Chinese businessman and nationals resident in the country, with both Zimbabwean businesses and consumers alike saying Chinese manufactured goods are too cheap because they are manufactured in house backyards, thereby compromising adherence to strict rules regarding quality control and standards procedures.

“We really have a problem with the Chinese, they bring in cheap and yet poor quality goods thereby putting our local companies out of business,” said Tendayi Mugiyo who runs a clothing retail in central Harare.

Owing to the low prices that Chinese businesses sell their goods at, other prospective local and international businesses have become reluctant to enter Chinese dominated sectors.

Although no official comment could be obtained from the Zimbabwe government, some foreign nationals from Nigeria and Europe complained that Chinese businesses appear to be exempt from intensive tax regimes as well as the country’s controversial indigenisation legislations, seeking to give control of companies and businesses to local Zimbabweans.

The Chinese have been intensely active and become major players in Zimbabwe’s construction and transport sectors. “Chinese companies have been awarded major construction tenders than any other local company,” complained a construction sector player.

A Chinese company awarded the tender to refurbish Zimbabwe’s biggest stadium, the Zimbabwe National Sports Stadium has been accused and slammed by employees for ill-treatment and under-remuneration.

Zimbabwean economists and business analysts told Moneyweb that Chinese businesses were hurting the local economy. “Most of the Chinese businesses are importers of poor quality goods, they do not aid in growth of the economy,” fumed Elisha Mutasa, a member of the Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce (ZNCC) representative body.

The Chinese and Indians lead an almost secretive lifestyle in Zimbabwe. They stay in low density suburbs such as Belvedere and upmarket residential areas such as Borrowdale, Harare’s Avenues area and Chisipite.

Most have brought entire families with them to Zimbabwe and the majority of their businesses are family run with a few Zimbabwean employees. A few have enrolled at colleges in Harare, studying various disciplines such as Land Surveying, Engineering among other areas of study.

“Business is fine here in Zimbabwe as compared to elsewhere, even back home there is not much business such as here,” said one businessman from China.