The Standard (Zimbabwe)

The red flags of China’s red flag

- WITH TAWANDA MAJONI  majonitt@gmail.com

THERE was this time when you got the sense that the Chinese embassy was changing its tack for the right direction.

That was the time when the redflag administra­tion, through its embassy here, came out barking at its own investors who were flouting local laws and so on.

That was also the time when Chinese business chambers here spoke the same language as the embassy, on the need for good business ethics.

We were actually told through one nascent online media outlet that the Chinese embassy had caused the expulsion of Freestone quarry mine in Mutare for disregardi­ng the law.

Of course, that’s one thing you were always going to take with a bucket of salt, but the sign was encouragin­g. At least, it was an admission on the part of the embassy that there are Chinese investors, who are not doing things right.

I was personally, in a way, heartened when the Chinese business community recently invited me to a talk show on the state and future of Chinese investment­s in Zimbabwe.

I found the gesture encouragin­g considerin­g the small wars we have had in the past for my talking critically about Chinese investment­s.

Come to think about it, they even gave me an award for writing a critical analysis on how the Zimbabwean elite was colluding with China and Chinese investors to eat from our national trough.

The award took me aback, though.

While they justified the award on the basis that my article in this particular column was wellresear­ched and objective, I was blinking all the way.

I accepted the award on principle, and, as a footnote, urged that Chinese investors must just do the right thing and not expect any PR from me or so.

Not that I was going to be too naïve about the Chinese gestures. I still had my own reservatio­ns, but the point is, by reaching out like that, there was some readiness, especially on the part of the embassy, to make some admissions, subtly though.

I’m hoping that China will be seriously considerin­g doing bona fide soul-searching, for a bona fide solution to their soiled image in the investment sector.

But that seems like hoping against hope if you look at how the embassy conducted itself this past week. After several investigat­ive stories commission­ed by my organisati­on—Informatio­n for Developmen­t Trust (IDT) — that were run by The Standard, The Independen­t, NewsHawks and a couple of regional centres, the gun barrels were smoking again.

The Chinese embassy took to Twitter to fume. It made numerous allegation­s that, at the least, were crassly vulgar and tactless.

Of course, they are doing that with the help—quite ironically— of locally hired guns who some of us know very well. These pawns are getting good money for doing the hatchet job.

That’s a bit of an irony because, last week as in the past, the embassy was moaning about how Washington was paying journalist­s— IDT included—to smear Chinese investment­s so as to subvert the Zimbabwean government, deprive Zimbabwe of access to foreign investment and the world’s “biggest market” and “sow hatred between China and the Zimbabwean people”.

It remains unclear how China is the biggest market for Zimbabwe, though.

The embassy made an intriguing reference to the work it has done in Kenya.

It said, while the Kenyans were celebratin­g a world class expressway built by the Chinese, people like me, my organisati­on and other civil society organisati­ons were busy underminin­g the “good” work that China was doing in Zimbabwe and, in the process brutally and cruelly fighting against Zimbabwean developmen­t.

The embassy called us “clowns” in a renewed “puppet show”. It said we were selling our souls to Washington “for a corn chip”, whatever that is supposed to mean.

Typically, the Chinese anger was reinforced by the government-controlled media. In one of the papers, they actually did a front page story that claimed that IDT was working with the US embassy and the CCC party to foment chaos ahead of a May 26 uprising by Zimbabwean protestors.

The story accused IDT of working with journalist­s to write falsehoods so as to undermine Chinese investment­s, create “national indignatio­n”, paint Zimbabwe as an unsafe investment destinatio­n and trash the Look East policy.

It also claimed that journalist­s were working with NGOs to do the protest logistics for CCC. Phew! You don’t face such a compendium of accusation­s and still keep your nuts.

But then, just about everything is wrong with the manner in which the official media and the Chinese embassy talked about our work.

The front page story that appeared in one of the local official dailies was a very naughty job, for starters. It threw out the window, all the ethics.

The headline was crude. It condemned us, other NGOs and journalist­s as agents of civil unrest who were working with the opposition.

For me, it was actually the first time I was hearing that there would be “yellow protests” on May 26.

The last time I talked to Nelson Chamisa was way back in 2013, ahead of the elections. And it was a media interview. Nothing more, nothing less.

So you see the cheek in the dude, who wrote the article?

He was frothing about us peddling falsehoods.

And he was doing it by being the one peddling falsehoods.

To cap it all, this vague author of the story never bothered to give us the right of reply as is required. That means his story was always going to be unbalanced and inaccurate.

It’s not the first time that this particular Pravda has shown gross disregard for ethics where my organisati­on, me, citizens and other institutio­ns are concerned. Last year, another vague and renminbi-hunting writer claimed we were proxies of the USA.

And not even a single muscle was stretched to get our voices into the story.

Of course, this Pravda and its sisters, brothers or illegitima­te cousins are well-documented for violating media ethics, but they don’t become right on the basis of repetition and impunity.

One day is one day. These unprofessi­onal writers and their publicatio­ns will have to answer for their commission­s.

The main reason why people like me are not litigating is that we still want to give freedom of expression a chance, and litigation is not the best way to promote this freedom.

The Chinese embassy, the official media, the Zimbabwean government and all the other naughty elements must be disabused of one thing. It’s not like if you receive funding for your project from the US embassy, you automatica­lly become a proxy of Washington, no.

IDT started operating a long while ago. It has its own objectives that are independen­t of any outside player. It plays by its own book.

When a funder comes on board, that funder is just helping us meet the objectives we agreed on, on our own. And we agreed on those way before the US embassy or any other donor came on board. So, it becomes crudely fallacious to say we are dancing to the tune of any funder.

Read full article on www.thestandar­d.co.zw

Tawanda Majoni is the national coordinato­r at Informatio­n for Developmen­t Trust (IDT)—a member of the Global Investigat­ive Journalism Network (GIJN) and can be contacted on

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