I start with a mea culpa this week. In the September 7 edition, I waxed lyrical about the exploits of Sophia, the humanoid robot, at the SAPNow conference, which had been held in Johannesburg the previous week to showcase some of the latest developments in artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things, cloud computing and suchlike. I thought readers of this column would be interested to know that Sophia is something of a linguist and mentioned that she had spent time with Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, during which the two conversed in that country’s official language. I had that language as Aramaic. Being overwhelmingly Christian, Ethiopians may be descendants of Abraham by faith, but they definitely do not speak the ancient patriarch’s language – theirs is called Amharic and that’s what I meant to write. Hats off to Alan Campbell, a regular Africa Beat reader who resides in Port Elizabeth, for spotting the error. And there were a couple of literals in that piece. This won’t happen again, I promise.
How I wish another reader out there would prove that my misgivings about Chinese generosity towards Africa are misplaced. China has pumped billions into mostly infrastructure projects on the continent and has been more than prepared to lend our governments and State-owned enterprises huge sums of money. The Asian giant is also providing African countries with fantastic trade opportunities.
The generosity has extended to showering us with top-dollar freebies. A case in point is the African Union’s 99.9-m-tall conference centre and office complex, in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa, whose $200-million construction tab was picked up by the Chinese government.
When he hosted 52 African heads of State in Beijing earlier this month – during the China-Africa Summit – Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged to “extend $60-billion of financing to Africa in the form of government assistance as well as investment and financing by financial institutions and companies” over the next three years. He also promised to cancel debt owed by developing countries that have relations with China.
I take the second undertaking with a pinch of salt. My impression has always been that, as a lender, China will insist on having its pound of flesh – like Shylock in The Merchant of Venice. I wrote in this column a few weeks back about how, in December 2017, Sri Lanka had had to hand over the eight-year-old Hambantota seaport to a State-owned Chinese conglomerate. Sri Lanka borrowed heavily from China to build the port but failed to repay the loan, hence the transfer.
Although the Hambantota port takeover erased roughly $1-billion worth of debt, Sri Lanka is reportedly now more indebted than ever, as other loans have continued and rates remain much higher than from other international lenders.
Now we hear that what happened in Sri Lanka last year is playing out on African soil – in Zambia, whose government is reportedly negotiating with the authorities in Beijing over the total surrender of the African country’s electricity utility as a form of repayment since it has defaulted on a plethora of Chinese loans taken to finance infrastructure projects.
The highly regarded fortnightly publication, Africa Confidential, reported earlier this month that Zambia’s national broadcaster was already being run by the Chinese, warning: “The long-term outcome could be effective Chinese ownership of the commanding heights of the economy and potentially the biggest loss of national sovereignty since independence.” The Zambian government immediately dismissed the story as false but, as they say, there is no smoke without fire. If the takeover does occur, China will assume control of more than 80% of Zambia’s electricity supply.
News of the potential takeover of the Zambia Electricity Supply Corporation came hot on the heels of the China-Africa Summit, where Zambia received a $30-million grant for the Lusaka South Multi-Facility Economic Zone electrification project.
Since Edgar Lungu became President in 2015, Zambia has received more than $8-billion in financing for various infrastructure projects, with more loans lined up over the coming years. China’s influence in the country has been increasing steadily since 1998, when a Chinese company acquired a controlling stake in the Chambishi copper mine.