In fact, this is a game being played by almost all African nations. The Scramble for China is on, with countries competing for the biggest slice of China’s cake. Last September twice as many African leaders attended the China-Africa cooperation summit in Beijing as the last UN general assembly.
The austerity measures are a calculated display by the government to show that Zimbabwe, under Mnangagwa’s leadership, is worthy of getting a bigger slice of the Chinese pie because their money will be used efficiently, and this time debts will be paid. But, as several governmental bodies, development organizations, and economic analysts have already warned, small African countries like Zimbabwe risk being entangled in China’s debt trap — owing more than they can pay back in reasonable time.
Some of these warnings are coming from the United States and the EU, which clearly feel threatened by China’s growing influence in Africa. But China’s role does raise serious questions with not so clear answers. How will China protect its investment? How much will China be involved in ensuring a return on its investment? To what lengths and at whose expense (the public or the government – the rich or the poor), will countries like Zimbabwe go to try and pay back the debt? And with the growing unease, particularly from global north countries, that China is trying to export its labor-intensive industry to Africa, how will these countries protect their sovereignty in the process?
Austerity policies reek of the neo-liberalism that the World Bank and IMF forced upon global south countries in the early 1980s in the form of structural adjustments and unequal free market policies. In fact, Ncube has quoted the late UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, who saw her neoliberal economic policies as the only path, often saying “There Is No Alternative” (TINA).
Small sovereign nations like Zimbabwe need to look at other African countries that have tried the same policies and failed. A wave of anti-austerity protests earlier this year should serve as a warning of how devastating these unpopular policies can be. Protests have resulted in arbitrary detentions in Sudan, violent clashes in Tunisia, and political turmoil in South Africa, Egypt, Kenya, and Gabon.
Yanis Varoufakis, the former Greek minister of finance, knows from his own country’s experience that these measures are self-defeating as they not only depress national income but also the government’s revenue, therefore making the nation suffer rather than prosper. He calls austerity an “assault on the poor.”
It’s high time African governments start to implement policies that favor the well-being of their people first before pleasing the Money Masters. An economy that does not improve the lives of its citizens is a poor and failing economy.
Craig Dube is an Atlantic Fellow for Social and Economic Equity. He previously worked in Zimbabwe as a Regional Field Officer for Champions For Life, an HIV psychosocial support program.