Reported Chinese involvement in Zim coup worries Green Party
Peter Sinkamba
Green Party leader Peter Sinkamba says if reports that China has a hand in this week’s coup in Zimbabwe are true, then a dark era has dawned in Africa.
Sinkemba was reacting to a report which appeared in the UK Guardian newspaper yesterday, which revealed that the head of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces, and architect of this week’s coup in Zimbabwe, Gen Constantino Guveya Chiwenga, was in China last week, and met two most senior members of China’s Army.
“China and Zimbabwe are all-weather friends,” Gen Chiwenga, is reported to have was told by Li Zuocheng, chief of the joint staff of China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA), reports the UK Guardian.
According to the report, Gen Chiwenga told his host that Zimbabwe was “willing to deepen exchanges and cooperation in all fields with China to promote the rapid development of bilateral state and military relations between the two countries”.
Two days later, Gen Chiwenga met China’s defence minister, Gen Chang Wanquan, and thanked him for Beijing’s “long-time selfless help”.
Barely days after his return from China, Gen Chiwenga warned, and thereafter executed a military coup.
“We hope China played no hand in what is happening in Zimbabwe at the moment,” stated Sinkamba.
“You see, in the last two decades, China has strategically invested across Africa in all spheres, including giving out easy sovereign loans to governments, limitless investments in natural resources exploitation; construction; commerce and industry; banking; retail trading, you name it. So, economically, it is no brainer that China now has a very serious grip on economies of countries in Africa, including Zambia,” he said.
“Now, the trouble is: if a government of the day becomes a stumbling block, such as defaulting on sovereign loans repayments; default to pay Chinese contractors; or indeed put roadblocks on extraction of natural resources such as minerals and mukula tree, then if the Zimbabwe coup model is allowed to succeed in Africa, Beijing can simply set the army of that country using the Zimbabwe model and change governments so that a puppet regimes are installed,” the Green Party leader cautioned.
Sinkamba said much as the majority of people may resent the overstaying of President Robert Mugabe in Government, however, they should be wary of the mode of his removal or change of government.
He said removal of democratically elected regimes must always be through constitutional and democratic systems not military coups, whether the coups are bloody, bloodless or “subtle” like the Zimbabwe model.
“The era of military coups should not be entertained anymore on the continent because it is a primitive approach to governance. Not only that. Coups breed more coups. Some can result into serious mayhem which is not desirable in any nation. So it is desirable that we always remove regimes through constitutional and democratic systems. Coups, whether they are bloody, bloodless or subtle, like the Zimbabwe model, should not be entertained at all,” he added.
He said Africa should not create a fertile ground where greedy governments and multinational corporations whose sole interest are economic to take advantage of the Zimbabwe coup model to buy off army generals or even hire mercenaries to carry out coups, and install puppet governments which they can control to exploitation of economic resources.
“Such an appalling situation is not desirable at all for Africa,” the Green Party leader said.