SW Radio Africa (London)
Tichaona Sibanda
30 June 2009
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai announced on Tuesday that the government had managed to secure US$950 million in credit lines from China, to help rebuild the country. Zimbabwe needs an estimated $8-$10 billion to rebuild the destroyed infrastructure and to ease the 90 percent unemployment rate.
Briefing journalists and diplomats in Harare, Tsvangirai said during his recent tour to Europe and the United States he also managed to raise over $US500 million, which will go towards the provision of basic services such as health and education.
The Prime Minister said the amount of assistance that was raised on his visit does not reflect the enormous support the government will be able to utilise, if they manage to fulfil all political obligations.
'In every country, each leader I met expressed reservations about the delays in the full implementation of the Global Political Agreement. They asked, why, after almost five months, had fundamental obligations undertaken by the respective political parties not been implemented,' Tsvangirai said.
He added; 'In our drive to rebuild Zimbabwe, we are not limited to a 'look west' or 'look east' policy, but rather we are committed to engaging our friends in all parts of the globe.'
Leaders in Europe and the United States have raised concerns about the success of the new, transitional political dispensation, as the unity government has clearly not been fully constituted due to the outstanding issues.
'These issues are not foreign benchmarks imposed from outside Zimbabwe, but are our own conditions that we committed ourselves to meeting when we signed the GPA. As such, the concerns of the international community are legitimate and the three political parties as the signatories to the GPA, and particularly the leaders of those parties, must take responsibility for the failure to implement fully the obligations we have signed up to,' the Prime Minister added.
Economist Luke Zunga told us the reason why China has been able to avail this huge amount of money was because they have never been concerned about human rights issues in the country, unlike other western countries.
'Whether Zimbabwe is a rogue state or not, that's not an issue with the Chinese because they've always supported ZANU PF.' Zunga said.
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Mabhiza,
Yah you just have said it all. That is true, the Chinese have always been there for us, from right in the struggle to this day. There are no strings attached. We expect even more from the East than from Uncle Toms and I heard how Obama was so angry at this development. It would appear that some Europeans were actually against this conspiracy by Merkel, Brown and Obama, not to give Zim the needed funds cos it was going to draw the attention of the East and certainly, this is the beginning of a new direction in our relations. In any case the real power is shifting to the East anyway with America brooding disaster in its backyard.
You see Mabhiza, I have told the media and those that listen, never to personalize the Zimbabwean issue. It has backfired all the time. Gordon Brown is sweating his heart out for the incoming misfortunes shortly. I can tell you they will miss the opportunities we are going to avail to the Chinese and the Indians. There will be no going back. By the way, this trip by Cde Mnanganwa et al is not in way countering the Prime Minister's trip to the West, as portrayed in some quarters. It is not for ZANU PF but for the GNU and if it means we will make trips to Mars or Jupiter to look for funds to develop our economy, rather than going to Barak and Gordon, let us just do it. You do not need rocket science to understand their dirty tactics and agenda on Zimbabwe. Our country is a dot somewhere in Africa that peolpe thousands and thousands away craft ZIDERA just to make life impossible for our nation. WE rteally thank the goodwill of the Chinese. The Almighty is good(all the time)
all this means is that Mugabe will now own a series of mansions throughout asia, and the people of Zimbabwe will end up owing China $1 Billion plus interest to pay for it. Can Zimbabwe really afford that?
If Zimbabwe has been hurting so much because of ZIDERA, (as you say!) then why has it taken Zim this long to approach China?!
The reason: because 'sanctions' are not what has caused the Zimbabwe to turn into a pathetic piece of crap - with an unelected leader, cholera, no schools, no hospitals, no currency.... pathetic!
Cdes Mabhiza and Moyondizvo;
What more can I say, you have said it all. It was true yesterday, it is true today and will be true tomorrow that the East is and will always be where the sun rises from. China has proved beyond any reasonable doubt that they are the All-Weather-Friends of Zimbabwe. From the time of the liberation to the present day, the Chinese have always been there for us when we needed them most.
The silly idea being peddled by some stupid moles on this site that the money was negotiated by Biti is just what it is – silly, foolish and stupid. Just like the USD400 million from the AfDB negotiated by Dr Gono, this money was negotiated well before the birth of the GPA, thus cannot have been negotiated by Biti.
After all, how long does it take to negotiate a huge amount like the one availed by the Chinese? One day, two days, three days - NEVER - it takes time and this is the result and example of funds painstakingly negotiated by the Zanu-pf government well before the GPA.
And you know that for certain do you? Or more likely you would like us all to believe your childish daydreaming is the truth.
Katunda ( Taky) Will you stop praising yourself under different psuedonems please. You are making yourself look like a bigger idiot than you already are and that takes some beating.
Actually, if you bother to read the announcement, you will find that the lines of credit were secured by Tendai Biti, the very person Mugabe wants to try for treason.
Also the line of credit from the PRC equates to the amount stumped up by SADC, which is not that encouraging considering the relative size of the Chinese economy. Further more the line of credit does not constitute the type of direct budgetary support that Zimbabwe desperately needs. Like SADC,China appears wary of simply handing over money to Mugabe.
Beware, credit extention is just a commercia loan. It enables Chinese businesses to sell goods and services at inflated prices to Zimbos while I will not get surprised if a commission is thereafter paid to ZANU-PF.
The crux of the matter is whether Zimbabwe will be free to utilise the funds to source out goods from anywhere in the world.
I doubt it.
See all comments (38).
Thanks to President Mugabe's vision and wisdom in his move to dispatch a Zanu pf delegation to the East..Thanx to the Chinese for the credit facility for the economic development of Zimbabwe.This is what we need , not humanitarian aid..The Chinese have demonstated once again that they're the true all weather friends of Zimbabwe and the've consistently shown that they care a lot about the development of Zimbabwe and its people unlike the evil west who are determined to destroy innocent people's lives thru economic sanctions for their racist sinister agendas..People like Angela Merkel even unashamedly going to the extent of demanding a reversal of land reform for Germany to remove economic sanctions...Well,China has once again demonstrated that it's our true friend from the days of the liberation struggle up to now. The true friends of Africa are in the East.The Look East Policy of our party Zanu-PF has been vindicated.There are no bullying strings attached to China's loans.The chinese say, Give a man a fish and feed him for the day, teach him how to fish and he will never go hungry ..As the illegal economic sanctions continue to do untold damage to the country's economy, the West has been using humanitarian aid as a propaganda tool whilst they encourage dependency so that they continue to bully Zimbabweans into submission whilst the East wants to teach Zimbabweans how to empower themselves so that they will be self reliant...The racist west doesn't want Zimbabwe to be a self reliant and be a self sustaining society hence their rigid determination to maintain the illegal economic sanctions and refusal to help the nation economically..These western racists like the bankrupt United States & Britain know that if Zim is allowed to develop economically, it will reject western imperalism,exploitation and being bullied...After coming back empty handed from the bankrupt west, tsvangirai and his party should start thinking who the nation's real friends are, who genuinely wants its people to have a better life..Long live China!!Long live Zimbabwe!