OPPOSITION Zimbabwe Coalition for Peace and Development (ZCPD) leader Trust Chikohora says government should take a strategic stance to attract foreign investment by embracing investors from both Western and Eastern countries.
In an interview with NewsDay, Chikohora said in seeking investment, countries were guided by their economic interests so Zimbabwe needed to be flexible, but at the same time negotiate wisely for the extraction of its vast resources by foreign investors.
“If you look at China, they are doing big infrastructural projects like major roads and airports, among other developments,” Chikohora said.
“But at times, you find that the Chinese transactions are opaque and can favour some African governments and leaders who might benefit from such kind of arrangements.
“You would find that when conducting business, the Chinese do not worry about such issues as democracy and human rights, among others and they will just go on to extract resources and mind their own business.”
The Gweru-based opposition party leader and economist said Western countries’ investments usually came with conditions.
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“If America is to come with investment, it would look at issues to do with democracy, human rights and at times, even some issues that might be frowned upon in African culture such as gay rights and same sex marriages,” he said.
Chikohora said whereas China came up with big infrastructural projects, such investments were at times exchanged for natural resources.
“Although Zimbabwe is set to benefit from such big infrastructural development as roads, dams, airports, among others, at times, such projects come at a cost. The funding for such projects is sometimes exchanged for extraction of resources in lieu of payment of the projects,” he said.
“So basically, the cost of those transactions becomes so large for the host country and may be tilted in favour of the Chinese.”
Chikohora said in terms of community development in areas where they extract resources, the Chinese were lagging behind compared to their Western counterparts.
“Some of the Chinese investments would be just extractive and there is nothing put up in terms of community development,” he said.
“But Western investments usually come with major development for the communities in areas of health, education and agriculture, among others.
“The surrounding communities usually benefit even if the resource that was being extracted diminishes.”
Chikohora said Zimbabwe, therefore, needed to weigh the benefits of foreign investments through a win-win situation that safeguarded natural resources and benefitted citizens.
“For the progressive mind, you neither look East nor West, but look forward for the benefit of the people.”