The Namibian (Windhoek)
NEWS
August 11, 2006
Posted to the web August 11, 2006

By John Grobler

GOVERNMENT should make more effort at directing and policing Chinese investment in terms of its industrialisation policies, rather than just allowing them to run shops selling cheap goods in Namibia, a leading German academic has warned.

 

"There are probably enough Chinese shops now in Namibia, but closing some of them is not going to help (other Namibian shops)," said Professor Gregor Dobler, an anthropologist from the University of Basel.

 

Professor Dobler, who has been researching the sociological influence of the Chinese presence at Oshikango, said the number of Chinese shops had increased from 22 in 2004 to more than 90 with the recent opening of the 'China Town' and 'China Village' complexes at Oshikango.

 

The main attraction was doing business with Angola - but doing so from "the safe side" of the common border, he remarked.

 

Some shops moved up to ten 12-metre containers of goods to Angolan clients, whose preference for cheap goods overshadowed all other considerations.

On the whole, the effect of the growing Chinese presence was mixed: while it provided often devastating competition to local business, it also put more durable goods within reach of poorer sections of the Namibian population.

 

"Many Chinese complain that they would like to bring better quality goods, but that the local clientele is not interested in anything but the cheapest price," he said.

Dobler was speaking on Wednesday night at an ongoing series of lectures hosted by Unam's Department of Sociology, which features speakers on various topics and runs until next month.

 

He disagreed with persistent rumours that 'the Chinese invasion' was a politically inspired policy aimed at world domination, saying that none of the shops relied explicitly on Beijing's support.

 

"Nothing I have seen indicated any overt policy by either Beijing or Windhoek that aims to subvert existing economic structures," he said.

 

Rumours of "more than 20 000 Chinese in Namibia" were clearly exaggerated, with the real figure more likely to be less than 5 000, he said.

 

Beijing was, however, capitalising on historical political solidarity with especially African governments, and made a point of emphasising 'South-South' economic co-operation that avoided political meddling in the host countries.

 

When former President Sam Nujoma recently visited China, he was presented with a Chinese translation of his autobiography - a gesture that said a lot about historical links "but did not cost too much", he remarked.

 

The growing number of Chinese outlets in Namibia - selling cheap goods that undercut local competitors - had more to do with the private profit motives of Chinese traders than some "conspiracy aimed at a new form of economic imperialism", as one person in the audience put it.

 

Dobler said the growing number of Chinese shops at Oshikango had negatively affected their individual profitability, causing some of these Chinese investors to become more interested in investing in the manufacturing and services sectors.

 

However, many of the Chinese currently active in Namibia appeared to have obtained their work permits on the basis of promises to set up factories, which mostly never materialised.

 

At present, there were only two or three true factories.

 

Obtaining work permits was the single most important thing for any would-be Chinese investor, and some paid as much as N$100 000 to influential patrons in Namibia to secure the necessary paperwork.

 

Others made use of "agents" who charged up to N$20 000 for work permits, some of which might go as kickbacks to officials in Home Affairs, Dobler surmised.

"The major outcome of these 'Potemkin villages' appears to be more work permits than blankets," he remarked.

 

With its huge reservoir of agricultural workers now shifting to manufacturing jobs, China could continue along its current trend of being the world's factory - albeit by means of Western capital invested in China - for the next 20 years.

 

But with growing competition amongst the Chinese shops themselves leading to decreasing profitability, the Namibian Government should take advantage of the trend and encourage Chinese involvement in manufacturing and services now - and not only in two or three years' time, he stressed.

 

"But as long as the shops remain too profitable, this is unlikely to happen by itself," Professor Dobler said.