As they embark on a process to broaden relations with the People’s Republic of China, South African politicians and officials would do well to consider the advice of China’s reformist leader, Deng Xiaoping: ”Seek truth from facts.”
China’s attraction as an ideological and strategic counterweight to the dominance of the West has led to a desire to cosy up to the Asian dragon. But the reality of Chinese engagement in Africa — and in South Africa itself — should give us pause, especially in the rush to conclude a free-trade agreement with the economic giant.
China’s foreign policy has generally been characterised by an approach of unsentimental and aggressive self-interest and we would be fooling ourselves if we did not adopt the same approach.
The facts of the South African trade relationship with China since diplomatic ties were resumed show a massive trade deficit currently in the region of R10-billion. And that trade imbalance has grown rather than shrunk over the period as imports of high value manufactured goods from China outstrip Chinese demand for South African raw materials.
The flood of cheap Chinese imports has been a significant threat to local manufacturers, particularly in the clothing and textile industry, which has seen a jobs bloodbath, driven by the strong rand and Chinese imports. In a speech last year Congress of South African Trade Unions general secretary Zwelenzima Vavi noted that clothing imports from China grew from 50% of all clothes brought in during 2001 to 75% in the first three months of 2004.
In the light of the demonstrable impact on the South African market, it is sobering, at best, that the official Chinese position is that South Africa needs no protection from Chinese imports and that an ”asymmetrical” trade deal is unacceptable. It may be a generalisation, but the record of Chinese adherence to minimum labour standards in local South African businesses has also left much to be desired.
The character of some Chinese initiatives in the rest of Africa is no less instructive. In its bid for raw materials, in particular access to oil supplies, Beijing has not been shy about propping up the Sudanese military regime and offering the notoriously corrupt Luanda administration a $2-billion line of credit in return for a slice of Angola’s oil riches.
This is not to say that we should not engage China, but to argue that the sense of starry-eyed ideological solidarity that surrounds some of our attitudes to Beijing represents a serious trap. South Africa is not the only strategic Third World partner available to China; Latin America, where the Chinese have also sought to expand their influence, has adopted a tougher stance, particularly in relation to trade, which we could do well to emulate.
Neither should it be forgotten that China has its own problems. The country’s political system has not kept up with the furious pace of economic modernisation. Our leaders may look wistfully at the level of party control and social compliance China is able to bring to bear, but deep social inequalities, endemic corruption and real human rights limitations carry their own risks.
Rewarding the vrot
While South Africa may have state-of-the-art institutions and laws to stamp out corruption and manage out incompetence, the government continues to reward the vrot.
This week the African National Congress in Gauteng made Mlungisi Hlongwane the district mayor of Sedibeng in the Vaal, one of the province’s poorest regions most in need of a clean and firm hand.
Hlongwane, the president of the South African National Civics Organisation (Sanco), has presided over the decimation of Sanco and helped turn it into an anaemic shadow of its former self with declining membership and minimal political oomph. Sanco and its investment company are also haunted by allegations of corruption and financial mismanagement. What skills does Hlongwane bring to Sedibeng?
This week, we also report that Saths Moodley, the man at the centre of the Motheo housing scandal in Mpumalanga has been elevated to the position of ministerial adviser to Lindiwe Sisulu, the csarina of housing. In a country awash with urban housing specialists, did Sisulu have to choose Moodley?
The appointments send the message that the government is not that deeply committed to the anti-graft systems it has set up. And it sends a message that corruption and incompetence are not disqualifying factors for a public service career.
The list of skeef and incompetent people still in public office is a long one, pointing to a worrying trend. Thoahlane Thoahlane went straight from mismanaging the National Development Agency to a top job at the Tshwane metropolitan council; Makhenkesi Stofile, the former premier of the Eastern Cape, who neither managed to stamp out the region’s factional politics nor run a competent province, is now Minister of Sports and Recreation. And then there’s the little matter of Deputy President Jacob Zuma, who was last week given key responsibility for ensuring the success of the Presidency’s poverty-relief programmes.
The country has a pool of potential leaders. There is no need to recycle those who have shown themselves incapable of rising to the challenges of statecraft.