Stephen > In private, cynical, unscrupulous foreigners who have invested in Zimbabwe often declare that they have the Zanu-PF party bosses in their pockets and that they have also bought party bosses in the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). Pillaging, as the Congo/Zaire showed, can come wave upon wave as each group in power takes its turn at the trough.
Seems like China actually took the bait, apparently at the cost of one of South Africa's platinum groups. But that will be of no concern to Mbeki who, doubtless, will still come up with the $1bn "loan" to his Comrade. So, besides ordinary Zimbabweans, it looks like SA is the big loser. Mugabe is clearly the big winner -- in his own mind.
weeklystandard.com
>>ZIMBABWEAN PRESIDENT ROBERT MUGABE has signed a deal with his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao in Beijing. The details have not been made public but sources say that China has been given mineral rights to platinum and other minerals. A land deal for tobacco may also be included. Mugabe requires Chinese investors to finance ferrochrome production, irrigation projects, power plants, and transport. The reward is a stake in the nation's platinum reserves.
The big loser in the deal may well be the largely privately owned Impala Platinum Holdings (Implats), which controls most of Zimbabwe's mines. Implats annoyed Mugabe after it put a $750 million expansion program on hold in February. Implats, the world's second-largest platinum producer, was worried about government proposals that would force the company to sell an unspecified stake to black investors and keep foreign currency earnings in Zimbabwe.
Implats main holdings are in Zimbabwe (with an estimated 187 million ounces of platinum worth over $40 billion--three times the resources it has in South Africa). Implats holds 84 percent of Zimbabwe's platinum reserves and has remained largely untouched by Mugabe until now, since the foreign exchange earnings made by the mines have kept the regime alive by buying much needed fuel and machinery and, more recently, food.
A month ago, however, the concerns were that Implats and other companies would be forced to relinquish some of their assets at unattractive prices to black and Chinese investors. Today the situation looks far more grave.
It is also possible that Mugabe will now no longer need the loan he originally sought from his old comrade South African President Thabo Mbeki. For while the Chinese care not a jot for international conventions and their reputation in the west, and will have no human rights strings attached to their help, Mbeki does care. He was trying, albeit unsuccessfully, to get Mugabe to halt the destruction of opposition area housing and businesses.
This latest deal emphasizes China's determination to strengthen ties with Mugabe, which date back to the 1970s war of independence, when Mugabe's fighters were armed by the Chinese. China's involvement is economically astute, but their willingness to take over the economic means of production in a pariah state is politically worrying.<<
Surprisingly, the shares of Impala Platinum have hardly fallen on the JSE.
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