Kinas voksende økonomiske indflydelse og tilstedeværelse i den sydafrikanske kobbernation har længe voldt gniderier og spændinger og kineserne har i årevis været anklaget for at underbetale deres afrikanske arbejdskraft.
Zambian miners have killed a Chinese manager by pushing a mine trolley (trolje/dræsine) at him during a riot at a coal mine in the south of the country, BBC online reports Sunday.
A second Chinese was injured, as were several Zambians, during the riot at the Chinese-owned Collum coal mine in Sinazongwe, 325 km south of the capital, Lusaka.
The workers were on strike at the mine in protest that their wages were lower than a new minimum of 220 US dollar a month paid to shop workers.
Last year, the Zambian government dropped charges against two Chinese managers accused of attempted murder after they fired on miners during a pay dispute.
Copper mining is one of Zambia’s main industries, providing nearly three-quarters of the country’s exports; many of the mining companies are foreign-owned, and China has invested more than 400 million dollar in Zambia.
A 2011 report by Human Rights Watch (HRW) said that, despite improvements in recent years, safety and labour conditions at Chinese mines were worse than at other foreign-owned mines.
Også trætte af kinesere i Malawi
I Zambias østlige naboland, Malawi, er der også stor folkelig utilfredshed med de allesteds nærværende kinesere.
Det har fået den konsekvens, at en netop vedtaget lov forbyder udenlandske (læs kinesiske) handelsfolk at drive næring uden for landets fire største byer.
Loven kommer efter langvarige og mange protester fra afrikanske forretningsrivende, som ikke kan konkurrere med kinesernes lave priser og den kapital, de har med i ryggen hjemmefra.
Kinesiske handlende skal oven i købet erlægge et depositum på 250.000 (amerikanske) dollars i landets nationalbank som startkapital for at kunne drive forretning i de fire store byer.
Den kinesiske ambassade i Malawi har undladt at bakke sine landsmænd op og siger, at man fra kinesisk side er interesseret i “seriøse investorer” ikke gadesælgere.
