There are signs that China could be behind the military coup that is underway in Zimbabwe, the African state, once known as Rhodesia. that has been under the rule of President Robert Mugabe since 1980.
The present situation appears to be that the army, under the command of General Constantino Chiwenga and Major General Moyo, have imposed military control and are now "ensuring the safety" of the 93-year-old President -- LOL, nice euphemism -- while they target “criminals” around the President.
The coup is believed to be in support of former vice president Emmerson Mnangagwa, 75, who was fired from his position on the 6th of November, apparently after a clash with Mugabe's much younger wife. 52-year-old Grace Mugabe, who is keen to succeed her husband when he dies, which shouldn't be long now.
Interestingly, shortly after Mnangagwa was fired as vice president, he was reported to have fled to China, which has extensive connections with Zimbabwe and must be considered its neo-colonial master.
As a young man Mnangagwa underwent military training in China in the 1960s, before being sent back to fight against the White-ruled government of Rhodesia, where he was soon jailed.
This coup looks very much like a Chinese-approved action to protect their extensive investments in the country, as it is believed that the President's wife Grace Mugabe has been using her control of her ailing husband to plunder the country.
“We are only targeting criminals around him [Mugabe] who are committing crimes that are causing social and economic suffering in the country in order to bring them to justice,” Major General Moyo said on a broadcast from the country's TV station, which had been seized by the army. "As soon as we have accomplished our mission, we expect that the situation will return to normalcy."
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| Mugabe and his wife, 41 years younger than him. |
Chris Mutsvangwa, the leader of Zimbabwe’s war veterans organisation also pointed to the economic damage that the circle around Mugabe's wife had been causing.
“This is a correction of a state that was careening off the cliff,” Mutsvangwa told Reuters. “It’s the end of a very painful and sad chapter in the history of a young nation, in which a dictator, as he became old, surrendered his court to a gang of thieves around his wife.”
Economically, China has a dominant position in the country. For example, in 2015, the Zimbabwe Investment Authority (ZIA) approved 929 million dollars of Foreign Direct Investment into the country, with more than half of it coming from China.
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| The Chinese-themed Long Cheng Plaza, Harare |
The Chinese have been investing heavily in Zimbabwe's agriculture, energy, and tourism sectors, with the country's tobacco industry getting a major boost.
After the country's tobacco output had plummeted to a low of 48 million kilograms in 2008, due to the violent seizure of White-owned farms by Mugabe's thugs, Chinese tobacco giant Tianze stepped in to rebuild the industry.
Massive investment in the form of interest free loans to farmers, and free technical support helped to boost Zimbabwe's tobacco output to 217 million kilograms in 2014, slightly short of its peak production of 231 million kilograms in 2001. The Chinese have also taken a lead in infrastructure development, building power plants and solar power stations.
In the capital Harare the Chinese have also constructed a 200 million dollar shopping mall, the Long Cheng Plaza, where Chinese workers in the country can shop, enjoy Chinese cuisine, and even hold parties and weddings in the glamorous amusement park.
It looks like the Chinese are planning on staying, and are now just taking out the Mugarbage.
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