The Sunday Mail
SO the US Vice President Kamala Harris was on our doorstep — in Zambia — from Friday until yesterday, as part of a whirlwind week-long three-nation charm offensive that took her to Ghana, Tanzania and Zambia.
Our wise elders often tell us that if you see an owl flying during the day, you should know that something is after its life.
In this part of the world, owls are considered part of the staff — both literally and figuratively — used by witches and wizards.
You see, the US has become increasingly fretful of being knocked off its perch as an unrivalled superpower by China.
The US helped overthrow Lumumba and cosied up to Mobutu Sese Seko
It is now making its power play to spread its influence on the continent, which naturally entails rolling back Beijing’s sway on Africa.
It seems, while China is seeking competition, America wants confrontation, which is ominous.
Thanks to the US senate confirmation hearing on March 1, we now know that part of America’s ambassador-designate to Zimbabwe Pamela Tremont’s brief is the near-impossible task of prising Beijing’s tentacles from Harare.
It is a task akin to threading an anaconda through the eye of a needle. Kikikiki.
But the great power rivalry between the US and China is likely to have profound consequences for Africa, which hark back to the Cold War era, where Washington and Moscow jostled for global power and influence for close to 50 years (1945-1991).
To this day, we still bear scars from this period.
It could be the invasion of the Soviet-leaning Egypt by France, Britain and Israel in 1956 in order to gain control of the Suez Canal — critical for trade — after President Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalised it.
It could be the arming of 200 000 Portuguese conscripts to fight off Frelimo in Mozambique or the MPLA in Angola.
It could also be the American-sponsored overthrow of Kwame Nkrumah in 1966, the assassination of Patrice Lumumba in 1961and the support of apartheid South Africa.
Suffice to say the legacy of East-West tensions, characterised by heightened competition for natural reasons and trade routes, has been synonymous with death and destruction.
In an article published last year, Afreximbank chief economist and director of research and international cooperation Hippolyte Fofack claimed, and justifiably so, that Africa stands to be the ultimate loser of a possible second Cold War.
“A second Cold War, on the heels of the proliferation of foreign military bases and the outsourcing of national security, would likewise undermine efforts to defragment African economies and accelerate the process of structural transformation to realise the potential of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA), which has been touted as a game changer,” he wrote.
Mineral treasure chest
As America prepares its war machine for a possible future conflict with China, its appetite for minerals, most of them found in Africa in abundance, will continue to grow.
For example, the F-35 fighter jet, which is manufactured by Lockheed Martin for America’s military, is produced using rare earth materials, the majority of which are imported from China.
The same minerals are also used to build computer screens and hard drives for aircraft and ships, as well as for stealth technology, F-22 tail fins, laser-targeting systems, missile guidance and control motors, among other vital mineral equipment.
Instructively, at the second US-Africa Summit in December last year, America signed a memorandum of understanding with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Zambia on electric vehicle battery value chains.
The DRC produces 67 percent to 70 percent of the world’s cobalt, while Zambia is the world’s eighth-largest copper producer.
With its bountiful mineral resources, Africa might once again be crashed between the two big powers.
But for America’s designs to upend the Chinese and entrench its hegemony to work in Zimbabwe, they would need a pliant regime in Harare, which makes the upcoming elections critical.
Zimbabwe, which is scandalously rich in mineral wealth, is a big prize.
Incidentally, the chap who is responsible for the implementation of the US-Africa Summit, which is being used to launch the renewed charm offensive on the continent, is Johnnie Carson, who served as America’s Ambassador to Zimbabwe between April 20, 1995 and July 25, 1997, before he was later appointed as Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs.
And he has every reason not to be quite enamoured of Zimbabwe.
Bishop Lazi recalls that on May 25, 2010, during commemorations attended by African diplomats in Washington to mark the founding of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), now the African Union (AU), Carson chose the wrong day to attack Zimbabwe in his speech.
It prompted the then Zimbabwe Ambassador to the US, Dr Machivenyika Mapuranga, to heckle him.
“You are talking like a good house slave . . . We will never be an American colony, you know that,” he shouted, before he was shepherded out. Kikikiki.
So, he is someone who might want to see the back of the ZANU PF Government.
Friends indeed
And driving a wedge between Harare and Beijing would be incredibly difficult, if not impossible.
The Bible, in Philippians 2:3, advises: “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves.”
Galatians 6:2 adds: “Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way, you will fulfil the law of Christ.”
As Tremont duly noted in her March 1 confirmation hearing, “Zimbabwe and China have a longstanding relationship that goes all the way back to Zimbabwe’s war for independence.”
A friend in need is a friend indeed.
And, as Bishop Lazi writes this, the new units at Hwange Power Station — Unit 7 and Unit 8 — are gradually coming on line, courtesy of the Chinese, who provided the resources and manpower.
By mid-year, a hefty 600MW would be added to the grid to pivot Zimbabwe’s growing economy.
In Mount Hampden, a new Parliament building, the seat of people’s power, has already been delivered again by the Chinese, so, too, has a new pharmaceutical warehouse.
By the end of next year, Kunzvi Dam will be complete, providing a source of potable water for burgeoning populations in Harare and Chitungwiza.
The Bishop is always baffled by folks who claim that ED has not been able to attract investment.
Don’t they see the humongous US$1 billion steel plant being built in Manhize that will be completed before year-end?
Don’t they also see the Chinese billionaires who have swooped on four key local lithium assets — Sabi Star Mine, Arcadia Lithium Mine, Bikita Minerals and Zulu Lithium Mine — spending close to US$700 million in the process.
An additional US$630 million is being spent on bringing some of the assets to production, as well as expanding operations.
All these projects are making a mark on an economy that was being held back by US-sponsored sanctions.
As new realignments emerge, driven by the seismic shift in global geopolitics, Zimbabwe will obviously forge relations that will further the national interest.
Was it not Deng Xiaoping, the father of the Chinese economic miracle, who said it doesn’t matter if the cat is black or white as long as it catches mice?
But we need to be extra-vigilant as the polls draw ever so closer.
Those who are working against us know that 2023 is the last chance saloon at regime change.
They will throw everything, including the kitchen sink, to have their way.
The drama is just beginning.
Bishop out!
