Seth !Nowaweb
For many years, Namibians have had an unusually complex relationship with the migrant Chinese community.
Our president recently lamented that some Namibians have an anti-Chinese attitude.
That sentiment is not without basis, but to understand why the Chinese in Namibia rile the locals so much, one needs to have quick look at some of the issues that may cause these reactions from the locals. Namibians are not generally known for any kind of xenophobia as far as we know.
After all, many other foreigners settled in Namibia over the last 100 or 300 years if we include non-European migrants. However, one has to look hard and far to remember the last time Germans, Afrikaners, English, Indians, Pakistani or Finns caused that much anger to have demonstrations outside their embassies or businesses.
There was no Chinese community to talk about in Southwest Africa before 1990, which means their presence in Namibia is relatively recent.
Why then are the Chinese causing so much anger or dislike from the locals? Many of the answers are there for all to see and are worth exploring.
In Namibia but not with Namibians
While many Chinese people migrated to this country, many behave like they do not want to interact with locals, except when they make money for themselves, usually at the expense of the locals. After many years, based in Namibia, most Chinese do not live in our neighbourhoods.
Instead, they prefer to stay in their backrooms and on top of their businesses. It is normal for most migrants to assimilate with the locals, become their neighbours, shop at their shops, watch (share) their football games and socialise with the hosts. In Namibia, this does not happen much, and it gives the impression that the Chinese are only here to exploit the locals, and they do not think the locals are their equals. Looking down on people in their own country is a no! no! anywhere.
Tax evasion, poor banking practices
It has been common knowledge that the Chinese business community in Namibia does not use local banking services.
They are known for hoarding their money under mattresses in their flats on top of their shops. In doing so, they do not pay their fair share of taxes as everyone else, and they often get away with not paying taxes for various reasons.
How many times did we read about Chinese families or businesses being robbed of hundreds of thousands of Namibian dollars, which they do not report because the money is not declared for tax purposes? For many hardworking Namibians who pay taxes every month, it is annoying to know that some foreign nationals work in Namibia but refuse to pay taxes.
Corruption and bribery
Another issue that annoys the Namibian public about the Chinese is the perception that they can bribe their way to higher echelons of society. An example of alleged bribery is how suddenly only Chinese companies are being awarded tenders – construction companies come to mind – for work locals can do. For many years, Namibians collaborated with local companies to build their schools, roads and hospitals and did a good job. However, in recent years, we seemed to have lost those skills and require Chinese companies to build our roads, harbours and airport runways.
To put the cherry on the cake, the Chinese embassy once decided to give scholarships to send politically-connected people’s children to study in China. If these incidents do not look like bribery and/or corruption, nothing else will. But Namibians do not appreciate foreigners coming to our country and enriching themselves through bribery.
Poogate
Last, but not least, among the reasons that annoy locals about Chinese behaviour is ‘poogate’ (carrying faeces). Remember the case where the Chinese business owner did not want to use the only toilet available on the premise with workers, who were “beneath him”. This business owner regularly used carrier bags as a toilet, which he duly asked his workers to discard. He did not think much of his workers. When a minister was dispatched to deal with this issue, she went to apologise to the man in question and kowtowed to this despicable man. He was heard saying he did not know that such behaviour was forbidden in Namibia.
In which country are managers allowed to ask their staff to carry their poo?
If the above reasons are not enough to rile the Namibians, the slave wages that the Chinese companies pay their workers, the contempt with which they treat the locals in their own country, the bossy way in which previous Chinese ambassadors behaved even with our presidents, are among the many reasons why these visitors engendered anti-Chinese attitude in Namibia.
The Chinese people should learn to respect our laws, norms, attitudes and sensitivities, as everybody else does when they choose to live in other people’s countries. There is no way that any Namibian could do a fraction of what the Chinese do here, in China, and not end up jailed or worse. If they want to live in our country, they should start paying taxes, live with us in our neighbourhoods and not in Chinatown above their shops, and treat our people with common courtesy, respect and decency. That is not too much to ask for in one’s own country, is it?
*Seth !Nowaseb is a teacher. He lived in the UK for 25 years. He appreciates how important it is for foreign nationals to respect the local laws, attitudes, traditions and norms of the host country. He can be contacted at: spnowaseb@yahoo.co