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policeman. Although the police investigated, its findings were never made public and no
charges were filed. Many of the workers who participated in the strike or riots were fired. 47
A similar event occurred on October 15, 2010, in the town of Sinazongwe, when two
Chinese managers at Collum Coal Mine shot 11 workers protesting poor conditions. 48
Collum Coal Mine is owned by a private investor—not a Chinese parastatal like the copper
industry’s CNMC—but the event mobilized an outcry against Chinese labor problems more
generally. Like the earlier Chambishi event, no one was ultimately prosecuted. A Zambian
journalist for an international media outlet told Human Rights Watch:
It just confirmed how powerful the Chinese are in Zambia. The Chinese, you
hear them say, we can do anything; this has been proven after the shooting
in Sinazongwe. The state dropped the charges, it just negotiated a
compensation package. The message was, “Give them money, and any
problems will be solved.” They constantly speak in these undertones. 49
Labor strife continued at the copper mines in January and March 2011, as workers went on
strikes that approached full-scale riots at both NFCA and CCS. 50 Workers at both companies
demanded significantly higher pay increases than were offered during collective bargaining
negotiations, ultimately ending their strike after management slightly improved its offer.
In response to the persistent confrontations with employees over labor abuses, Chinese
business leaders in Zambia have at times blamed the country’s regulatory structure. Zan
Baosen, the vice general manager of the Zambia-China Economic and Trade Cooperation
Zone, was quoted by a Chinese newspaper as saying:
[The laws are] really “too sound”—the standard of the legal system is a
little too ahead of its time… Almost 50 percent of the people are
unemployed and yet they still want to have so many housing allowances,
education allowances and transportation allowances. Also, employees
47 Human Rights Watch interviews with former NFCA miners whose contracts were terminated after the strike, Chambishi, July 2011.
Anger at the shootings remained so deep that China’s president, Hu Jintao, was kept from attending the February 2007 inauguration of
the Zambia-China Economic and Trade Cooperation Zone (ZCCZ) for fear of large-scale demonstrations. Brautigam, The dragon’s gift, p. 7.
48 See Mutana Chanda, “China in Zambia: Jobs or exploitation?”, BBC News, December 12, 2010; Barry Bearek, “Zambia Uneasily
Balances Chinese Investment and Workers’ Resentment,” NY Times, November 20, 2010; Tao Duanfang, “Gunshots in Zambia mine: The
fine line between hell and heaven,” October 19, 2010, http://star.news.sohu.com/20101019/n275994958.shtml; “Development in
Africa beyond controversy - China’s actual situation in Zambia ,” Nanfang Zhoumo, November 4, 2010.
49 Human Rights Watch interview with Zambian journalist, Lusaka, July 18, 2011.
50 Nicholas Bariyo, “Zambia Chambishi Copper Smelter Workers End Strike,” Dow Jones Newswires, March 26, 2011;
Nicholas Bariyo, “Zambian Miners Riot Over Labor Dispute,” Wall Street Journal, January 19, 2011.
23 HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH | NOVEMBER 2011