Zimbabwe unveils ‘majestic’ US$200 million China-built parliament
- President Emmerson Mnangagwa hailed the six-storey building as a ‘testimony of the strategic and comprehensive partnership’ between Harare and Beijing
- China is also massively involved in constructing and financing big-budget infrastructure projects in Zimbabwe that include revamping major airports
Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa hailed “excellent” relations with China as he, for the first time, delivered a State of the Nation address at a new multimillion-dollar parliament building gifted by the Asian economic giant.
China funded and constructed the imposing and spacious US$200 million, six-storey parliament building in Mt. Hampden, about 18km (11 miles) west of the capital, Harare, as a “gift” – signifying its growing influence on the former British colony.
The address, which also served to officially open the last session of the current parliament before elections next year, marks the move from the colonial-era Victorian-style parliament building in central Harare. Zimbabwe says it plans to establish a new “smart” capital city in Mt. Hampden where government offices will be located, away from the congested Harare.
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The government said Wednesday’s event did not mark the official opening or handover of the building, which would be done on a yet-to-be-announced date.
The countries’ links date back to the 1960s, when China helped train and supply guerilla fighters in the fight against white minority rule. The country, however, retained close relations with Britain and other Western countries after independence in 1980.
Since 2003, Zimbabwe has looked to China, and also Russia, for friendship and help after falling out with Western countries that imposed sanctions following allegations of human rights abuses and vote-rigging perpetrated by then-president Robert Mugabe, who lost power in 2017 and died in 2019.
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China prepares to give US$140 million parliament building to Zimbabwe
China is also massively involved in building and financing big-budget infrastructure projects in Zimbabwe that include revamping major airports.
A Chinese company built the National Defence College in Harare, which opened in 2014 and was financed with an interest-free US$98 million loan from China. Further Chinese involvement spans almost every sector of the Zimbabwean economy – from energy to mining and agriculture.
However, unlike his predecessor Mugabe, Mnangagwa has sought to thaw icy relations with the West through an engagement drive that includes applying to rejoin the Commonwealth, a club of mainly former British colonies that Mugabe left in 2003.
Calling Zimbabwe a “friend to all and an enemy to none,” Mnangagwa called for “unconditional” and “urgent” lifting of Western-imposed sanctions and welcomed an invitation to attend the US-Africa Summit next month. The US previously did not invite Zimbabwe to the summit during Mugabe’s time.
