Page 1 of 7
Journal for Studies in Management and Planning
Available at
http://edupediapublications.org/journals/index.php/JSMaP/
ISSN: 2395-0463
Volume 04 Issue 03
March 2018
Available online: http://edupediapublications.org/journals/index.php/JSMaP/ P a g e | 11
Staffing and Working Conditions of
Employees in Chinese Restaurants in
Zimbabwe: Justifiable?
1Cleopas Njerekai & 2Rudorwashe Wushe
Midlands State University, Department of Tourism and Hospitality Management, Batanai
Complex, P. Bag 9055, Gweru, Zimbabwe.
E-mails- njerekaic@gmail.com or njerekaic@msu.ac.zw and ruebaipai@gmail.com
ABSTRACT
This paper tests the validity of a barrage of grossly unfair labour practices levelled against
Chinese investments in many African countries including Zimbabwe by extant literature and
claims by ordinary citizens in the continent. The researchers noted that these labour mal- practices were mainly based on studies in the mining, construction, agriculture, transport,
clothing and telecommunications sectors and was left wondering how manifest and justifiable they
were in Chinese restaurant investments in Zimbabwe whose visibility had highly increased in the
last decade. A survey of 9 out of 10 registered Chinese restaurants was undertaken and 54 key
informant employees were the research respondents. Researcher administered questionnaires and
direct observation were the key data collection methods. This research demonstrated that most of
the labour mal-practices levelled against Chinese investments in Zimbabwe were actually
justifiable in the prevailing operating environment in country. The research suggests that further
research be carried out to determine the overall multiplier effects of these Chinese restaurants to
the country.
Key words: Chinese restaurants, labour mal-practices, staffing, working conditions, Employees,
and Zimbabwe.
1.1 Introduction and background to the
study
China is the world’s 2nd largest economy by
nominal GDP and the world’s largest
economy by purchasing power parity (IMF
Report 2013). The country has therefore
become one of the fastest and most powerful
economies in the world today. The country
now dominates foreign direct investment in
many economies across the globe and
especially in Africa (Taylor (2007), Okenda
(2009), Chakanya and Muchichwa (2009),
Page 2 of 7
Journal for Studies in Management and Planning
Available at
http://edupediapublications.org/journals/index.php/JSMaP/
ISSN: 2395-0463
Volume 04 Issue 03
March 2018
Available online: http://edupediapublications.org/journals/index.php/JSMaP/ P a g e | 12
Sachikonye (2009)). This increasing
dominance of Chinese investments has
prompted many researchers to scrutinize
their operations including their labour
practices. As an example, Okenda (2009) in
his studies of Chinese mining investments in
Katanga in the Democratic Republic of
Congo, concluded that Chinese companies
lacked transparency and violated several
norms and standards relating to corporate
governance and employment codes. Taylor
(2007) in his studies of Chinese investments
in other African countries concurred with
Okenda and explained that these labour
malpractices could explain why information
on Chinese commercial activities in Africa
was mysterious and inaccessible. In
Zimbabwe, the growing trend of Chinese
investments in the country has also prompted
researchers such as Chakanya and
Muchichwa (2009) to conduct inter-sectorial
analysis of Chinese investments in the
country. Their analysis and other
investigations by other researchers in other
countries revealed serious labour mal- practices by Chinese investors which are
summarized in table 1. More references to
these practices will be made in the findings
and discussion section of this paper.
Table 1: Summary of labour mal-practices
levelled against Chinese investments
The researcher noted that, these labour mal- practices were mainly based on studies in the
mining, construction, agriculture, transport,
clothing and telecommunications sectors and
was left wondering how manifest and
justifiable they were in Chinese restaurant
investments in Zimbabwe whose visibility
had highly increased in the last decade. This
information gap prompted the writing of this
paper.
1.2 Tourism and Chinese restaurant
investments in Zimbabwe
Tourism is one of the key economic drivers
of the Zimbabwean economy today.
Currently, the industry is contributing about
10% to Gross Domestic Product (GDP). By
2020, the sector is expected to contribute
more than 15% to GDP, generate up to
US$1.8 billion in foreign currency earnings
and increase tourists arrivals from the current
2.5 million to 3.2 million by the end of 2015
(Zimbabwe Tourism Policy Document
2014). However, a flashback on the
industry’s performance reveals that, since
1964 and as shown in figure1, tourist arrivals
to the country have been on a positive
growth path though dented here and there by
some negative events in the country.
Figure 1: Tourist arrivals to Zimbabwe since
1964
Figure 1 further shows that the greatest dent
was felt at the turn of the century, when the
country’s image was heavily tarnished by
political and socio-economic challenges
triggered by the land reform program. In the
ensuing decade (2000-2010), the country’s
tourism and hospitality industry had a zig- zag performance underlain inter-alia, by
heightened negative publicity, travel
warnings, economic sanctions, stratospheric
inflation, pre & post-election violence,
disease outbreaks and a drastic decline in
tourist arrivals from major traditional
western source markets.
Page 3 of 7
Journal for Studies in Management and Planning
Available at
http://edupediapublications.org/journals/index.php/JSMaP/
ISSN: 2395-0463
Volume 04 Issue 03
March 2018
Available online: http://edupediapublications.org/journals/index.php/JSMaP/ P a g e | 13
In response to these developments, the
country adopted a “Look East Policy” in
2003 whose idea was to cultivate closer ties
with Asian states such as China, Indonesia,
Iran, Malaysia and North Korea who also
had hostile relations with the western states.
Today, the ‘Look East Policy” and the
pursuance of a ‘made-in-China’ future have
made China, the country’s number one
investor across almost all sectors of the
country’s economy. The improved relations
emanating from this trade policy shift
culminated in the signing of a tourism
agreement on June 15 2004 which opened
doors for more Chinese nationals to travel to
Zimbabwe. In the same year, China granted
Zimbabwe the “Approved Destination
Status,” a recognition which has contributed
to the 165 % increase in Chinese tourist
arrivals to the country recorded in 2013
(ZTA Report 2013). According to this ZTA
report, this trend is expected to continue well
beyond 2020 and therefore the country
expects more and more Chinese nationals to
visit the country. In the words of the Minister
of Tourism and Hospitality in Zimbabwe, the
country targets to host 2 million Chinese
visitors every week. This explains why The
Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA) is
encouraging local tour guides to speak
Chinese (Mandarin) and tourism and
hospitality training institutions in the country
are also being encouraged to include Chinese
in their curricula.
Since the establishment of these conducive
diplomatic ties between the two countries, a
number of Chinese restaurants have sprout
up mainly in Harare, the country’s capital
city and there is a possibility that more and
more of these will be established in the
foreseeable future. According to the ZTA list
of registered facilities of 2014, there are now
10 registered Chinese restaurants in
Zimbabwe, 9 in Harare and 1 in Bulawayo. It
is interesting to note that these Chinese
restaurants are increasing in number, at a
time when other foreign and local restaurants
are struggling and contemplating
retrenchments and closures. As an example,
in an audit carried out by this author in 2013,
it was revealed that 15 out of the 61
restaurants in Bulawayo alone were
contemplating closing down.
This increasing visibility of Chinese
restaurants in the Zimbabwean Hospitality
landscape and the labour malpractices
alluded to in section 1.1 of this paper,
prompted the researcher to undertake this
study. The research is guided by the belief
that the Chinese investor labour mal- practices documented by extant literature and
upheld by many ordinary citizens in Africa
and elsewhere could actually be justifiable if
contextualized to the prevailing operating
environments in which they are extracted.
3. Methodology
Chinese restaurants are a recent phenomenon
in Zimbabwe as most of the restaurants were
introduced in the last decade. This study was
therefore exploratory in nature as very little
is known in this area of study. The study
populations consisted of all the 10 registered
sit-in Chinese restaurants in the country and
their employees. 9 out of the 10 restaurants
constituted the actual study units as one of
the restaurants, Kimfu Restaurant could not
