ESWATINI BUSINESSPEOPLE’S CHINA BLOW

MBABANE – Local businesspeople who purchase their stock from the Republic of China (Mainland) have been dealt a huge blow.

Having bought flight tickets to travel to Mainland China to get products for their businesses, about 30 emaSwati business owners got the shock of their lives when they learned that China had pulled the plug and allegedly taken a stance not to issue out visas to emaSwati because the East Asian country didn’t have trade agreements or bilateral relations with the Kingdom of Eswatini.

This is said to have taken the businesspeople aback because for many years, they did not have any trouble travelling to the Asian country to purchase their stock. Many emaSwati who sell up-market clothing, bathroom finishings and upholstery source their stock from Mainland China.
The visa restriction is what the local businesspeople said was communicated to them when they travelled to South Africa, in Sandton where the Chinese Embassy is situated but it is subject for confirmation.

Festive

The shocking news came at a time when a lot of local businesspeople had run out of stock owing to the busy festive season period that recently ended and they were on the verge of taking a trip to the Xi Jingpin led country to get new stock.

One of the businesspeople affected by the stance taken by China said this was a very serious matter that affected a lot of entrepreneurs in the country. She said a majority of the stock traders acquired their products from China because the prices were very affordable and there was almost everything that a businessperson could want to get from the Chinese markets.

“Words cannot express what we as businesspeople are going through right now. This has very bad implications on the economy of the country and the business fraternity at large. A majority of the businesspeople were getting their stock from China and I can tell you now, a lot of businesses will shut down after this,” she narrated.

The businesswoman, who spoke on condition of anonymity, submitted that they had bought return flight tickets to China and the cheapest was E7 000. However, she stated that they came at different prices depending on the flight one utilised and she mentioned that some can shoot up as high as E11 000. This means combined, the people lost a minimum E210 000 and maximum E330 000 in flight tickets.

She said when they enquired whether they would be reimbursed after being told that they would not be getting visas, they were told that they won’t get their money back.

She said almost all stock items were available on the Chinese market and that included gadgets like TV sets, cellphones, computers and laptops. Other items that they got were clothing, blankets, shoes, decor, cutlery, wedding dresses, car parts and toys.

Prices

“There is nothing that one wouldn’t get on the market in China apart from the affordable prices that we paid for the items. We travelled with prominent figures who own big businesses and this would cripple a lot of these people,” she said.

When quizzed how many trips she took to China annually for the stock, she said it was quarterly travels for her as she would travel at least four times a year.
She said buying online was not an option as the items one would order didn’t come the exact way they were ordered. She said it would either come at a larger size than the one on the website or the colour would be different.

“The best way to get what one wanted was to go to China in person. Online shopping is just not ideal,” she said. Another businesswoman, who also had a trip lined up to China to get stock, shared that they didn’t have any problems acquiring the visas before until on Tuesday when it was communicated to them that they won’t be allowed into China anymore.
“Government should intervene on this and try to engage China on the matter because the country’s economy will be greatly affected if the matter is not dealt with diplomatically between the two States,” she said.

Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Thuli Dladla said it was news to her that China had taken such a stance. However, she did acknowledge that the two nations didn’t have either trade agreements or bilateral relations, hence it was in their discretion to pull the plug. She said government’s hands were tied regarding this matter for the simple reason, that there were no formal communication platforms between the two countries.

“There is no communication floor between these two countries, hence nothing formal has been communicated to us regarding this matter. Once we get a correspondence from China, which is very unlikely, we would take the matter up and try to engage them but for now, our hands are tied because there is no formal communication platform between Eswatini and China,” she said.
Engage
Dladla said the businesspeople also needed to engage relevant structures like the Ministry of Home Affairs, which dealt with visas and also their official bodies that they affiliated to so that they could have an input at a high level on how best the issue can be tackled. When asked if this was a politically influenced decision given the relationship that Eswatini has with the Republic of China (Taiwan), whose relationship with Mainland China is still challenged, Dladla said she wouldn’t know and she wouldn’t want to give responses based on assumptions.

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