Award-winning Confucius Institute first in world to have local lecturers

By Kudzai Mashininga. The University of Zimbabwe Confucius Institute is set to become the only one in the world with local lecturers, at a time when it has received an award for being the best in Sub-Saharan Africa. Speaking at the award ceremony this month, Chinese ambassador to Zimbabwe Lin Lin said the Confucius Institute in the capital Harare started in 2006 with only 30 students but now has 700. He added that it was helping to spread Chinese culture.
The origins of the Confucius Institute can be traced to President Robert Mugabe’s ‘Look East’ policy, adopted after Western countries slapped sanctions on him and his inner circle in the wake of bloody 2002 presidential elections. Since then Western countries have denied study visas to the children of Mugabe’s ‘lieutenants’, with Australia going as far as expelling those already studying there.
China has filled the gap and it, together with Russia, opposed further sanctions at the United Nations, thereby thwarting actions that could have seen Mugabe toppled in the same manner as Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi. As a result, Mugabe sees the Asian giant as an all-weather friend and these good relations have seen the Confucius Institute thrive, with even Mugabe’s wife, Grace, learning the Chinese language. Read More...