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Stealing Africa is the documentary movie directed by C. Guldbrandsen, and filmed in 2012. It shows how Glencore, the Swiss company, operates with Zambian copper mining and manipulates its taxes, which are the primary way of getting revenue from copper for Zambia. The movies thesis is that multinational companies like Glencore are stealing from African countries and damaging countries economics and the environment.
The documentary sheds light on the significant reason for Zambias poverty its copper mining and abroad selling. Glencore, the Swiss company, has its copper minings in Zambia, and, although it is good for the developing country to have jobs from the multinational partner, the damage from mining is not worth the revenue. The movie shows Glencores illegal actions from the past with the suspicious audit and taxing facts of the present. The story also includes Zambian vice president G.Scott who fights with the consequences of mining and reviews the problems Zambia discovers, such as unemployment, pollution, and poverty. Zambia loses out from its copper mining because $3B worth copper produced gives only $50M tax revenue for Zambia while it paid $150M to provide the extraction with electricity.
The intended audience of Stealing Africa might be people who work for non-profit organizations related to African issues, or international business people who might find Glencorps actions a bad business example. The purpose of the movie is, undoubtedly, to draw attention to Zambias poverty problems as the country suffers because of the external influence of the foreign company. C. Guldbrandsen states that rich countries such as Switzerland keep developing countries like Zambia dependent by setting transfer and resource pricing.
The director did vast research about the Zambian economic situation as well as Glencores operations of the last fifty years; he interviewed politics, business people, journalists, and Zambian citizens to create a clear view of the situation. C. Guldbrandsen highlights that copper mining of Glencore called Mopani causes air and water pollution, and the number of citizens affected by it is a hundredfold more than allowed by Worlds Health Organization (WHO). The reason why Zambia is in such a situation is also provided in the movie: in the 2000s, the country was too poor to even get a loan from anywhere, and selling Zambian minings was the only way of getting money. The privatization sounded good, but now Zambia has to spend money on cleaning the water, healthcare, and other consequences of the pollution. G.Scott claims that this money could be spent on education and jobs creating instead.
Glencore has tricky ways of transferring the copper so that it lowers the taxes, which are Zambias revenue. Moreover, there are transfer pricing manipulations with the copper: Zambian copper bought by Swiss traders is never shipped to Switzerland; much of it is sold in transit, often from bonded warehouses. (Dobler, Kesselring, 2019, p. 227). In 2008, Zambia set its fixed taxes, and many companies refused to keep working with the country. Glencore stayed, yet it illegally set the prices for copper, and Zambia couldnt afford fighting it.
Stealing Africa is a bright example of the relationship between the rich company and the developing African country. Zambias desperate economic situation made the country depend on Glencore, although the company promised the countrys jobs and growth. Such companies as Glencore are stealing African countries wealth and damaging countries environment affecting the citizens. People of Africa have to survive instead of improving their lives, and the foreign companies impact on it must be reduced.
References
Dobler, G., Kesselring, R. (2019). Swiss extractivism: Switzerlands role in Zambias copper sector. The Journal of Modern African Studies, 57(2), 223-245. Web.
Guldbrandsen C. (2012) Stealing Africa [Film]. Guldbrandsen Film.
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