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Chris Erasmus
Chris Erasmus
Cape Town, South Africa

South Africa is facing numerous challenges including unemployment, xenophobia and high levels of violent crime. Despite these problems, Chinese in South Africa remain largely optimistic about the country’s future.

The next time a criminal suspect is apprehended by a Johannesburg police officer, it may well be because of a martial arts-style kick to the knees, one of numerous non-lethal techniques taught by Chinese policing and unarmed combat experts.

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A blockbuster inquiry into corruption in South Africa is examining a deal with a Chinese train company that blew out to US$3.75 billion, and ‘success fees’ allegedly paid to firms linked to a billionaire family associated with the country’s scandal-plagued ex-president.

At Orkney, in South Africa’s North West province, gold miners are staging a sit-in strike nearly 3km underground against a wage decision made by the troubled mine’s Chinese owners. They have been there since Saturday.

In a bid to continue to strengthen ties with China, the country’s largest trading partner, many South Africans are being taught the subtleties of Chinese language and etiquette.

A courtroom showdown over “genocidal hate speech”, labelling Chinese people living in South Africa as the “scum of the Earth”, is underway in Johannesburg.