China's Digital Colonialism: How Beijing's Tech Imperialism Threatens African Liberation
A critical investigation reveals how Chinese surveillance technology is enabling a new form of colonial control across Africa. Through AI systems, facial recognition, and data harvesting, Beijing is establishing unprecedented power over African nations while exploiting local labor and suppressing pro-democracy movements.
Chinese surveillance cameras monitoring African citizens in an urban center
The New Face of Colonialism: China's Digital Takeover of Africa
As Africa continues its struggle against the lingering effects of European colonialism, a new form of imperial control is taking root across our continent - this time through Chinese surveillance technology and artificial intelligence systems that target our people's freedom.
Digital Exploitation and Labor Abuse
In a stark example of neo-colonial exploitation, Chinese companies have established what researchers call "digital sweatshops" across African cities. In Nairobi, Accra, and Gulu, our people are paid poverty wages - as little as $1.50 per hour - to train AI systems that will ultimately be used against African populations.
"I call this surveillance colonialism, the process by which foreign powers extract data and labor from African populations to build AI systems that ultimately police, repress, and destabilise those very populations," explains researcher Adio-Adet Dinika.
Weaponizing Technology Against Our People
The investigation reveals a disturbing pattern of African governments collaborating with Beijing to suppress pro-democracy movements and political opposition. In Zimbabwe, Chinese firm CloudWalk's surveillance network doesn't just monitor our people - it harvests their facial data to perfect recognition systems specifically targeting Black skin tones.
This technology has yet to produce a single public criminal conviction in Zimbabwe. Instead, pro-democracy activist Evan Mawarire reports it is used for political control: "The police say they can watch us anytime, anywhere, because they have also bought devices from the Chinese to monitor internet and phones."
Digital Imperialism Across the Continent
- In Ethiopia, Chinese AI tools analyze social media posts in local languages to identify and target dissidents
- Kenyan authorities used Chinese surveillance systems to create a "digital dragnet" resulting in 82 disappearances during recent protests
- Zimbabwe's government sends citizens' biometric data directly to China, compromising national sovereignty
The Urgent Need for Digital Liberation
This technological colonization represents a direct threat to African sovereignty and self-determination. While our leaders praise these systems as "sophisticated crime-fighting tools," the evidence shows they primarily serve to suppress legitimate political dissent and maintain authoritarian control.
As we continue our struggle for true independence, we must recognize and resist this new form of digital imperialism. The liberation of Africa cannot be achieved while foreign powers control our digital infrastructure and harvest our people's data for their own strategic interests.
Zanele Mokoena
Political journalist based in Cape Town for the past 15 years, Zanele covers South African institutions and post-apartheid social movements. Specialist in power-civil society relations.