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When Scholars Talk About How Effective China Is at “Elite Capture” in Africa, This Is It What It Looks Like

by Eric Olander

In her 2020 book “Shaping the Future of Power,” Wake Forest University China-Africa scholar Lina Benabdallah showed how China has been extremely effective in so-called “elite capture” among Africa’s governing class. As an academic theory, it’s intriguing but often hard to visualize.

Well, a Twitter post this week by Namibian ambassador to China Elia George Kaiyamo provides a vivid example of what it looks like in real life.

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