THE mining activities currently taking place around the country, which have seen a proliferation in Chinese miners, have been described as “organised crime” amid concerns they leave communities where they operate from poor and underdeveloped.
The remarks were made by Centre for Natural Resource Governance founding director Farai Maguwu during a virtual discussion organised by Bubi Community Parliament last week.
Maguwu was an invited guest in the discussion that focused on environmental management and degradation in Bubi district.
“Mining that is conducted in Zimbabwe is organised crime, it is not really formal. In terms of mines that started operating after the year 2000, the one that I think is a demonstration of unit of environmental social or governance risk is Zimplats,” Maguwu said.
“If you go to Zimplats you will realise that they have invested in the road infrastructure, they have built a town such that even if Zimplats is said to have ceased operations in Zimbabwe, that settlement will continue to exist.
“They have built houses for their staff, it is actually a town that they have built. But those coming from China, they have no intention to stay here, they have no intention to transform the place from the way they found it and turn it into a better place."
He added: "The difference between the criminal and an investor is that an investor improves the place and leaves it a better place than they found it. If you look at towns like Shurugwi and Zvishavane, they were built due to mining. Bindura, Hwange, they built that town from coal and today we have Hwange town because of mining. But for criminals, what they leave are pits, some of these miners cannot even build toilets for their employees.
Until recently, what you heard Christopher Mutsvangwa [Zanu PF spokesperson] saying the biggest steel plant in Africa — Manhize, there were no toilets, workers would go to the bush to relieve themselves."
Maguwu said such situations denoted that these mining companies were not real but a network of criminals.
"They do not invest in people, the environment and the future. Marange is a sad story, there is nothing in Marange, the roads are bad, the clinic staff quarters are dilapidated,” he said.
Maguwu said the working conditions in most mining companies were appalling, adding that some of the workers supplement their income through stealing from their employers.
The remarks come at a time when a research by Public Policy and Research Institute of Zimbabwe’s Ronald Chipaike revealed that there has been an upsurge in Chinese investment in Zimbabwe especially in mining.
He revealed that the Zimbabwe Investment Development Agency in 2023 licensed 247 Chinese companies to operate in the country with the majority of them in mining, followed by agriculture, service sector, construction and other sectors.
