China taken to task, but will they listen?

The Chinese, aided and abetted by local politicians and business people, rip up the landscape with no care for the sanctity of eco-protected areas or nearby communities and schools overcome with suffocating clouds of dirt and dust and the dangerous reek of noxious chemicals.

Conservationists have submitted a damning report to Chinese authorities asking for immediate action to rein in destruction across the country that desecrates Zimbabwe’s natural beauty and tourism potential.

No mining investment, regardless of the nationality of its owners, should be permitted to operate above the law or at the expense of the safety, dignity and environmental rights of local communities, says the Centre for National Resource Governance.

Chinese companies should meet the same standards of responsibility and legal compliance that would reasonably be expected within China itself, the group continues. Would the blasting and ravaging of sites of comparable national, cultural or ecological significance be permitted in China?

Precious countryside vistas here bear the scars of massive and intensive mining, using heavy digging machinery, for gold, lithium and other precious materials. While these activities ‘involve politically connected and influential Zimbabwean individuals and entities’  Chinese involvement cannot be ignored, says CNRG.

It is difficult to reconcile the destruction of environmentally and culturally significant landscapes with the principles of friendship, solidarity and mutual respect that underpin Zimbabwe-China relations, the group goes on in diplomatic-speak passed on, in theory at least, to Beijing through the Chinese embassy in Harare. Much of the stolen wealth is smuggled out without going into the national fiscus.

Left: Chinese ambassador Ding Zhou greets ruling party secretary general Jacob Mudenda at its annual congress last week, demonstrating the fraternal relations and diplomatic and economic cooperation between the two nations, the party said.

To those familiar with  geography, the great striations of newly created wastelands range from Christmas Pass, the once breathtaking descent in the eastern highlands to the city of Mutare and the Mozambique border, to nearby Penhalonga and the Mutare river basin, west to Shurugwe and the sacred Botorekwa mountains, north to the Mavuradonha Wilderness declared a National Monument in 2017. The list  is endless.

Local communities report cracked walls in homes and buildings from reverberating mining explosions, choking air pollution, fears of cyanide and mercury poisoning, blockages of rivers and streams, the hazard of unsafe mine shafts and open cast digs left open, increased soil erosion, the displacement of wildlife and the total lack of ‘rehabilitation’ of exploited sites left in ruin.

China is a world geo-political force to be reckoned with. Latest estimates put the number of Chinese nationals in Zimbabwe at around 300,000, more than the white minority at independence in 1980. It is no secret that many of them, like many Russians, don’t warm to black people yet scores arrive at Harare airport each week. (Left)

A Chinese employer smashes his tea service after a local labourer borrows a teacup and uses it to drink water from an outside tap thus contaminating the porcelain crockery.  Aside from mining, the Chinese are involved in huge building projects. Many reside in barracks-type complexes springing up in towns and villages. Their intolerance of local office staff and workers is well documented.

Aron (not his real name) works at a gold dig near Masvingo in the south. Big black cars arrive every evening to collect gold that has been retrieved that day. The workers sleep under open skies and receive a pittance to buy food and essentials that attract destitute village girls willing to sell sex.

Yes, China is putting in investment cash on generous lending terms but, as seen elsewhere on the continent, if the loans aren’t repaid in time China assumes ownership.

Two Chinese are caught with cocaine. They are fined US$150 each and deported. A local Rastafarian found with a little local cannabis is sent to jail for three years.

Endnote: The mysterious death in a helicopter crash of millionaire Wicknell Chivayo has sent shock waves through the political classes who benefitted from gifts of cars and cash from him. The remains of the man who favoured Gucci fashion accessories were collected in black plastic bin bags. His head was not found. Was deeply rooted superstition and sorcery involved? There is one belief he might not be dead after all. This saga is far from over.