{"id":7153,"date":"2019-04-08T18:16:38","date_gmt":"2019-04-08T18:16:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.com\/zimbabwe\/?p=7153"},"modified":"2019-04-08T18:16:38","modified_gmt":"2019-04-08T18:16:38","slug":"chinese-companies-tear-down-zimbabwes-environment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.cc\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/chinese-companies-tear-down-zimbabwes-environment","title":{"rendered":"Chinese Companies Tear Down Zimbabwe\u2019s Environment"},"content":{"rendered":"

MUTARE, Zimbabwe\u2014The environmental impacts by some Chinese companies operating in Zimbabwe can only be described as catastrophic, according to leading environmentalist and human rights activist Farai Maguwu.<\/p>\n

Maguwu told The Epoch Times that some Chinese companies don\u2019t even have proper licenses to operate in Zimbabwe.<\/p>\n

And as such, these companies are leaving trails of immense environmental degradation across the country, particularly those in the extractive sector like gold, diamond, and chrome mining.<\/p>\n

Villagers in affected areas have claimed that some Chinese companies were discharging toxic waste in their sources of water resulting in human diseases, a drop in crop yields, deaths of livestock, and dwindling fish in the rivers.\u00a0 Some villagers said tailings from the mines were clogging dams and rivers and affecting availability of water for irrigation.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

In Marange diamond fields, these allegations were vindicated by a scientific research done by the University of Zimbabwe and commissioned by the Zimbabwe Environmental Law Association (ZELA) which proved that there were high levels of toxic waste in the rivers.<\/p>\n

\u201c[Some Chinese companies] are guests of powerful politicians [in Zimbabwe] and this was well covered in the 2013\u00a0 Chininga report [by the Zimbabwe Parliament Portfolio Committee on Mines Energy chaired by the late Edward Chindori Chininga],\u201d said Maguwu, a director for the research and advocacy NGO, Centre for Natural Resource Governance (CNRG). The NGO is fighting to promote good governance in natural resources.<\/p>\n

As\u00a0reported previously by The Epoch Times<\/a>, Zimbabwean legislator Prosper Mutseyami also alleged that Chinese companies enjoyed protection from the government as China is currently the biggest investor in Zimbabwe.<\/p>\n

Mutseyami, a chief whip for the opposition party Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) in Zimbabwe\u2019s House of Assembly, said the government was afraid to anger China, which is among the few countries currently supporting the Zimbabwean government.<\/p>\n

In the past few years China has availed loans and grants to the Zimbabwean government for various infrastructural projects including the expansion of Robert Mugabe International Airport and for upgrading the country\u2019s electricity power plants in Kariba and Hwange.<\/p>\n

The southeast African country is expecting to receive even more loans and grants under China\u2019s ambitious infrastructure plan, the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).<\/p>\n

\u2018Protection from the Government\u2019
\nIn 2013, Professor Sheunesu Mpepereki, who was the chairman of the Environmental Management Agency (EMA)\u2014an arm of government mandated to protect the environment\u2014was shocked when he came face to face with the operations of some Chinese companies in the country\u2019s Matabeleland South province.<\/p>\n

During that time many irrigation schemes in the semi-arid region had shut down due to siltation of major rivers and dams in the area by activities of some Chinese companies. This resulted in a precarious food situation in this semi arid region. The siltation of water sources also affected water supplies to urban centers in the province while livestock farmers in the region who depend on the rivers for water were affected.<\/p>\n

But Maguwu said even Zimbabwe\u2019s Environmental Management Agency had no power to deal with Chinese companies due to the impunity they enjoy.<\/p>\n

\u201cCommunities can\u2019t stop the Chinese because they have the protection from the government,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Repeated efforts to get a comment from the Environmental Management Agency were fruitless as the agency\u2019s spokesperson, Steady Kangata, could not respond to email or Whatsapp messages from The Epoch Times.<\/p>\n

But Maguwu said massive environmental degradation by Chinese companies were evident in various parts of the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the same in Marange, their [mining] concession has no limit; they were permanently expanding their concession, thereby encroaching onto other people\u2019s land. In Hwange they are accused of taking people\u2019s land without due process,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Marange added his organization was educating communities in non-violent resistance to destructive mining activities by the Chinese companies.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are planning a huge protest in Marange to force the government to withdraw Anjin Investments from the area,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Anjin Investments, a diamond company partly owned by the Chinese, will return to mine diamonds in Marange area but local people are against the move.<\/p>\n

Before Anjin Investments was booted out of Marange diamond fields by former Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe\u2019s government in 2015, villagers and human rights activists accused the company of various human rights violations and evasion of paying taxes and royalties.<\/p>\n

Francis Danha, a leader of the opposition political party, the 1980 Freedom Movement, said the best way to deal with Chinese companies flouting environmental laws in Zimbabwe is by exposing their activities through investigative journalism.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need active journalism which clearly outlines their [Chinese companies] activities as well as exposing them,\u201d Danha said.<\/p>\n

Danha alleges that it was hopeless to approach corrupt the African governance systems when violations are exposed because they are puppets of China and paid to protect Chinese interests.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MUTARE, Zimbabwe\u2014The environmental impacts by some Chinese companies operating in Zimbabwe can only be described as catastrophic, according to leading environmentalist and human rights activist Farai Maguwu. Maguwu told The Epoch Times that some Chinese companies don\u2019t even have proper licenses to operate in Zimbabwe. And as such, these companies are leaving trails of immense […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":7157,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[471,337,546,320],"class_list":{"0":"post-7153","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-all-news","8":"category-community","9":"tag-china","10":"tag-environment","11":"tag-hwange","12":"tag-relations"},"yoast_head":"\nChinese Companies Tear Down Zimbabwe\u2019s Environment - zimbabwe<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/chinese-companies-tear-down-zimbabwes-environment\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Chinese Companies Tear Down Zimbabwe\u2019s Environment\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"MUTARE, Zimbabwe\u2014The environmental impacts by some Chinese companies operating in Zimbabwe can only be described as catastrophic, according to leading environmentalist and human rights activist Farai Maguwu. 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