Security agents invade villages to protect Chinese steelmaker
Nathan Guma
Mvuma–What started off as a demonstration has turned into a nightmare for residents of Mushenjere Village in rural Mvuma, Midlands province.
Last June, scores of villagers demonstrated against water and air pollution caused by Dinson Iron and Steel Company (Disco), a Chinese company whose steel-making plant is considered among the biggest in Africa.
Instead of Disco and the government taking heed of the villagers’ grievances, the area has now been sealed off by security agents to prevent further disturbances.
The hard muscle response has exposed how Zimbabwe’s security sector is being used to protect Chinese investments as host communities suffer environmental, socio-economic, labour and human rights abuses associated with the projects.
Steel mirage
The government has hailed the US$1,5 billion Disco steel project as an economic game changer, but villagers in Mushenjere, Kwayedza and other nearby communities view it as one of those resource curses linked to Chinese investments in Zimbabwe.
While the Disco plant is located in Mvuma, extraction of iron ore is done in around Tradou Farm in Chivhu in Manicaland province.
Close to the ore reserves, hundreds of families face eviction, with only six having so far been relocated to Singleton Farm in the same district.
Disco, a local subsidiary of Chinese firm Tsingshan, has been touted as Africa’s largest integrated steel plant, but displacements have plunged victims into abject poverty, amid indications of serious food insecurity.
Since August 2021, more than 100 families from Manhize’s Mushenjere Village have lost their land to Disco operations, with the villagers now struggling to access clean water while suffering from massive dust pollution, according to data by the Center for Research and Development (CRD).
At least 1, 170 hectares of farmland have been taken from Mushenjere households.
In June, the villagers blocked Disco trucks from accessing the plant, in protest against degrading treatment including arbitrary acquisition of their farmland without compensation, the resultant hunger and immense dust pollution.
However, since the protest, villagers are now living in fear and their freedom of movement has been severely restricted as living conditions continue to worsen.
“Right now, it is difficult for me to move around within the area. We cannot attend meetings. I cannot do anything, even cattle herding,” said Nomore Mhike, a villager from Manhize who led the villagers’ petition to the company and Lands ministry.
“After we registered out complaints through a letter, the whole issue was politicised. We are now being (labelled) opposition members who are being trained to destabilise the country. I was accused (by security agents) of taking people from Mutare to be trained by the West. Since then, our names have been removed from social welfare programmes,” he said.
“We have been under surveillance from that time. Village leaders and others have been instructed to monitor our movements. For two months, we were staying in the mountains. At some point, we were raided. We were accused of training people in Mutare to harass the government. After the raid, some suspected security agents threatened us,” Mhike told NewsHub.
Plainclothes
Because they operate in plainclothes and do not identify themselves, it is difficult to identify which security arm the agents are from.
Mhike said the company has not heeded their calls for reduced dust emission.
“We are now suffering because our land was taken from us. The only thing we were left with are our houses. We are facing a serious challenge with dust.
“We have tried engaging health officials, but to no avail. We consulted the company (Disco), but it did nothing much,” he added.
“We held a meeting with the company to air our grievances. We told them how they had destroyed our farms and requested compensation for our crops
“After that, we were approached by a government delegation that including the district coordinator, village heads and state agents, who accused us of bad intentions for demonstrating,” said Mhike.
The Disco human resources manager, Joseph Shoko, however dismissed allegations of State security agents invading the area.
“There has been no security situation. We have always been engaging with the villagers. There might have been some misunderstandings amongst the villagers and their leadership, but I am unaware.
“We are building houses for the villagers, and they are going to be relocated very soon. We are also giving them US$200 (per household) every month, which we think is fair,” Shoko said.
However, the villagers dismissed the claim of monthly payouts.
The villagers face relocation, but the company, which they accuse of not having consulted them when they set up the plant as required by the Environmental Management Act, has not informed them of how that will be done, it was established.
The villagers are also facing acute water shortages, with the project setters offloading sewage into Munyati River that runs through the area and has been a source of drinking water for people in Mushenjere village.
“This sewage comes from the Chinese residence in the area and a compound housing a few relocated people. At least five people have lost their livestock, which fell into the sewer ponds and open pits,” added Mhike.
Relocations
At least thirty-two families face eviction from Inhoek Farm where Mushenjere village is located, where they were allocated land under the fast track land reform programme that started in 2000 as a government exercise to empower blacks through resettlements.
On 9 February, seven women with babies and one man were whisked away from Mushenjere Village on Inhoek Farm in Manhize by four state security agents and driven to Mvuma Police Station where they were detained for the night for alleged illegal settlement.
Twelve others were arrested and appeared at the magistrates’ court in Mvuma on 14 February on the same charge of illegal settlement.
The residents are children of permit holders who have been living on Manhize’s Inhoek Farm for 40 years but the permits that they have been using have no specific tenure, leaving the villagers insecure.
A day before the arrests, the Mvuma district development coordinator, Jorum Chimedza, accompanied by plainclothes operatives and officials from the Lands ministry, held a meeting with villagers in Mushenjere.
Before that, this publication was informed, the delegation had spent more than four hours in a meeting with Disco management.
Chimedza, who could not be reached for a comment, is reported to have told farmers that their children had occupied land illegally and must return to the area allocated to them in 1984.
A named aide of a local chief in the adjacent Midlands province reportedly accused the villagers of engaging in opposition politics.
Chimedza is reported to have told farmers that their children had occupied land illegally and must return to the area allocated to them in 1984.
A named aide of a local chief in the adjacent Midlands province reportedly accused the villagers of engaging in opposition politics.
He is said to have threatened the Mushenjere villagers with violence for allegedly working with the opposition.
The permit holders at Mushenjere have for the past two months been locked up in a wrangle with Disco to negotiate compensation for the loss of livelihood opportunities due to Disco’s operations.
The farmers have also been demanding a monthly food basket of between US$300 and US$500 for each household to sustain their lives whilst awaiting relocation, but the company is resisting the demand.
Food crisis
On 23 January this year, it was established, Dinson delivered a paltry two kilogrammmes of flour, 10kgs of mealie-meal, two litres of cooking oil, two kilogrammes of laundry soap and 500 grammes of salt worth US$14 per household in Mushenjere Village, a move seen by villagers as an attempt to placate them.
In March, permit holders were given US$200 each, but only ahead of a visit by the first lady, Auxillia Mnangagwa.
Disco built houses for only 14 families at the nearby Rusununguko Farm in 2022 but most of the affected households were not catered for.
Locals believe the company has been creating harsh living conditions for them so that they can leave without compensation.
Loss of farming land
Disco is already erecting a wall to enclose farmland and pastures, further shutting out families at Mushenjere Village.
A total of 138 families from Kwaedza Village are also facing a similar predicament as Disco has already pegged off their area.
The loss of grazing land to Dinson has caused despair among farmers and forced them to sell their cattle at giveaway prices.
The villagers mainly originated from the poor and densely populated communal areas of Rukovere, Mahusvu, Masasa, Unyetu villages of Chikomba district in Mashonaland East province.