THE sun rises over the Mutoko district in Zimbabwe, but it no longer illuminates a fertile landscape.
Instead, it exposes a Martian scene of gaping pits, stripped hills, and a fine, white granite dust that coats everything; homes, crops and the lungs of children.
This is the legacy of decades of quarrying, largely by Chinese-owned companies, for the black granite prized in kitchens and hotels worldwide.
For communities here, the promised “development” has meant cracked homes from blasting, dried-up wells and a pittance in compensation. Mutoko is not an anomaly; it is a stark microcosm of a continent-wide crisis.
As China’s economic force advances, its insatiable appetite for minerals; from lithium in Zimbabwe and cobalt in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to iron ore in Guinea; has made it Africa’s single largest mining partner.
This relationship is often framed as a win-win, infrastructure for resources. Yet, in reality, the balance of power is disturbingly crooked, and the “win” for African nations is shrouded in debt, degradation and despair.
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The urgent question is no longer whether China will mine in Africa, but on whose terms? Africa, and Zimbabwe in particular, desperately needs a robust, enforceable continental policy framework to govern these activities. Our sovereignty, our environment, and our people’s dignity depend on it.
The environmental footprint is catastrophic and meticulously documented.
In Zimbabwe, investigations by groups, such as the Centre for Natural Resource Governance, reveal that Chinese lithium mines in Kamativi and Goromonzi often operate without approved Environmental Impact Assessment certificates.
The result? Acid mine drainage poisoning waterways, deforestation and the reckless use of hazardous chemicals such as cyanide, which leach into soil and groundwater.
In the DRC, a global heart of cobalt supply, studies have linked unregulated mining to severe birth defects and respiratory illnesses in communities near tailing dams.
The human cost is equally devastating. The model frequently follows a predictable pattern:
Secrecy and exclusion: Deals are struck in capital cities with minimal community consultation, violating the principle of Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC) as outlined in the African Charter.
Displacement and loss: Families are forcibly removed from ancestral lands with inadequate or no compensation. In Mhondoro Ngezi, Zimbabwe, communities were evicted to make way for coal mining, losing not just homes but sacred cultural sites.
Labour exploitation: Reports of dire working conditions are rampant. From the mines of Chiredzi to the tunnels of Zambia’s Copperbelt, workers, often with no formal contracts, face perilous conditions, unsafe tunnels, and wages as low as US$5 a day. Fatalities are underreported, and protest is met with intimidation.
Security and violence: Chinese-operated mines frequently employ private security forces accused of human rights violations. The 2020 shooting of Zimbabwean miners in Hwange by guards linked to a Chinese-owned coal mine is a chilling example of the lethal impunity that can prevail.
The dual threat
China is a supremely strategic and disciplined actor, filling the void with a clear-eyed focus on its own needs: securing critical minerals for its industries and expanding its geopolitical footprint. This dynamic is nowhere more dangerous than in the twin arenas of mining and debt.
The mineral give-away
In our mines, the absence of robust national policies has allowed environmental degradation, fiscal evasion, and minimal local benefit to become commonplace.
We see rivers polluted, revenues “mysteriously dwindling” via transfer pricing, and enclave projects that employ more imported labour than local youth.
We are giving away our non-renewable wealth without building our own future.
The debt shackles
Simultaneously, our treasuries are being shackled by debt contracts. While the “debt-trap” narrative is often dismissed as Western alarmism, the risk is real.
Confidential clauses, the collateralisation of strategic assets, such as ports or mineral rights, and loans tied exclusively to Chinese contractors all limit our future policy space. When the next economic shock hits, this debt will not be forgiving.
Zimbabwe stands as a cautionary tale. Shut out from traditional lenders, it has leaned heavily into Chinese financing and mining deals. The short-term infrastructure gains are visible, but the long-term cost, shrouded terms and a growing debt burden, is a perfect example of a nation negotiating from weakness.
The policy vacuum
The core of the problem is a strategic and regulatory vacuum. African nations, many burdened by debt and eager for investment, negotiate bilaterally from a position of weakness.
Zimbabwe’s “Look East” policy, while pragmatic, has too often meant looking away from abuses. National laws are either inadequate or, more commonly, spectacularly unenforced due to corruption, lack of capacity, or political pressure.
China, for its part, has a detailed domestic policy for ecological civilisation and increasingly stringent environmental standards at home.
These standards are not consistently applied by its companies operating overseas, in what some term “environmental double standards”. The Chinese government’s guidelines for overseas businesses remain largely voluntary and accountability is elusive.
The Africa we want
It is time to move from bilateral desperation to continental solidarity. The African Union must spearhead the creation of a Binding African Framework on Responsible Extractive Partnerships.
This is not about antagonising a key partner but about structuring a sustainable, equitable relationship. This framework must:
Establish universal environmental mandates: Enforce strict, continentally aligned standards on waste management, water use, biodiversity protection and mine closure. Companies must deposit substantial rehabilitation bonds held in escrow within Africa.
Embed unambiguous human rights protections: (FPIC), prohibit forced displacement, uphold core International Labour Organisation (ILO) labour standards, and mandate independent human rights due diligence for all projects. A continent-wide grievance mechanism for communities is essential.
Ensure radical transparency: Mandate the public disclosure of all contracts, licenses, beneficial owners, and tax and royalty payments. Secrecy breeds corruption; sunlight is the best disinfectant.
Demand value addition and beneficiation: Move beyond raw export. The framework must require investment in local processing plants, creating jobs and capturing more of the mineral value chain within African borders.
Create a robust enforcement mechanism: Establish an independent, technically-empowered Pan-African Mining Oversight Body with the authority to audit operations, investigate complaints, and, crucially, recommend sanctions or blacklisting of serial violators from operating anywhere on the continent.
Zimbabwe, with its vast mineral wealth and painful lessons, should be at the forefront of championing this policy. The narrative must shift from “investment at any cost” to “investment on our terms”.
The hills of Mutoko stand as a silent indictment of the past. They cannot be healed overnight.
But we can prevent the next district, the next watershed, the next generation from suffering the same fate.
Africa’s minerals are a key to its prosperity, but they must not become a curse. By uniting to write our own rules, we can ensure that the wealth beneath our soil finally builds a future above it that is just, healthy, and truly ours. The time for a unified African policy is not tomorrow. It is now.
Millin is a social and economic justice ambassador. These weekly New Horizon articles, published in the Zimbabwe Independent, are coordinated by Lovemore Kadenge, an independent consultant, managing consultant of Zawale Consultants (Private) Limited, past president of the Zimbabwe Economics Society and past president of the Chartered Governance & Accountancy Institute in Zimbabwe. - kadenge.zes@gmail.com or +263 772 382 852.