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Zimbabwean economist Eddie Cross has expressed concern over how natural resources worth billions of dollars are being looted to China yet there is no real investment that benefits locals.
In a blog titled “What is the Chinese Motivation in Zimbabwe“, Cross said he had learnt that Zimbabwe now accommodates 85,000 Chinese nationals accusing them of exploiting Zimbabweans and their resources.
Although the Chinese have invested millions into Zimbabwe, incidences of abuse on locals by some of them and exploitation continue to mar their partnership and development efforts.
Cross also expressed concern about how the Chinese are leaving behind a trail of environmental destruction which will take generations to heal.
“We have the best Chrome deposits in the world, 9 billion tonnes of it worth a conservative US$100 trillion. We have enormous Lithium reserves and they are loaded with other critical minerals that are in fact worth more than the Lithium and we do not understand what that means.
“We applaud them because shortly we will be exporting 5 million tonnes of lithium concentrate a year to China, worth perhaps US$4 billion in new export earnings, four times our famous tobacco crop, but missing the fact that it might contain other metals and minerals worth many times more.
“A quarter of our gold output goes to China and we have no idea about how they are doing that or what is involved, but the evidence of open cast mining, large investments in milling and extracting machinery for the small-scale mining industry here which is among the most important in the world, is everywhere.
“They ignore environmental regulations and leave behind a moonscape of countryside that looks like a World War 1 battlefield. They are exploiting our finest coal reserves for their smelters and steel production, even exporting their surplus,” he wrote.
Several Chinese-owned companies are accused of destroying communities as the scramble for lithium and other valuable minerals intensifies in Zimbabwe.
They are alleged to be violating environmental laws, with government officials criticised for turning a blind eye to their operations.
Areas such as the once scenic Boterekwa in the Shurugwi district, which is facing significant environmental damage due to mining operations being undertaken by a Chinese company.
Cross also highlighted that the Chinese also focus on infrastructure development that benefits them in their large-scale investments so they achieve their goals.
“There is little or no value addition except for the primary production phase. There are no plans to invest in a Lithium refinery to produce a product suitable for use in the production of batteries. Even the steel plant is only producing steel billets for export to China for conversion into finished product. International sanctions may force them to produce steel for sale to manufacturers in the West but for the time being they are producing a product for export in primary form.
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“Right now, the decision by the Zimbabwe Government not to maintain power subsidies on electricity going to their furnaces is forcing the Chinese companies to invest in coal-based power production.
“They are doing so at a cost of US$600,000 per megawatt with the objective of meeting their own needs at about US$6 cents per Kilowatt, one-third of the current ZESA tariff which is necessary because the new Chinese built power station at Hange cost three times per Megawatt than what their own plant will cost. To achieve those sorts of outcomes they will have to secure coal at rock-bottom prices, while they supply ZESA at three times the cost.
“This is a very concerning situation and the question for us as a nation, is what do we do about it.”
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