'Hwange’s coal-mining horrors’ 8 September 2024

Oscar Nkala travels to Hwange in north-western Zimbabwe to expose the environmental and health hazards caused by more than a century of coal mining For Amon Chibuswa, the sun setting over Dinde village signifies more than the coming of the Sabbath, a ritual still observed in the small settlement about 40km east of Hwange, Zimbabwe’s “El Dorado” of coal mining and power generation. Instead, the sunset signifies the end of an era for his people because Dinde is destined to be destroyed to make way for a Chinese-owned coal mine and thermal power station project touted by the Zimbabwean government as a critical boost for its depleted power generation capacity. In 2020 the government awarded Beifa Investments (Pvt) Limited, a subsidiary of the Jin An Group, licences to set up Beifa Coal Mine and Beifa Power Station in Dinde…The coal project entails the eviction of at least 2 000 people, which Chibuswa says is a double slap because in the 1930s the same Nambya and Tonga people in Dinde today were forcibly evicted from Sinamatellata and Bumbusi areas to make way for the Hwange National Park.

“Today, we face the same circumstances that our grandfathers faced 90 years ago. We are being forced to abandon our ancestral lands for a company to make money. We thought the government would protect the poor from the rich. Instead, it uses the police to arrest us for refusing to let Beifa destroy us,” he said. Chibuswa accused the local traditional leader of turning against the villagers after he was allegedly lavished with gifts that included a vehicle, a mini solar power plant, a borehole and a 2 000 litre-capacity water tank for his homestead. The chief has allegedly threatened to prosecute and banish anyone who resists the project…One major sticking point is that the villagers say they were not consulted about the project. A lack of information about compensation for their land has also undermined confidence between the two parties.

... “Beifa Investments (Pvt) Ltd has not evicted or shown any intention to evict anyone within the Dinde community. Beifa categorically denies ever desecrating any graves in the Dinde community. We note some images posted on the media showing holes drilled near graves (in Dinde). We wish to point out that the company did not sanction the drilling of any holes. As such, if there are any holes on the gravesites, that would be the work of other people unknown to the company,” Qian said.

…In response to the results of independent research showing the impacts of its underground coal fires on public health, HCCL managing director Charles Zinyemba issued a statement saying he was “very much alive” to the underground coal seam fires on its concessions. “As a precautionary measure, public education campaigns [on underground coal seam fires] were, and will continue to be held in the schools and villages [around Hwange],” he said…The study also recorded cases of illegal pumping of pit water by miners, which violates environmental emission standards. They concluded that the acidic pit lakes in the Hwange area will present high risks for the Deka’s ecosystem as long as mines continue to neglect the environmental impacts of their actions.