It’s time to kick Chinese exploiters out of Zimbabwe!

There has been yet another horrifying case of violence committed by Chinese employers against Zimbabwean workers.

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This time, the tragedy unfolded in the Mutoko community of Kumahaka, where a local man was allegedly shot dead after demanding his salary.

His body was later discovered, and five suspects — reportedly Chinese nationals — have since been arrested.

This is not an isolated incident.

It adds to a growing list of shocking abuses and acts of violence by Chinese employers operating in Zimbabwe, particularly in mining areas and rural communities.

Zimbabweans are being beaten, shot, underpaid, and treated as if their lives are worthless — all in their own country.

We remember the Gweru case, where Zhang Xueun, a Chinese mine manager, shot two employees at point-blank range during a salary dispute.

Both men miraculously survived, but the brutality sent shockwaves across the nation.

Then there was the incident at Bijou Farm, where a Chinese supervisor was filmed threatening an excavator operator, Kholwani Dube, with a gun during a wage confrontation.

The footage went viral, not because it was shocking — but because it was so painfully familiar.

In every corner of Zimbabwe where Chinese employers operate, the same disturbing pattern emerges: workers underpaid or not paid at all, safety standards ignored, abusive language normalised, and physical violence used as a tool of control.

According to the Zimbabwe Diamond and Allied Minerals Workers Union (ZDAMWU), 95% of workers in Chinese-run mines are on short-term contracts, denied medical cover, pensions, or any form of retirement benefit.

At Detroop Gold Mine, operated by Jiangxi Risheng Mining Company, employees live in deplorable conditions — crammed into makeshift shacks, eating meagre food, and toiling long hours for next to nothing.

This is not investment.

It is exploitation — a modern-day slavery that has found sanctuary under the false banner of “foreign direct investment”.

Worse still, when these employers commit crimes, they often get away with it.

Zimbabwean authorities seem paralyzed by fear or corruption, reluctant to act decisively against those who hold financial and political power.

Nine Chinese nationals caught abusing hard drugs were fined a mere $150 each — a mockery of justice.

Others accused of firearm offences or money laundering have conveniently benefited from questionable bail or immigration leniency.

What message does this send?

That Chinese nationals are untouchable?

That Zimbabwean lives are cheap?

It is time to end this shame.

We cannot continue to allow foreign employers — particularly these abusive Chinese exploiters — to treat our people as subhuman.

They come to Zimbabwe under the pretext of investing, yet their true intent is to plunder our resources, exploit our cheap labour, and line their pockets while leaving communities impoverished and scarred.

Let us ask a simple but powerful question: what would happen if the tables were turned?

If a Zimbabwean company in China started beating or shooting Chinese workers, refusing to pay wages, or evicting them from their homes?

Would the Chinese government tolerate it for even a single day?

Would they shrug and say, “It’s an investment issue”?

Of course not.

Those Zimbabweans would be behind bars before the sun set.

So why does our government allow such abuse here — against its own citizens?

Even worse, these Chinese companies are not only exploiting workers; they are also destroying our environment and desecrating ancestral lands.

In Uzumba, villagers have been displaced to make way for Chinese mining projects, while sacred hills are being blasted apart for minerals.

Rivers that once sustained entire communities are now poisoned with mercury and cyanide.

What kind of “partnership” poisons your people’s water, destroys their heritage, and shoots them when they demand fair pay?

Zimbabwe fought a liberation war to end oppression — to reclaim our dignity, land, and humanity.

Yet today, our people are being humiliated once again, not by colonial settlers, but by Chinese exploiters operating under the protection of our own government.

President Mnangagwa’s administration likes to chant the slogan “Zimbabwe will never be a colony again”.

But what do we call it when foreigners have more power, wealth, and immunity than the citizens of this land?

If this isn’t a new form of colonisation, then what is?

It’s not enough to arrest one or two individuals and pretend justice has been served.

The truth is, many of these perpetrators walk free or return to their operations as if nothing happened.

The system bends over backwards to protect them.

That must end now.

Zimbabwe must draw a clear red line: those who exploit, abuse, or murder Zimbabwean workers must be expelled from the country — immediately.

Their business licences must be revoked, their assets seized, and their operations shut down.

Let those who genuinely wish to invest and operate within the law remain, but every exploiter must go.

We do not need “investment” that comes soaked in the blood of our people.

We do not need partners who bring guns instead of goodwill, greed instead of growth.

Zimbabwe deserves investors who respect our laws, protect our workers, and contribute to our communities — not those who treat us like disposable labourers on our own land.

The people of Mutoko, Gweru, Uzumba, and countless other communities are not expendable.

Their suffering must not be in vain.

Each act of violence, every life lost, must be the spark that forces this nation to reclaim its dignity.

Our leaders must stop hiding behind the façade of “strategic partnerships” with China while our citizens are being terrorised.

A true partnership is based on mutual respect — not fear and subservience.

Zimbabweans are a proud people.

We have endured colonialism, dictatorship, and economic ruin, but we have never stopped fighting for our dignity.

That spirit must now rise again.

It is time for us to say, loudly and without apology: enough is enough.

The Chinese exploiters who brutalise our people and pollute our land must pack their bags and go.

Zimbabwe will never be a colony again — not to the British, not to the Americans, and certainly not to the Chinese.

• Tendai Ruben Mbofana is a social justice advocate and writer. Please feel free to WhatsApp or Call: +263715667700 | +263782283975, or email: mbofana.tendairuben73@gmail.com, or visit website: https://mbofanatendairuben.news.blog/