Mutoko mine killing sparks outrage amid rising anger over Chinese abuses 

MUTOKO – Police are investigating the circumstances under which a Chinese national allegedly shot dead a Zimbabwean worker at a gold mine in Mutoko early Thursday, an incident that has reignited tensions over abuses by Chinese miners across the country.

Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) spokesman Commissioner Paul Nyathi said the incident occurred at around 2AM on October 9 at a mine in Makosa area.

“The ZRP is investigating the circumstances in which a foreign national, Quijun Yu, 43, shot Fungai Nhau, 36, at a mine in Makosa. It is alleged that the foreign national was on duty when several people pounced at the boiler/carbon room resulting in the shooting incident. The foreign national has been arrested. The police will release more details in due course,” Nyathi said in a brief statement.

The shooting took place at China Zhuhe Mining, which later issued its own statement claiming the incident happened during an attempted robbery by “a group of gangsters.”

According to the company, an on-duty Chinese engineer armed with a registered firearm “fired several warning shots into the air to stop the criminal act” after robbers allegedly climbed over the mine’s perimeter wall.

At around 7AM, local workers reportedly found a man critically injured about a kilometre from the mine. The company says the man, who later died, admitted to being part of the gang that had tried to rob the mine.

China Zhuhe said police were called, and the situation briefly turned tense when “local villagers, unaware of the truth, saw the gangster’s body and mistakenly suspected Chinese employees of improper conduct.”

Police reportedly intervened and restored order.

“The Chinese engineer involved in the incident is actively cooperating with the police investigation and awaiting the police’s final handling decision,” the company said.

But the mine’s version of events has been met with scepticism and anger from many Zimbabweans, including opposition politicians and activists, who accuse Chinese companies of widespread exploitation and violence against local workers.

Former finance minister Tendai Biti condemned what he called “widespread, unabated and vicious crimes of extraction being perpetrated by Chinese criminals masquerading as miners and investors.”

“There has been countless stories of underpaid black workers going for months without pay and viciously assaulted for little misdemeanours,” Biti said.

“As of now, police in Mutoko are investigating the brutal murder of a Zimbabwean worker, shot in cold blood and mercilessly dragged in the gravel and thorn-filled bushes of Nyamuzuwe.”

Biti said Chinese mining operations had desecrated graves, sacred mountains and rivers across the country, adding that the government’s silence amounted to complicity in a “new Scramble for Africa.”

Environmental rights advocate Farai Maguwu also weighed in, warning that public anger was rising over what he described as “abuses by Chinese criminals.”

“Read the mood of the people of Zimbabwe. The temperatures are rising. People are saying enough of these abuses,” Maguwu said.

The latest incident adds to a growing list of violent encounters involving Chinese mine owners and local workers in recent years, with critics accusing authorities of failing to hold foreign investors accountable.