In Zimbabwe, despite a $1.4 billion loan from Chinese investors to further expand the biggest coal plant in the country, the government has not yet addressed the concerns of the local community and provided them with new houses as promised. Over 500 families have been left in the dark, without knowing if and when they will ever be able to move out from the area.
““The situation is unbearable: many people are suffering respiratory diseases, kids are going constantly to the clinic with cough and asthma. Our homes are always dirty: there is dust everywhere. On the floor, on the sofa, on the washing lines, we can’t hang our clothes anywhere”, says a woman from the village.
For now, without anywhere else to go, they have to bear the cost of the coal plant: pollution, diseases, contamination of their water sources and their fields. Women and young girls are particularly at risk: they report being sexually abused by workers by truck drivers. For the local community, the situation has now become unbearable.
“Women and children, and especially young girls, are particularly at risk: they are sexually abused by the men in the plant and by truck drivers delivering the coal and other materials. And those living with disability are not even considered as part of the community: nobody is caring for them”, says another woman from the village.
The coal plant
The plant is located in north-west Zimbabwe, on the edge of the Hwenge Natural Park. It is owned and managed by the Zimbabwe Power Co. (ZPC), a subsidiary of ZESA Holdings group. The recent upgrade was financed by a loan of roughly $1.4 billion from Export-Import Bank of China and the project is being carried out by Chinese firm Sinohydro.
The project was expected to increase employment by nearly doubling the current 2,853-strong workforce, while also sustaining the town’s coal-mining industry, which employs thousands more people. However, this has not been the case: “I expected the locals to dominate the workforce, but I saw people coming from as far as Mashonaland, as if locally we didn’t have people who could do these manual jobs”, complains one person from the nearby village.
The Zimbabwean government spokesperson said the country will be much better placed to meet electricity demand once the expansion – which is due to add 600 megawatts – is complete. Although China is gradually pulling back from coal power, this expansion is progressing: in March 2023, the first of two 300-MW units being built as part of the expansion started operating and sending energy to the national grid.
The new units were inaugurated in August 2023. During the opening ceremony, Zimbabwe’s president Mnangagwa said the country would now be “self-sufficient in its power needs” and the Chinese ambassador said his country was ready to help Zimbabwe “achieve its goal to uplift its people”.
The impact of the plant and the requests of the local communities
The project directly affects 500 families from different ethnic backgrounds. The situation is extremely bad for them, as their houses are always dirty, due to coal pollutants and gasses from the power plant. Many people are starting to suffer from diseases related to this pollution.
““Living close to a coal plant has serious health effects. There are long-term diseases, like pneumoconiosis, that will only manifest when you get older. And it’s unjust that only those working in the plant are screening for these diseases, while nobody cares about the people living close to the project”, says one of the villagers.
Community members state that ZPC should have relocated people before the operationalization of Unit 7 & 8 thermal power plants, as this has further increased pollution. Unfortunately ZPC is now saying that it does not have money for the housing project, despite having promised the community that they will be relocated before operationalization of the new units. The project also violates the Constitution of Zimbabwe, section 73, which says that people have a right to live in a clean and safe environment.
* For security reasons, all community members have requested to remain anonymous and they are afraid to show themselves in the pictures.
For additional information, please contact Fidelis Chima
hratrust@gmail.com +263773565946
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