Discover moreNews Archive AccessBusiness Risk ProtectionAfrica World NewsA GROUP of Chinese nationals-whose identities are yet to be established-has embarked on large-scale illegal riverbed gold mining in Chimanimani, with the evident support of the Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA) and 26-year-old Chief Peter Ngorima.
The Ndau tribe has inhabited the area for centuries, and locals fear that the controversial project, which has already fenced off a vast swathe of land along the Haroni River at the border of Rusitu Valley and the Chimanimani National Park, will severely undermine their livelihoods.
The Chimanimani Rural District Council (RDC) has unsuccessfully tried to halt the illegal mining operations and has also been unable to identify the Chinese citizens behind the project, it has been established.
Homes and arable land sitting on over 500 hectares have been targeted for eventual seizure, with almost 3,500 families-most of whom have occupied the land since their ancestors laid claim to it in the 1700s-set to be affected if the land grab is allowed to go unabated, according to the area's traditional leader, Headman John Hlabiso.
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The entire district is home to 153,619 people, according to Zimbabwe's 2022 census.
Last October, without presenting any form of documentation, some Chinese nationals claimed and fenced off huge tracts of land that had been used by villagers to farm bananas, their main source of survival.
An investigation by NewZimbabwe.com, in collaboration with the Information for Development Trust (IDT), has also revealed massive disregard of a government ban on alluvial gold mining, riverbed mining, and illegal land seizures in Rusitu Valley that have left tens of thousands at risk of food insecurity.
Government, through Statutory Instrument (SI) 188 of 2024, banned all riverbed and alluvial mining.
The villagers, who mainly survive on banana farming for their livelihoods, are staring not just at the possible loss of their ancestral land, but also at hunger if authorities do not step in.
Chinese miners have destroyed the two main routes used by trucks that ferry villagers' produce from the mountainous area to markets in urban areas, resulting in much of it rotting by the roadside.
FEAR OF FORCED RELOCATIONS
Villagers in 14 of the targeted villages now fear that the invasion means they will be forced to relocate, as happened just 120 km north when diamonds were discovered in Chiadzwa around 2008.
Against their will, and amid protests in September 2025, heavy vehicles and mining machinery were moved onto the banks of the Haroni River, with villagers accusing Ngorima of collaborating with members of the Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA) and the Chinese miners.
Chief Ngorima, under whose traditional leadership the area falls, confirmed that soldiers were actively participating in the Chinese company's operations.
He told this publication that the company had been sent by his 'seniors' but could not reveal who those seniors were.
"I know what is happening there, but the people who are trying to stop what the army is doing do not know what they are doing. They do not know that these people were sent by my seniors. They are under the military.
"There are people who do not want the area to be developed. The Chinese want to build roads, a clinic, and a secondary school there," he told this publication.
The director of army public relations, Colonel Hlengiwe Dube, could not be drawn to comment on the matter, with questions sent to her office going for several weeks without a response.
Attempts to get her responses from her subordinate, Tichafa Mungofa, failed, as he ignored all communication.
After the end of the three weeks, Dube told this publication that she would have to liaise with Mungofa before getting back with answers.
"I will get back to you after liaising with Mungofa," said Dube.
Repeated efforts to get her comment were futile.
Environmental Management Agency (EMA) spokesperson Amkela Sidange referred all questions to the Office of the President and Cabinet (OPC) suggesting that this news crew get in touch with Minister of State for Manicaland Misheck Mugadza who acknowledged questions sent to him but did not answer them.
"At the moment the issues of alluvial mining are being handled by the OPC under the Whole of Government approach. You can seek a comment from the Minister of State for Manicaland province," said Sidange.
The Chinese nationals hid away from this news crew and directed an interpreter to question the motives behind investigating the matter. The unnamed interpreter refused to talk, leaving a guard to dismiss the news crew.
"Unfortunately, I cannot help you. They do not want any cameras and, seeing as you are holding your phone like that, they say they will not come out," said the guard, who secretly recorded the event.
A source at the Chimanimani Rural District Council (RDC) confirmed that soldiers were working with the Chinese.
"The company operating there has no name. When the council attempted to get the Chinese arrested, the courts said they were not mining but just staying there," said the source, who requested anonymity.
"From what we got, soldiers are also staying and operating from there, and the council does not even know what the arrangement is. We were never informed."
Chimanimani RDC information officer Amos Chiroodza confirmed that nothing had been done yet to rectify the situation.
Mining equipment could be seen in the company's yard, where the Chinese nationals stood behind a cabin, away from camera lenses.
The Chinese consortium's name is being kept under wraps, with Chief Ngorima dropping a call when asked to name it.
There are no banners to indicate who is engaged in the mining operations, and they refuse to speak to anyone other than the Chief, MP, or soldiers camped a few kilometres north of where they are operating.
Those who spoke to this publication indicated that the company had come in under the pretext of rehabilitating the Haroni River.
Dirt roads they had been using for years have become impassable, and this has made transportation of the fruit to markets outside their far-flung area difficult.
They have been destroyed by dump trucks that are being used to transport ore from the site to an unknown destination.
"I am one of the people who visited that area, and villagers are up in arms over losing their farming land," said Miriam Chekure, a widowed mother of four.
Chekure, like most of the villagers, survives on farming and selling bananas for her family's upkeep. With buyers failing to access her selling point, she has nowhere to sell.
"We hear that they want us to get relocated to Gokwe. We are a community that grows and sells bananas; if they relocate us, I doubt that we will be able to survive," she added.
"The Chinese have destroyed our roads, and trucks that used to come to collect our bananas are no longer coming. We can no longer pay fees for our children; they are no longer going to school.
"The Chinese should go back where they came from so that we go back to how we were living, not struggling like we are right now."
Gokwe District is an arid area in Zimbabwe's Midlands Province, a stark contrast to the lush Rusitu Valley.
Despite the destruction of the roads by the mine trucks, local farmers remain resolute to sell their produce, but they testify that they are no longer realising enough to survive on.
Patience Mazemu (31), a single mother of one who has been key in campaigning against the Chinese presence, said she had so far visited the area three times and gathered that the chief was central in granting the Chinese miners permission to operate.
"We are living in fear. We fear they will visit and ask why we are mobilising against them," she said.
In the early 2000s, Rusitu Valley witnessed an influx of violent gold panners, commonly known as MaShurugwi.
They ravaged the green terrain, destroyed hectares of banana plantations farmed by locals, and targeted the main aquifer whose water serves Hlabiso Primary and Secondary Schools, as well as Hlabiso Clinic downhill.
MASSIVE ECOCIDE
Mounds of sand, rock debris, and pits now dominate the area.
Two James Table gold processors and some heavy industrial equipment were observed on the banks of the river.
The water has been badly muddied, such that communities living downstream in Mozambique, who use it for irrigation, are reportedly threatening to invade and "deal" with the Ndau if they do not chase the Chinese off their land.
The affected area is adjacent to Chisango in Mozambique's Manica Province, in the south of the province and a short distance from where the Chinese have set up camp.
Much of the Haroni River has been diverted towards the James Table equipment, and effluent is being discharged downstream.
"People downstream, including those in Mozambique, depend on the Haroni River for irrigation and drinking water," said Godfrey Hlabiso, a Grade 5 teacher at Hlabiso Primary School.
"Now those in Mozambique are asking why we are mining along the border and have promised to come here to fight us. We asked the military, and it confirmed that it had received that communication," he said.
The most affected area in the neighbouring country is Chisango, a rural area in Mozambique's Manica Province.
Once a front for heavy fighting during the country's civil war between 1977 and 1992, it remains a stronghold of RENAMO (Mozambique National Resistance) rebels who used to make incursions into eastern Zimbabwe.
"We fear these people because, in 1987 and 1988, our families suffered heavily at their hands; they attacked and killed many of our people here.
"Mozambicans are not patient. When they say they will kill, they kill. Our plea is that the Chinese be removed from this area so that they do not disturb the flow of water into Mozambique," added Hlabiso.
His sentiments were echoed by Centre for Natural Resource Governance (CNRG) executive director Farai Maguwu.
"Chimanimani is close to the border with Mozambique. These environmental crimes that Zimbabwe is tolerating have the potential for cross-border conflict, especially considering that, recently, the local government of Manica banned mining in that part of Mozambique.
"With mining here in Zimbabwe rampant, uncontrolled, and unregulated, I see us having problems because some of the rivers that flow from Zimbabwe through these areas destroyed by mining flow into Mozambique, carrying mud and toxins such as cyanide. It is only a matter of time before all these issues become a regional conflict."
Maguwu said the government's silence was an indication that the Chinese operating in Rusitu were doing so in collaboration with highly connected state actors.
"I do not think the Chinese arrive in Zimbabwe and go to Chimanimani on their own. There are local collaborators, and the government is looking the other way.
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"Government is not short of manpower in terms of enforcing the law or arresting criminals, so the silence or inaction of the government clearly shows that these Chinese are acting in concert with some people who have proximity to power in Zimbabwe," he added.
ZIMBABWE'S SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE
A community leader informed this publication that, on 13 January this year, heavy machinery that had been moved from the Rusitu site after villagers protested was escorted away by ZNA soldiers who are camped along the Zimbabwe-Mozambique border in Rusitu.
According to Godfrey Hlabiso, one of the protesters when the Chinese were initially pushed out last year in October, there was nothing they could do because of the army's involvement.
"Every truck and excavator had a soldier as they escorted the equipment back to their Haroni River site," he said.
"What we do not understand is how the army is being used to promote criminal activities. Does our military now have the authority to determine land use?"
Forty-three-year-old Willard Mpuku said he was heavily assaulted with assault rifle butts by soldiers for challenging Chinese operations in his homeland, claiming they left him lying in a pool of blood.
Mpuku knows no other home, as he was born in Rusitu Valley, married four wives, and has numerous children living with him in the area.
Liberation war veteran Rueben Zuze from Rusitu blamed the government and Chimanimani East Member of Parliament (MP) Joshua Sacco for the invasion of the area.
"We are a forgotten tribe," said Zuze, whose war name was Cde Sakandionde Mwana Waonda.
"When the Chinese came in, we thought we would benefit. We assumed they would help us fix the road, but because they use heavy vehicles, they are now destroying it and making our situation worse.
"We want the MP to see us as people. When we went to war, we were saying 'down with oppression', but today, because of gold, they are oppressing us. The country is dying," he added.
Part of the affected river is where the Ndau perform traditional rainmaking ceremonies.
Where clear water flowed on the banks of the Haroni River, at the base of the Chimanimani Forest, there are now muddy dumps from mining activities that have taken over the site.
This is a protected area, usually referred to as the Haroni Botanical Reserve, measuring just about 200 km², where descendants of Chief Ngorima and neighbouring Ndau clans would visit for rainmaking ceremonies.
"It is in that river (Haroni) where we would pour our traditional beer (during traditional ceremonies), but they have destroyed it. We have lost our fish, and our mermaids are now in dirty water," added Mazemu.
