Zimbabwe has become lawless when only the president can save us from Chinese investors reign of terror

The news that reached the public this morning regarding the dire state of Bulawayo’s water supply is not merely a localized crisis but a damning indictment of a nation that has lost its way.

When Bulawayo Mayor David Coltart is told by his own council that he must engage President Emmerson Mnangagwa as the only individual capable of flushing out Chinese gold miners, we are witnessing the total collapse of our state institutions.

It is a terrifying reality that in a sovereign republic, the very agencies established to protect our environment, regulate our industry, and safeguard the survival of our citizens have been rendered utterly impotent.

The image of a mayor standing paralyzed while illegal miners destroy the lifelines of Zimbabwe’s second-largest city is a metaphor for a country that has been sold piece by piece to the highest bidder.

The situation in Bulawayo is nothing short of a humanitarian disaster fueled by institutional paralysis.

For three years, the city has been subjected to crippling water rationing, a hardship that persists even when the heavens open and the rains fall.

The culprit is not nature but a systematic “reign of terror” by Chinese mining companies that have invaded the Umzingwane catchment area.

These miners operate with a level of impunity that suggests they are a law unto themselves.

By mining on riverbeds and banks, they have triggered massive siltation in supply dams such as Lower Ncema, Upper Ncema, and Mtshabezi.

The quantities of water available to the city are dwindling not because of drought alone but because our rivers are being choked by the greed of foreign entities.

When Councillor Mmeli Moyo admits that the council is powerless because other government agencies continue to grant these miners licenses, he is exposing a deep-seated rot.

How can the Ministry of Mines and other regulatory bodies hand out permits that directly threaten the survival of over a million people?

This destructive behavior is a cancer that has spread far beyond the limits of Bulawayo.

In my own hometown of Redcliff, the same madness is unfolding with heartbreaking regularity.

A mountain that has stood for eons just a few meters from our valued Cactus Dam is currently being systematically dismantled by irresponsible mining activities.

This dam is not just a body of water; it is a source of fish for the local community and a vital reservoir for agricultural production downstream along the Kwekwe River.

During this rainy season, the silt from these mountain-side excavations inevitably washes into the dam.

More disturbingly, the dangerous chemicals used in these extraction processes are leaching into our water systems, threatening aquatic life and rendering the water unsafe for both human and animal consumption.

Yet, just like in Bulawayo, the local authorities appear to be little more than spectators to this environmental slaughter.

The geography of this devastation covers the entire map of Zimbabwe.

From the coal-dusted landscapes of Hwange and the remote reaches of Binga to the granite-stripped hills of Mutoko and the diamond fields of Mutare, Chinese miners have become a pervasive menace.

They appear to have been given carte blanche to do whatever they desire with scant regard for the people of Zimbabwe.

Our citizens have been relegated to second-class status in their own land.

We watch as communities are forced off their ancestral lands with the wave of a hand.

We witness the desecration of heritage sites and the graves of loved ones as if the history and spirituality of Zimbabweans carry no weight in the face of a balance sheet.

These mining companies are not partners in development; they are masters of extraction who treat our laws as mere suggestions.

The most troubling aspect of this narrative is the realization that only the President is seen as a potential savior.

This raises a fundamental and painful question regarding our national sovereignty.

How can foreign entities render a country’s entire institutional framework powerless to control them?

Why are the Environmental Management Agency, local authorities, the police, and the judiciary unable to enforce the laws of the land when a Chinese investor is involved?

The answer to where these investors derive their power and arrogance is tragically clear.

They are getting their protection from a ruling elite that has chosen to shield them, ensuring they remain untouchable.

It is most unsettling when a country’s leadership places the interests of foreigners ahead of the people they swore to serve and protect.

This dynamic is hauntingly familiar to anyone who has studied the history of our continent.

It smacks of the 19th-century colonial conquest that saw Africa carved up by European powers.

Those colonizers seldom arrived with guns blazing to overrun militarily weaker nations through force alone.

Instead, colonial occupation almost always happened with the complicity of our own African leaders.

Those leaders were promised benefits, through dubious agreements, that enriched themselves and their immediate circles while their people were systematically dispossessed.

Tragically, we are witnessing the same colonization script play out again right in front of our eyes.

This time, the colonial master has a different color, but the African leader involved remains as selfish and greedy as those who came before.

We must recognize colonialism when we see it.

It does not always come in the form of a foreign flag and a governor; it comes in the form of a foreign company that can destroy a city’s water source without consequence.

It is vital to remember that the 1890 conquest of this land was executed not by the British state, but by a private mining enterprise: the British South Africa Company (BSAC).

Colonialism comes in the form of a mining permit that overrides the rights of a community to its own land.

It comes in the form of a government that tells its people they must appeal to the highest office in the land just to get a foreign miner to follow basic environmental regulations.

This is the erosion of the state and the birth of a new era of exploitation where our national resources are being plundered with the active participation of those meant to be their custodians.

The onus is now on the people of Zimbabwe to recognize this threat and act.

We cannot afford to wait for a single leader to save us when the system itself is being hollowed out.

We are the ones who must protect our country and ourselves from both the foreign colonizer and their local enablers.

If we do not stand up to protect our national resources from this total plunder, we will have no inheritance to leave to our descendants.

The legacy we leave for the next generation will be nothing more than empty, jagged holes in the ground and poisoned, unusable water.

We must demand that our institutions be restored to their proper function and that no investor, regardless of their origin, be allowed to operate above the law.

Our sovereignty is not for sale, and our survival should never be a matter of political negotiation.