The United States Department of State has accused some Chinese-owned companies in Zimbabwe of widespread labour abuses, including physical, sexual, and emotional mistreatment, unsafe working conditions, and unfair labour practices.
In its 2024 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: Zimbabwe, released in August 2024, the State Department named both state-owned and private enterprises operated by citizens of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) among those implicated.
One of the most disturbing incidents cited involved the July 2024 deportation of two PRC nationals accused of assaulting mine workers in Bindura. According to the report, the men allegedly hung two employees from a front-end loader at Makanga Mine. The victims survived, but rights groups say the case reflects a broader pattern of impunity for labour violations by some Chinese companies operating in the country.
The report alleged that certain Chinese-owned firms ignored safety regulations, withheld pay, and dismissed workers without due process. “Abuses by management… included unsafe working conditions, underpayment or nonpayment of wages, unfair dismissals, and failure to abide by collective bargaining agreements,” the document stated.
It also referenced findings from a September 2024 study by the Centre for Natural Resource Governance, which accused many Chinese mining companies of “violating labour laws, often with apparent impunity.” While the Ministry of Public Service and Labour is responsible for enforcement, the State Department said oversight was weak — particularly in agriculture and domestic work — and penalties for violations were not proportionate to comparable offences.
Zimbabwe’s heavily informal economy further complicates enforcement. As of July 2023, an estimated 88% of workers were outside formal contracts, with many employed in agriculture, trading, and small-scale mining. The Zimbabwe Miners Federation estimates about 500,000 people work in artisanal mining, but only around 40,000 are formally registered.
The report noted that authorities have occasionally clashed with informal traders and miners, seizing goods and making arrests. It concluded that the Zimbabwean government had “not taken credible steps to identify and punish officials” implicated in human rights violations and maintained “significant restrictions” on workers’ freedom of association and collective bargaining.
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