Tendai Ruben Mbofana
Once again, Zimbabweans have been treated to a disturbing display of arrogance and insensitivity from none other than President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s spokesperson, George Charamba.
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In a lengthy post on X, Charamba not only trivialized legitimate environmental and health concerns raised by Bryden Country School, in Chegutu, over the operations of a Chinese-owned cement factory, but also sought to reduce this matter to a crude racial narrative.
Instead of addressing the real issue—the well-being of children forced to learn next to a highly polluting industrial site—Charamba chose to accuse Bryden’s leadership of being driven by remnants of “Rhodesian elitism.”
This is not only disingenuous but also dangerous gaslighting, a tactic that has sadly become the Mnangagwa administration’s hallmark whenever accountability is demanded.
What makes Charamba’s tirade especially disturbing is his attempt to racialize an issue that has absolutely nothing to do with race.
Whether Bryden was once a “white-run” school is irrelevant, because today it enrolls children of all races.
Both black and white people are bona fide Zimbabweans, entitled to the same rights, protections, and dignity.
To pretend otherwise is to insult the very meaning of independence.
By reducing this to a matter of “white elites” resisting Chinese investment, Charamba is deliberately ignoring the fact that it is Zimbabwean children—black and white alike—whose health and futures are at stake.
Their concerns should never be subordinated to the interests of profit-making ventures of foreign investors, no matter who they are.
So, if black children are part of this school community, what exactly is Charamba’s point in framing this dispute as a fight between a white-run elitist institution and an investment project run by benevolent Chinese?
When a government spokesperson attempts to silence genuine concerns of Zimbabwean parents and school authorities by invoking race, one cannot help but ask whether the Mnangagwa regime has quietly decided that Chinese companies enjoy more rights in this country than Zimbabweans themselves.
Let us remember that this is not just a matter of perception or hearsay.
The courts of Zimbabwe have already spoken on this issue.
Bryden School successfully obtained a court order barring the cement company from operating so close to its premises due to the clear health risks posed to pupils.
The law is explicit, and the judgment stands.
Yet here we have a presidential spokesman openly ridiculing that decision and celebrating the company’s continued defiance.
Is this not a direct insult to the rule of law?
What message does it send when a government that endlessly chants about “sovereignty” and “independence” appears so eager to protect foreign capitalists from lawful accountability, even to the extent of undermining its own judiciary?
The inconsistencies are glaring.
Court papers revealed that the Environmental Management Agency (EMA) had initially raised red flags about the company’s operations.
The Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) was deemed unsatisfactory, and permission to proceed was denied.
Yet, as if by magic, EMA suddenly reversed its decision, approving the very same EIA it had previously rejected.
No explanation was ever provided.
Should Charamba not have been asking hard questions about this mysterious about-turn instead of parroting the tired mantra of “employment creation”?
Why is the spokesperson for the President silent on such blatant regulatory manipulation?
His job, after all, is to speak truth to the people, not to shield corporate malpractice from scrutiny.
Employment creation, the central theme of Charamba’s defense, is another smokescreen.
He appears to believe that as long as a company promises to create jobs, no one has the right to question its conduct, no matter how destructive.
But what sort of employment are we talking about here?
The record of Chinese companies in Zimbabwe is abysmal.
Workers across different sectors—mining, manufacturing, and construction—have long complained of exploitative conditions, slave-like wages, physical abuse, and grossly unsafe environments.
Some are forced to work weeks without pay under the pretext that this is part of their “interview process.”
Others have reported shocking incidents of violence, sexual abuse, and even killings.
Is this the type of employment we are meant to celebrate?
Are Zimbabweans to believe that a thousand miserable jobs outweigh the lives and health of schoolchildren who will be exposed daily to dust, toxins, and industrial noise?
If this is Mnangagwa’s definition of development, then it is nothing more than a deliberate sacrifice of human dignity at the altar of cheap foreign capital.
Charamba’s defense becomes even more absurd when he cites the example of another nearby “black-owned” private school that has supposedly raised no objection to the cement plant.
In his view, the silence of this school somehow invalidates the concerns of Bryden.
But does indifference by one institution negate the legitimate worries of another?
If a school owner chooses to ignore the health of their pupils—whether out of ignorance, fear, or political connections—that cannot possibly serve as justification to silence others who are willing to stand up.
In fact, one cannot help but suspect that this “black-owned school” may be run by individuals linked to the ruling elite, who dare not question the regime’s Chinese friends.
Zimbabweans know too well how patronage networks operate in this country.
For Charamba to hold up such complicity as a model of cooperation is to insult the intelligence of every concerned parent and citizen.
The broader context cannot be ignored.
Across Zimbabwe, Chinese companies have been given free rein to plunder resources, displace communities, and degrade the environment with near impunity.
Whole villages have been uprooted to make way for Chinese mining operations, often without consent or fair compensation.
Rivers have been poisoned, mountains mutilated, and fertile soils destroyed.
Complaints by local communities are ignored, while those who dare resist are intimidated into silence.
The state has consistently sided with the foreign investors, never the victims. This is the pattern into which the Bryden School saga neatly fits.
It is not about race.
It is about a regime that has sold the country’s soul to foreign powers, particularly the Chinese, in exchange for kickbacks and political cover.
Charamba’s shameless gaslighting therefore reveals much more than his personal arrogance.
It exposes the Mnangagwa administration’s warped priorities.
Zimbabweans are expected to endure toxic air, poisoned water, displacement, and exploitation—all so that the regime can parade “Chinese investment” as evidence that the country is “open for business.”
Meanwhile, the billions extracted from our soil are spirited away with little to no reinvestment into local communities.
Instead of building hospitals, schools, and industries for Zimbabweans, these investments enrich a small clique of political elites and their foreign allies.
The ordinary citizen is left with nothing but polluted air, broken promises, and a future mortgaged to Beijing.
This is why Charamba’s words sting so deeply.
They are not just the reckless musings of a presidential aide.
They are a window into the heart of a government that has chosen foreign capital over its own people, propaganda over truth, and intimidation over accountability.
To reduce the legitimate grievances of Zimbabweans to some outdated racial caricature is not only insulting but profoundly irresponsible.
It tells us that in today’s Zimbabwe, the color of the investor matters more than the welfare of the citizen.
It tells us that the regime would rather defend Chinese profiteers than protect its own children.
Zimbabweans deserve better.
They deserve a government that puts their health, safety, and dignity above the greed of foreigners and the political expediency of ruling elites.
They deserve leaders who listen, not propagandists who mock their suffering.
And above all, they deserve to live in a country where the law applies equally to all—where no company, no matter how connected, is allowed to trample on the rights of the people with impunity.
Until that day comes, we will continue to ask the uncomfortable question: do the Chinese now have more rights in Zimbabwe than Zimbabweans themselves?
- Tendai Ruben Mbofana is a social justice advocate and writer. Please feel free to WhatsApp or Call: +263715667700 | +263782283975, or email: mbofana.tendairuben73@gmail.com, or visit website: https://mbofanatendairuben.news.blog/