By Donald Nyarota
As the global push toward renewable energy accelerates, a powerful new study reveals the hidden costs of lithium mining in Zimbabwe, where communities face displacement, pollution, and exclusion from economic benefits in the name of a “green” future.
The report, Campaign for Debt Relief and Compensation in Southern Africa (KEESA) in cooperation with the Zimbabwean Centre for Natural Resource Governance (CNRG) reveals the devastating social, economic, and cultural impacts of lithium mining in Zimbabwe, a phenomenon critics are labelling “green colonialism”.
Framed through the lenses of resource justice, energy democracy, and community sovereignty, the report—“Green Turnaround – At Whose Expense?” calls attention to how global demand for “critical” raw materials is reshaping lives, landscapes, and power dynamics in the Global South.
Lithium—dubbed “white gold”—is a key component of batteries used in electric vehicles, energy storage systems, and digital technologies. As demand surges globally, resource-rich countries like Zimbabwe have become hot spots for extraction.
The study warns: “The energy transition must not be built on the backs of communities in the Global South who bear the environmental, social, and spiritual burden of extraction, while being denied meaningful participation and benefits.”
The report highlights not only physical displacement but also cultural and spiritual dispossession. Sacred mountains, ancestral graves, and ritual spaces have been destroyed or desecrated in the name of progress. Community members expressed anguish over graves being exhumed without proper rites, and over the blasting of spiritually significant rocks and forests.
It is also a tale of corporate invasion as small-scale miners, once active in areas like Mberengwa and Buhera, have been forcibly removed by large-scale operations, losing both income and dignity. Despite their early role in discovering lithium deposits, these miners are now excluded from any benefit-sharing mechanisms.
This is a clear violation of community sovereignty, which is the right of people to define development on their own terms and to protect their land, culture, and resources from exploitative outside forces.
It is a critical study in a country that holds Africa’s largest lithium reserves, with Chinese-backed projects dominating the sector. The study focuses on three major sites, Bikita Minerals, Sabi Star Mine, and Sandawana Mine, linked to major Chinese investors supplying global markets.
Key Findings:
- Resettlement Without Rights: In Buhera, 40 families were forcibly relocated with little consultation or compensation. Women were entirely excluded from land agreements, leaving them without legal protections.
- Environmental and Health Damage: Communities report water contamination, dust-linked respiratory illness, and noise pollution from round-the-clock blasting and haulage. Sacred sites and ancestral graves have been desecrated, causing cultural and psychological trauma.
- Broken Promises: Mining companies promised infrastructure, schools, jobs, and clean water. Most remain undelivered. Instead, locals face closed-off pastures, blocked water access, and road hazards for children.
- Exploitative Labour Practices: Despite promises to hire locally, jobs are scarce and contracts are short-term. Some women report being sexually exploited in exchange for employment. Workers live in unsafe, overcrowded housing.
- Small-Scale Miners Marginalised: Early local miners who sparked the lithium boom have been evicted or excluded by large commercial operations. Their tools confiscated, their livelihoods destroyed.
- Cultural Erosion: Sacred landscapes like Ibwerengwe Rock have been blasted for minerals. Community rituals, ancestral graves, and spiritual traditions have been disregarded.
Why This Matters for the Global North
Lithium from Zimbabwe, sold to China and ends up in products used daily in Europe and North America. The report highlights how the economic gains of the energy transition are unequally distributed, benefiting global corporations while displacing African communities. This is a poignant call to European and Chinese corporations to adopt transparent, rights-respecting supply chains.
Upcoming Event: A Call to Justice
To further expose and discuss these injustices, KEESA ADR, in collaboration with CNRG, will on 20 September 2025 host a Transnational Conference focusing on lithium mining in Zimbabwe.
The event will bring together voices from European and Zimbabwean civil society to explore:
- The unequal costs of the green transition
- Colonial patterns in critical mineral supply chains
- Pathways to a just, community-centered energy future
This is more than a study. It’s a call to action. As CNRG, we urge all actors, from policymakers to consumers, to recognize that there is no climate justice without mining justice.