The Sunday Times has reported that workers, backed by the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions, building the steel plant for the Chinese-owned Dinson Iron & Steel Company in Manhize in Mvuma, about 192km south of Harare, in Zimbabwe claim that they are exploited, forced to work in inhumane conditions, and sleep crammed eight to a small room on the construction site. They told Sunday Times, on condition of anonymity, that “They are not provided with safety equipment, have no proper toilets, and are forced to lie to get a day off to see their families.”

They told “Nothing good is coming out of the steel plant; we live like animals. Eight workers sleep in one tiny room. We have no basic sanitation. Sewage overflows at the plant because of blocked plumbing. We defecate in the bush because they are no working toilets at the plant. The sewage overflow is next to the kitchen where the food for workers is prepared. We are not allowed to cook our own food. The food we are given by the company is badly prepared. We are paid $4 a day and the money comes as half in local currency and other half in US dollars. We work for 30 days, with no off day.”

China’s largest stainless steelmaker Tsingshan Holdings subsidiary Disco has denied the allegations and said that these are attempts to smear the good name of the company, and Chinese investments in Zimbabwe.

Production is expected to begin in August and the plant is expected to manufacture more than 1.2-million tonnes of steel a year.

More than 800 workers are employed at the plant, with most of them living on the site. Disco said the integrated steel plant will create 2,000 jobs by the end of 2023. Last year, at a breaking ground ceremony, President Emmerson Mnangagwa hailed the project as a paradigm-shifting milestone for Zimbabwe.

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