By Fanuel Chinowaita
HARARE, 28 May 2026– The Centre for Natural Resource Governance (CNRG) has called on the Government of Zimbabwe to step in urgently over what it describes as a deepening humanitarian and environmental crisis linked to operations by Dinson Iron and Steel Company (DISCO) in Manhize.
The watchdog accuses the company of neglecting displaced communities and exposing both workers and villagers to unsafe conditions.
In a statement released on yesterday, CNRG said families uprooted to make way for the Dinson Industrial Park were living in dire circumstances marked by water shortages, poor housing and the collapse of livelihoods.
“The Centre for Natural Resource Governance (CNRG) is deeply concerned by the worsening humanitarian, environmental, and governance crisis surrounding the Dinson Iron and Steel Company (DISCO) operations in Manhize, where displaced communities continue to suffer under poor living conditions, unclear relocation arrangements, and environmental harm,” the statement read in part.
According to CNRG, six boreholes drilled by the company at relocation sites have since dried up, leaving families without reliable access to water.
The organisation further alleged that compensation paid to affected villagers was inadequate because the land had been classified as state land.
“Affected families also report that compensation was inadequate because the land was classified as state land, meaning compensation only covered structures and trees rather than the full livelihood value of the land,” CNRG said.
The watchdog highlighted the plight of about 22 families from Mushenjere village, most of them elderly people aged between 80 and 90.
“These villagers, especially elderly women who depend on subsistence farming, have lost access to their agricultural land following mining expansion,” the statement continued.
CNRG said DISCO had built a wall around its industrial complex, enclosing fertile farmland previously used by villagers while exposing nearby communities to dust and pollution from mining and limestone crushing.
“Consequently, for more than four years the affected families have not been able to grow crops for subsistence – thereby condemning them to perennial food insecurity,” the organisation said.
Only three families had reportedly been relocated so far, but the houses allocated to them had allegedly developed structural cracks.
“The elderly residents have no realistic capacity to rebuild their lives elsewhere,” CNRG added.
The organisation claimed that affected families were surviving on irregular subsistence allowances of US$200 every other month, an amount it called inadequate to meet basic needs amid rising living costs.
“At one point, these payments reportedly stopped for more than five months until communities protested,” the statement read.
CNRG further accused company-linked officials of attempting to sanitise the project’s public image while concealing the conditions faced by affected communities.
“Reports indicate that media houses are routinely invited for choreographed tours of the production facilities and industrial operations, while the affected community areas, cracked houses, dust pollution zones, and relocation sites are deliberately excluded from the tours,” the organisation alleged.
Concerns were also raised over the welfare of workers at the steel plant, with CNRG alleging that employees were operating under unsafe conditions.
“At some point the company engaged a medical doctor to carry out medical tests on the employees, but the results were not declared to the workers. Instead, they are kept at the safety office,” CNRG claimed. “In cases where some workers might have life-threatening conditions, this information remains a closely guarded secret by management.”
CNRG warned that Zimbabwe’s industrialisation agenda should not come at the expense of human dignity and environmental justice.
“Zimbabwe’s industrialisation agenda cannot be realised by sacrificing human dignity, community rights, and environmental justice,” the organisation said.
It called on the government to urgently enforce safe housing construction, provide reliable water infrastructure, conduct independent environmental and health assessments, release workers’ medical results, and investigate allegations of misinformation and irregular community engagements involving company officials.
The Manhize steel project, located in Zimbabwe’s Midlands province near Mvuma, is spearheaded by Dinson Iron and Steel Company (DISCO), a subsidiary of the Chinese-owned Tsingshan Holding Group. Touted as one of Africa’s largest integrated steel plants, the US$1.5 billion development forms the centrepiece of an envisioned Dinson Industrial Park and is expected to produce millions of tonnes of steel annually.
To make way for the project, hundreds of families were relocated from ancestral land, with the government classifying the area as state land, which limited compensation to structures and trees rather than the full agricultural and livelihood value.
While authorities and the company have framed the project as a catalyst for industrialisation, jobs and economic revival, affected communities and watchdogs like CNRG have persistently raised red flags over inadequate relocation, loss of subsistence farming, broken promises on water and housing, and environmental harm from dust and pollution.
The latest CNRG statement escalates those long-standing grievances, placing direct responsibility on both the company and the state and demanding immediate corrective action