Zimbabwe: $8.5 Billion in Mineral Exports, Yet Schoolchildren Walk 25 km

Zimbabwe holds the world's second-largest known deposits of platinum group metals, behind South Africa, and its mining sector generated $8.5 billion in export revenue in 2025, up from $5.9 billion a year earlier, according to John Musekiwa, then president of the Chamber of Mines of Zimbabwe, as cited by Al Jazeera on October 28, 2026. In the villages adjacent to the pits and concentrators, residents say they do not see this wealth.

Platinum at an All-Time High, a School Under the Trees

Platinum reached a record $2,923 per ounce on January 26, 2026, according to the World Platinum Investment Council. Mines account for approximately 75% of the country's exports and about 14.5% of its gross domestic product, according to the U.S. International Trade Administration. Yet, on September 7, 2026, students at Turf Primary School, near Zimplats facilities in the Mhondoro-Ngezi district, were attending classes under trees because the facilities could no longer accommodate the increase in enrollment, Al Jazeera reports.

Emmah Chikwai, a Ward 3 councilor, explains that children travel 15 to 25 kilometers to reach Musinambi High School and is calling for an annex facility closer to home. Village head Ernest Denhere is requesting a road connecting Turf, Mamina, and Murambwa to the main Harare-Masvingo highways. "What is beneath our land speaks for itself," he summarizes.

Water, Displacement, and Company Responses

Agnes Handidikundiona claims that the river water has not been clean since a sewage spill, even though it used to be used for laundry and vegetable gardens; floods sometimes prevent children from attending class, and she is calling for a footbridge. Edson Mabure, whose family was displaced during the mine's expansion, denounces the pollution of the Ngwazani River without knowing who is responsible, the local council or Zimplats. Sakina Lice, a mother of eleven and grandmother of nine, earns about $20 a month by collecting plastic at a landfill.

Companies highlight their social investments. The Unki mine in Shurugwi says it spends an average of $1.5 million per year on community development over five years, has installed 63 boreholes and supported 32 schools, and pays approximately $850,000 annually to the Tongogara Rural District Council, according to its public relations manager, Evelyn Mawimba. Mimosa did not respond to Al Jazeera's questions; Zimplats had promised a response but did not provide one before publication.

Councilor Nhomboka Kurebwa Javangwe acknowledges that Zimplats has built classrooms and housing, but considers the supply insufficient to meet demand, and regrets that local elected officials do not have direct access to the company, as only the council chairperson is received. The debate mirrors the one taking place in several capitals across the continent regarding local processing and the return of mining rents to the populations. In Zimbabwe, the question is no longer whether the metals are profitable, but for whom.