The displacement of thousands of local residents to make way for the Sengwa coal plant is highly likely, based on precedents set by similar projects. For example, the Hwange coal power plant expansion in northwest Zimbabwe threatens to displace more than 880 families. The majority of households in the Sengwa project area rely on the local environment for a livelihood, be it farming or fishing. Typically, the government does not consult with local communities when embarking on mining projects and removes residents from construction paths by force.

Health problems linked to air pollution will impact the locality’s remaining residents. As is the case for Hwange – not to mention countless other coal projects – the Sengwa coal plant is expected to release dozens of toxic substances into the air and water. In Hwange, 400 households in a plant-adjacent suburb require relocation to avoid air pollution.

Water shortages are inevitable, because local sources are already only sufficient for agricultural and domestic purposes. Gokwe is a dry area, characterised by high summer temperatures, intermittent rainfall and long periods of scorching heat. The community has had to adapt to water scarcity and employs strategies like dry planting and water harvesting, but it will be impossible to meet the power plant and mine’s water needs too. RioZim’s water pipeline proposal is designed to address this shortfall, but Lake Kariba already hosts a hydropower energy project and is gradually losing water to severe, long-term droughts.

Zimbabwe’s climate-related disasters will only worsen as Sengwa’s immense carbon reserves are released into the atmosphere. RioZim’s facility will be Zimbabwe’s largest coal-fired power plant and its greenhouse gas emissions will make a significant contribution to global heating. Climate change is already inflicting acute water shortages, catastrophic floods and extreme weather events upon Zimbabweans. In 2019, Cyclone Idai caused several deaths and destroyed many homes and livelihoods, before Cyclone Ana killed 32 people and damaged 282 houses in 2022.

According to the “Zimbabwe Revised Nationally Determined Contribution” 2021 report for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, “the country is projected to experience a progressive reduction in precipitation, increase in temperatures, increasingly volatile weather events and less dependable seasons.” Zimbabwe’s women are suffering the most from these impacts, because they represent the majority of the agricultural workforce and are in charge of domestic work.

A vast tract of land will be seized for the Sengwa coal power plant, which has been estimated at 138 square kilometres (excluding land for the pipeline and power line). In its 2020 annual report, RioZim claimed to be concluding the Sengwa project’s Environmental Impact Assessment, but as of August 2022 this had not materialised.