Women and girls in lithium producing districts like Bikita and Mberengwa cannot negotiate for safer sex with cash-rich foreign nationals leading to the high prevalence of ‘blue sick’.
Rutendo Chirume
In the shadows of the Chinese dominated lithium mines, reports of a new Sexually Transmitted Infection (STI) is spreading, and communities are afraid the strain is incurable.
The story of this affliction, now commonly known as ‘blue sick’, and the broader crisis it represents, were discussed during a recent meeting organised by the Economic Justice for Women Project (EJWP) in Harare.
Here, away from the noise of the mines, the voices of women from communities in Bikita, Mberengwa, Buhera, and Goromonzi painted an alarming picture of life in the shadows of the lithium rush.
Praise Mufumhi, a young woman from Bikita, said the infection was causing severe trauma for communities in her native Bikita district which is one of the top producers of lithium.
“Besides challenges like water shortages and lack of access to land, we face a serious issue of strange STIs, blue sick in particular, which appeared after the Chinese took over operations at Bikita Minerals in 2022. They say it’s incurable, and it causes bleeding from private parts,” she said.
Lithium occupies a central role in Just Energy Transition which entails the global push to move away from fossil fuels to cleaner or greener forms of energy.
Meanwhile, “blue sick” has become a local symbol for a wave of Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) that advocacy groups and residents link directly to the influx of foreign miners in lithium rich districts.
In Buhera, near the Sabi Star Lithium Mine, the narrative is tragically similar. Senzeni Taruona, a member of the Buhera Residents Network Trust (BRNT), described an environment of economic desperation where women and girls are forced into impossible choices.
“Our major challenge is that these mining operations attract an influx of commercial sex workers and foreign truck drivers, which dramatically increases STI cases. In this environment, sex is exchanged for money, not out of choice, but out of necessity,” said Taruona.
She said many unmarried Chinese nationals working at the mine often solicit for unprotected sex from local girls and women from local communities.
While the anecdotal evidence from the communities seems plausible in layman terms, official channels remain cautious.
When contacted for comment, Thalia Muchanyara-Mungwari, the District Medical Officer in Bikita, acknowledged a rise in STI cases but was hesitant to attributed the cases to unscrupulous sexual practices driven by foreign nationals.
“There is no concrete medical evidence linking the STIs directly to Chinese individuals, as no tests have been conducted to establish their origin,” she said.
Frontline health workers like Tendai Ganyana, the Mberengwa District Officer for the Centre for Sexual Health and HIV/AIDS Research Zimbabwe (CeSHHAR), said infections were showing resistance to available antibiotics.
“The reports that we receive suggest that many of the Chinese workers prefer not to use protection, and since they offer higher payment, the victims are powerless. This has resulted in several people reporting a strange sickness that causes abdominal contractions and makes one urinate blood. These cases are being reported in different parts of Mberengwa,” said Ganyana.
For Margaret Mutsamvi, the Director of EJWP, these accounts demand immediate action as they are not just a health crisis but a profound issue of human rights and economic justice.
“There must be meaningful engagement between all stakeholders, including government ministries, to develop solutions.
“We need to safeguard the health of women and ensure they have access to real economic opportunities. This is the only way to reduce their vulnerability to exploitation,” Mutsamvi said.
The urgency of her call is underscored by chilling national statistics. Between January and June 2024, Zimbabwe recorded its highest number of new STI cases.
Data from the Ministry of Health and Child Care reveals a stark increase: cases of vaginal discharge rose from 45 807 in the first half of 2023 to 46 859 in the same period in 2024. Among men, urethral discharge cases climbed from 40 153 to 41 888.
As the lithium boom promises to power a greener future for the world, it casts a dark and spreading shadow over the women of Zimbabwe, leaving them to contend with a legacy of sickness, exploitation, and a future that feels anything but bright.