Let’s start with an inconvenient truth: the Chinese have done a lot for Zimbabwe — and not just in theory. They’ve built roads, revived factories, electrified rural schools, sunk boreholes where government promises had dried up, and turned derelict farms into productive estates. Real projects. Real jobs. Real impact.

Yet, in today’s national pastime of outrage, everyone now wants to act like the Chinese are freeloading lodgers who forgot to pay rent. Suddenly, they’re the villains in every story — blamed for pollution, potholes, power cuts, and, if we’re being honest, probably even for someone’s torn underwear.

Media headlines scream “takeover,” NGOs cry “exploitation,” and think-tankers host workshops on “neo-colonialism” — all comfortably funded by the same donors who never dug a single borehole. There’s good money in hating the Chinese. Blaming them has become an entire career path.

But let’s be serious for a minute. Did they force us to sign those contracts? Did they sneak into ministries at night and stamp themselves into mining licences? No. We opened the gates, rolled out the red carpet, and sang "strategic partnership" songs with ululations.

Because we love a good ceremony — the speeches, the photos, the per diems, the shopping trips. Our negotiators go to Beijing, post selfies with dumplings, and return declaring victory — even when the fine print reads like a clearance sale of national assets.

Meanwhile, the villagers whose land hosts the mine or the dam remain spectators. Nobody explains what’s being mined, who’s being paid, or why their fields are now fenced off. When they protest, local officials rush in — not to mediate, but to extort. Environmental compliance,” they call it, while pocketing cash that never reaches the community.

And NGOs are not any better. “Send the Chinese packing!” some of them scream. While busy using their ill-gotten cash to build mansions with tiles from Sunny Yi Feng, and eating off dinner plates from the same place.

And when people get angry — when resentment boils over — the very same government officials suddenly discover their inner patriotism. They start shouting, “The Chinese are exploiting us!” to please the masses they betrayed.

But who is responsible for letting those non-compliant Chinese operations cut corners, underpay workers, and dig up Christmas Pass?  Who is leaving it to Chinese companies to build roads, hospitals, power stations, and livelihoods — often in places our own government forgot existed?

It’s lazy and dishonest to paint all Chinese with one corrupt brush. Because a competent government would pick the bad apples and return them to sender. But the truth is they are most wanted, those bad apples. Highly desirable to rotten officials. Because they pay good bribes.

So, the real story isn’t about dragons. It’s about donkeys — us —sold by our own, load by load, and braying in protest at the buyer, instead of our own who are happy to fly, eat, get per diems, shop and return home to wax lyrical about how amazing China is, then go back to snoring, as usual.

If we had transparent contracts, empowered communities, and competent oversight, there’d be fewer problems to shout about. But we’d rather perform outrage on social media than fix systems.

So here we are — broke, indignant, and still queuing for the next “investment opportunity.”

The truth is the dragon didn’t breathe any fire on us. The donkey is just happy to roll in the ashes.