It may seem unfair to blame China for Zimbabwe's 'Operation drive out rubbish' - President Robert Mugabe's campaign to destroy the shacks that shelter up to 300,000 of the country's poorest people.
But even as the haze from thousands of burned shelters still hangs in the air over the country's cities, many hold Beijing responsible.
The demolition campaign began unexpectedly in May. Massed phalanxes of police swooped on unsuspecting shack-dwellers, forcing them onto the streets and destroying their homes. Few managed to save their meagre belongings and this, it seems, may have been the point.
'It has been mentioned in many, many circles around here for months now that one of the prime reasons for 'Operation drive out rubbish' was in response from complaints from some Chinese businesses that local traders were hurting them,' says Richard Tren, co-author of a study released last week into the consequences and motives behind the brutal campaign.
Mr Tren, along with Bulawayo's outspoken Catholic Archbishop, Pius Ncube, and US academic Roger Bate from the Washington-based American Enterprise Institute, published the study that links the recent arrival of thousands of Chinese entrepreneurs to the campaign.
They point to the fact that police paid special attention to homes with market gardens or whose owners had begun selling goods from their premises. In several instances, large suburban homes were also targeted. For instance, police recently raided a plush home in the exclusive northern suburb of Greystone Park in the capital, Harare.