The Coke Manufacturers Association of Zimbabwe (CMAZ) has officially petitioned the Ministry of Finance, demanding the removal or reduction of the newly imposed 3% levy on coal sales and exports, warning that the tax threatens to undo years of progress in coal beneficiation, Mining Zimbabwe can report.
By Rudairo Mapuranga
The petition, filed under Section 149 of the Constitution, which grants citizens and corporate entities the right to petition Parliament to enact, amend, or repeal legislation, comes just weeks after the levy took effect on 1 January 2026 under the Finance Act No. 7 of 2025.
What the Coke Producers Are Saying
In their letter to the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion, the CMAZ outlined six key concerns, arguing that the levy creates an unsustainable burden on an industry already operating on thin margins.
Double Taxation Claims
The association argues that the 3% gross levy effectively constitutes double taxation. Coke manufacturers already pay mineral royalties, corporate income tax, VAT, the 3% AIDS levy, withholding tax, coal export permit fees, Ministry of Mines lease fees, ZIDA licence fees, and various local authority levies. Adding a 3% gross sales and export levy creates an unsustainable “tax-on-tax” system that suffocates operational margins and erodes cash flows.
Penalising Beneficiation
The most striking contradiction, according to the CMAZ, is that the levy penalises the very beneficiation policy the government claims to champion under the National Development Strategy 1 (NDS1). Coke manufacturers purchase raw coal, convert and process it into high-grade metallurgical coke vital for regional steel manufacturing and copper smelting. By imposing the 3% levy on gross sales and exports, the government is effectively taxing the processing of raw coal into high-value coke.
Regional Competitiveness Threat
Zimbabwe’s coal producers rely heavily on regional markets such as Zambia, the DRC, and South Africa. The CMAZ argues that the 3% levy increases the landed cost of Zimbabwean coal, making it less competitive against regional suppliers at a time when the market is already depressed and profit margins are low.
Domestic Power Sector Impact
The bulk of local coal feeds the Hwange Thermal Power Station, which supplies electricity across the country. A 3% domestic sales levy significantly increases production costs, which could ultimately raise national electricity tariffs and consumer goods prices. The CMAZ notes that while the government is committed to improving the energy sector and reducing compliance costs, maintaining a high 3% gross levy contradicts these national policy objectives.
The Coke Manufacturers Association has “humbly requested the reduction of the levy or, alternatively, an exemption through the removal of the 3% levy on the local sale and/or export of all beneficiated, processed, and value-added coal derivatives.”
The petition represents a coordinated industry pushback against a fiscal policy that, according to producers, punishes success rather than encouraging the value addition that Zimbabwe desperately needs. Whether the government will heed this call remains to be seen, but the CMAZ has made it clear: the levy, as currently structured, threatens the very beneficiation drive it is supposedly designed to support.
