The Zimbabwe Miners Federation (ZMF) has achieved a decisive policy victory after Cabinet approved the standardisation of Rural District Council (RDC) land development levies, a reform that follows years of sustained lobbying and a pivotal meeting in February, Mining Zimbabwe can report.
By Rudairo Mapuranga
The decision, announced as part of a broader mining fee overhaul, means that miners across the country will no longer face wildly disparate charges depending on which district they operate in. The development is the culmination of a push by the ZMF, which has long argued that unpredictable and excessive RDC levies were crippling small-scale operations and driving them into the informal sector.
For years, the absence of uniformity meant that a miner in one district could pay as little as US$250 annually, while another in a different council area was forced to hand over up to US$20 000 for the same type of operation. The ZMF reported that some councils had hiked charges to “astronomical amounts,” with the worst cases reaching as high as US$20 000 per year. The federation’s engagement with the Mzingwane Rural District Council, where it successfully negotiated a reduction from approximately US$14 000 to between US$250 and US$750, became a blueprint for the nationwide campaign.
The February 2025 meeting, which brought together the Ministry of Local Government, the Ministry of Mines, representatives of Rural District Councils and the ZMF, was the turning point. Henrietta Rushwaya, president of the Zimbabwe Miners Federation, presented evidence showing how inconsistent and punitive levy structures were forcing artisanal miners out of business. Following that engagement, the government committed to a review, and the Cabinet has now delivered a binding decision to standardise the charges across all RDCs.
The reform has been warmly welcomed by industry bodies. The Chamber of Mines of Zimbabwe has long supported the move, noting that “standardisation is expected to provide a fair and equitable levy for mineral producers.” The chamber has also argued that a predictable cost environment across different regions is essential for attracting investment and helping producers plan for the long term.
For small-scale miners, the victory is tangible. The tiered approach proposed by the ZMF and now reflected in the new framework ensures that artisanal miners will pay a fraction of what large operations are charged. This aligns with the broader Cabinet directive to reduce the cost of doing business in 12 sectors of the economy, a decision taken in July 2025. As one miner put it during the February consultations, “when one council charges ten times what the neighbouring council charges for the same plot, it is not a levy, it is a shutdown.”
The ZMF has made it clear that it will be monitoring compliance closely, warning that any council attempting to circumvent the new rules will face immediate challenge.
The standardisation of RDC levies represents a rare alignment between central government policy, local authority regulation and grassroots mining interests. For the thousands of artisanal and small-scale miners who have long complained that they were being taxed out of existence, the message from Cabinet is finally clear: the era of predatory and unpredictable local levies is over.
