Communities weigh in on proposed Mines and Minerals Bill

Sukulwenkosi Dube-Matutu, sukulwenkosi.dube@chronicle.co.zw

THE Zimbabwe Environmental Law Organisation (ZELO), formerly known as the Zimbabwe Environment Law Association (ZELA), has rolled out an awareness campaign across the country on the Mines and Minerals Bill, which was gazetted this year.

In an interview ZELO monitoring, evaluation, accountability and learning officer Mr Ngonidzashe Sesemani said the organisation will compile a report and submit it to Parliament with recommendations from the people.

“We called this meeting to discuss the Mines and Minerals Amendment Bill. As a country, we are using the 1961 mining legislation. There are efforts by the Parliament to repeal the current Act, amend it and ensure that community concerns by various stakeholders are taken into consideration.

“We have a Memorandum of Understanding with the Parliament of Zimbabwe and they reached out to us to give our own opinions about the Bill. As an organisation that is grounded in communities, we have been engaging communities throughout the country. We have been to Mutare, Zvishavane, Mberengwa, Kwekwe and Shurugwi to get input from stakeholders,” he said.

Mr Sesemani said the organisation has already submitted some preliminary feedback from communities.

Zimbabwe’s primary mining legislation, the Mines and Minerals Act (Chapter 21:05), enacted in 1961, governs mineral rights, exploration, and mining activities. However, this outdated law is slated to be repealed and replaced by the new Mines and Minerals Bill, gazetted in 2025.

The bill aims to modernise regulations, introduce stricter rules for mining titles, resolve conflicts with farmers, add new social obligations, and reserve small-scale mining for locals. The new Bill was drafted in 2015 and is currently under parliamentary consideration, having faced delays and a presidential rejection in 2018 due to concerns about property rights.

The 1961 Act was created during a colonial, racist economic era and is considered outdated, ill-suited to modern mining realities and technology.

The new Mines and Minerals Bill (2025) seeks to address a number of things such as updating and modernising the country’s mining legislation, introducing tougher rules and procedures for mining titles, introducing new social obligations for mining operations and addresses environmental standards.

It also seeks to resolve conflicts between miners and farmers, reserve small-scale mining exclusively for local citizens and designate specific minerals (like diamonds, lithium, and rare earths) as strategic, requiring state agreements and potentially new investment vehicles for their exploitation.

The new legislation also aims to replace Exclusive Prospective Orders (EPOs) with Exclusive Exploration Licences (EPLs) for entities with a demonstrable history of exploration, and to reduce the size of exploration areas.
The 2025 Bill has been gazetted and is expected to be tabled in Parliament, which will have to pass it for it to become law.

@DubeMatutu

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