Category: News Feeds

Finance
Minister
Professor
Mthuli
Ncube
made
the
announcement
while
presenting
the
2026
national
budget
on
Thursday.
The
new
tax
is
expected
to
affect
millions
of
Zimbabweans
who
use
streaming
services,
ride-hailing
apps,
online
content
platforms
and
satellite
internet
services.

Prof
Ncube
said
the
tax,
which
takes
effect
on
1
January
2026,
is
intended
to
promote
fairness
in
the
digital
marketplace
and
safeguard
the
country’s
revenue
base
as
more
services
migrate
online.

“Most
digital
subscription
fees,
commissions
and
access
charges
are
currently
paid
outside
Zimbabwe’s
borders
without
attracting
Value
Added
Tax
(VAT),
giving
foreign
digital
platforms
an
unfair
competitive
advantage
over
local
service
providers
who
are
fully
taxed
within
Zimbabwe,”
he
said.

“The
digitisation
of
economies
has
increased
the
consumption
of
online
services,
most
of
which
are
supplied
by
offshore
companies
without
a
physical
presence
in
Zimbabwe.
These
transactions
are
occurring
outside
our
tax
net,
resulting
in
revenue
leakages
and
inequitable
competition
with
domestic
businesses.”

Under
the
new
framework,
banks
and
mobile
money
operators
will
be
required
to
withhold
the
15
percent
tax
at
the
point
of
payment,
ensuring
real-time
collection
and
sealing
long-standing
loopholes
that
previously
made
enforcement
difficult.

This
means
that
whenever
a
customer
pays
for
services
such
as
Netflix,
Spotify,
Amazon
Prime,
ride-hailing
apps,
digital
content
subscriptions
or
Starlink
satellite
internet,
the
withholding
tax
will
automatically
be
deducted
before
the
payment
is
sent
offshore.

Prof
Ncube
noted
that
similar
measures
have
become
standard
in
many
jurisdictions
as
countries
adapt
their
tax
systems
to
digital
commerce,
adding
that
the
policy
is
expected
to
broaden
revenue
sources
while
creating
a
level
playing
field
for
local
companies
competing
with
multinational
tech
giants.

However,
the
announcement
sparked
backlash,
with
some
citizens
expressing
their
frustration
on
social
media.

Users
argued
that
some
platforms,
such
as
Starlink
and
InDrive,
already
include
VAT
in
their
charges,
raising
concerns
about
potential
double
taxation.
Others
warned
that
the
measure
may
push
citizens
to
obtain
foreign
visa
cards
to
make
payments
and
bypass
the
new
tax.

The
issue
came
under
the
spotlight
on This
Morning
on
Asakhe,
an
X-Spaces
programme
hosted
by
CITEZW,
where
speakers
shared
differing
views
on
whether
the
church
has
become
too
quiet
on
matters
of
national
concern.

Pastor
Ray
Motsi
said
what
many
see
as
silence
from
the
church
is
a
sign
of
deeper
leadership
gaps.

“The
silence
we
have
in
the
church
is
a
symptom,
not
the
actual
problem,”
he
said.
“We
no
longer
have
church
leaders
who
are
passionate
about
national
issues
or
who
feel
called
to
respond
to
the
struggles
in
our
communities.
We
don’t
have
the
kind
of
leaders
we
once
had.”

He
argued
that
the
church
has
lost
its
place
as
a
trusted
moral
guide.

“The
church
is
no
longer
seen
as
a
moral
compass,”
he
said.
“God
raises
leaders
for
a
season
to
address
specific
issues,
but
right
now
we
simply
don’t
have
leaders
who
are
God-conscious,
spirit-led
and
able
to
speak
confidently
into
our
situation.”

But
Reverend
Kenneth
Mtata
pushed
back
against
the
criticism,
saying
claims
that
the
church
has
been
silent
are
not
entirely
accurate.

“I
am
not
sure
that
the
church
has
been
silent
regarding
the
2030
agenda,”
he
said.
“If
you
look
at
the
government’s
development
plans
under
the
National
Development
Strategy
1,
the
church
has
actually
been
engaging.”

He
said
the
second
interpretation
of
the
2030
debate,
linked
to
speculation
over
possible
changes
to
presidential
term
limits,
is
still
uncertain.

“The
proposal
has
not
been
brought
to
Parliament
or
the
courts,”
he
said.
“But
the
churches
have
already
spoken.
As
far
back
as
January
2025,
churches
issued
a
pastoral
communiqué
explaining
why
constitutional
amendments
could
harm
the
culture
of
constitutionalism.
So
the
church
has
not
been
silent.”

Another
contributor,
EL
Magnifico,
said
expectations
of
the
church
must
reflect
how
much
the
relationship
between
religion
and
politics
has
changed.

“We
can’t
expect
the
church
to
operate
like
it
did
in
biblical
times,
when
a
prophet
could
walk
straight
into
a
king’s
court
and
challenge
him,”
he
said.
“Politics
and
the
church
now
operate
separately.
That
relationship
has
shifted
over
time.”

Political
commentator
Mthulisi
Hanana
said
it
may
simply
be
too
early
for
the
church
to
take
a
definitive
position
on
the
2030
issue.

“As
far
as
2030
is
concerned,
it
would
be
unfair
to
expect
the
church
to
comment
on
what
is
still
a
political
statement
of
ambition,”
he
said.
“The
details
are
not
clear
yet,
so
the
church
can’t
be
expected
to
respond
to
something
that
hasn’t
been
defined.”

Fadzai
Chipato,


Great
Zimbabwe
University

Carbon
offsets
are
a
way
for
companies
or
countries
that
pollute
the
air
to
“cancel
out”
some
of
their
carbon
emissions
by
funding
projects
that
protect
forests,
plant
trees,
or
provide
clean
energy
–
sometimes
on
the
other
side
of
the
world.
Polluting
companies
in
the
US,
Europe,
Asia
or
elsewhere
can
buy
one

carbon
credit
from
a
green
project
anywhere
in
exchange
for
emitting
one
metric
tonne
of
carbon
dioxide
(CO₂).
But
do
these
projects
benefit
the
African
countries
that
host
them?
Rural
development
researcher
Fadzai
Chipato
studied
two
carbon
offset
projects
in
Zimbabwe.

Her
research
found
that
these
projects
can
negatively
affect
local
communities.

What
carbon
offset
projects
are
happening
in
Zimbabwe?

In
Zimbabwe,
carbon
offsetting
began
around
2011
with
the

Kariba
REDD+
(reducing
emissions
from
deforestation
and
forest
degradation
in
developing
countries)
project.

It
was
run
by
a
Zimbabwean
company,

Carbon
Green
Africa,
which
leased
758,000
hectares
of
degraded
forest
from
four
local
councils
in
northern
Zimbabwe
where
forest
could
be
regrown
for
the
purpose
of
selling
carbon
credits.

The
company
aimed
to
work
with
local
communities
to
halt
deforestation
through

conservation
farming
–
protecting
the
soil
by
not
digging
in
it
and
planting
a
variety
of
crops.
They
also
funded
nutrition
gardens
and
beekeeping
projects,
and
provided

biogas
digesters
and
fuel-efficient
stoves
to
reduce
the
number
of
trees
cut
down
for
firewood.

Many
families
benefited
through
food,
education,
and
extra
income.
However,
the
projects
were
run
from
the
top
down.
Decisions
were
made
by
investors,
the
government,
and
rural
district
councils.
Local
villagers
had
very
little
say.

In
2023,
Zimbabwe
passed
a

new
carbon
trading
law.
This
required
all
carbon
projects
to
be
registered
with

the
government
and
pay
30%
of
revenues
to
the
state.
The

Kariba
REDD+
was
stopped,
leaving
villagers

unsure
whether
their
gardens,
beekeeping,
and
clean
energy
projects
would
continue.

The
second
project
I
studied
is
the

Cicada
Holdings
Project,
which
aimed
to
plant
100
million
indigenous
trees
over
30
years
and
give
out
120,000
cookstoves
that
use
less
firewood.

Unlike
Kariba,
Cicada
worked
more
closely
with
local
farmers
and
by
December
2025,
it
had
given
out
160,000
environmentally
friendly
stoves.
However,
it
was
also
slowed
down
by
the
new
law,
with
the
government
taking
more
than
18
months
to
process
new
registrations.

Are
they
working?

On
the
positive
side,

the
Kariba
project
set
up
24
community
gardens,
including
seven
school
gardens,
that
provided
3,000
people
directly
or
indirectly
with
food.
One
garden
generated
enough
income
to
support
10
orphans.

The
community
gardens
have
improved
my
family’s
quality
of
life.
I
managed
to
pay
my
daughter’s
school
fees
and
buy
household
supplies.

New

conservation
farming
methods
were
introduced.
Maize,
and
two
nutritious
crops
that
are
fairly
drought
resistant
–
sorghum
and
millet
–
were
grown.
Beekeeping
in
the
forests
was
also
introduced.
As
farmers
said:

We
learned
about
innovative
agriculture
practices
to
improve
our
yields,
which
were
low
due
to
the
low
rainfall.
We
now
experience
better
harvests,
improving
our
food
sustenance
and
even
selling
excess
crops,
generating
financial
income.

Beyond
forest
preservation,
beekeeping
provides
additional
income
for
farmers
and
serves
as
a
rich
source
of
food
for
humans,
thereby
improving
community
livelihoods.

The
Kariba
REDD+
project
also
built

biogas
digesters
at
hospitals
to
generate
clean
energy
from
dung.
Local
villagers
could
sell
cattle
dung
to
these
projects
in
exchange
for
medical
treatments
and
cash.

Cicada’s
clean
cookstoves
reduced
smoke-related
illnesses
and
had
other
benefits:

The
stoves
are
very
helpful;
we
are
no
longer
collecting
firewood,
which
was
getting
difficult
to
find.

On
the
other
hand,

my
research
revealed
that
many
communities
were
excluded
from
decision-making.
Some
only
found
out
about
projects
in
their
villages
through
the
media.
Local
politicians
were
also
unhappy
when
projects
were
put
on
ice
after
the
new
law
introduced
stringent
registration
requirements:

We
were
shocked
when
the
project
was
stopped,
saying
the
government
was
not
involved.
We
asked
ourselves,
aren’t
Rural
District
Councils
part
of
the
government?

A
further
problem
was
that
project
funds
went
through
many
intermediary
brokers,
councils
and
non-governmental
organisations.
Villagers
never
knew
how
much
money
the
carbon
credits
were
generating
or
how
it
was
spent.
This
lack
of
transparency
caused
mistrust.

Overall,

my
research
found
that
carbon
offsets
in
Zimbabwe
have
not
been
neutral
tools.
They
are
political
and
economic
processes
that
reshape
who
controls
land,
who
benefits,
and
who
is
left
out.
Because
they
restrict
traditional
access
to
forests,
firewood
and
grazing
land,
these
projects
create
“virtual
dispossession”.

For
example,
people
were
stopped
from
collecting
firewood,
grazing
cattle,
or
making
bricks
in
forest
areas
that
had
always
been
communal
land.
Women
and
youth
who
earned
a
living
from
the
forests
were
badly
affected
by
having
fewer
rights
to
use
their
land.

This

mirrors
wider
patterns
across
Africa,
where
communal
land
that
supports
households
is
redefined
as
“underutilised”
and
given
over
global
carbon
markets,
often
without
fair
consultation
with
the
people
using
the
land.

What
should
global
powers
do
to
make
carbon
offsetting
just
and
sustainable?

To
make
carbon
offsetting
fairer
in
Zimbabwe
and
the
global
south,
several
measures
are
needed:

• Global
  climate
  conferences,
  including
  this
  year’s
  
  COP30,
  must
  find
  ways
  to
  guarantee
  that
  the
  benefits
  from
  carbon
  markets
  are
  shared
  fairly
  so
  that
  rural
  communities
  in
  countries
  like
  Zimbabwe
  are
  not
  sidelined.
• 
  COP30
  should
  also
  fulfil
  the
  
  promises
  of
  climate
  finance
  for
  Africa
  made
  at
  
  COP29
  in
  2024.
  They
  also
  need
  to
  set
  up
  ways
  for
  climate
  funds
  to
  reach
  communities
  affected
  by
  climate
  disasters.

• Communities
  need
  secure
  rights
  to
  their
  land
  and
  forests
  so
  they
  aren’t
  pushed
  aside
  when
  forests
  are
  turned
  into
  carbon
  projects.
  They
  must
  be
  consulted
  and
  give
  consent
  before
  projects
  begin.
• Carbon
  credit
  money
  should
  be
  clearly
  tracked
  and
  given
  to
  communities,
  where
  women
  and
  young
  people
  should
  also
  play
  leadership
  roles.
• Governments
  and
  companies
  must
  be
  held
  accountable,
  and
  communities
  must
  be
  able
  to
  challenge
  broken
  promises.
  Projects
  should
  also
  protect
  food
  security,
  traditions
  and
  survival,
  not
  just
  focus
  on
  cutting
  carbon.

Without
these
changes,
carbon
offsetting
risks
becoming
another
form
of
“green
grabbing”
that
takes
land
and
resources
from
Indigenous
people
who
have
used
them
for
centuries
in
the
name
of
climate
change
adaptation.

Fadzai
Chipato,
Lecturer
in
the
Department
of
Sociology
and
Social
Anthropology,


Great
Zimbabwe
University

This
article
is
republished
from

The
Conversation
under
a
Creative
Commons
license.
Read
the

original
article.

In
a
statement,
ZERA
said
the
report
was
“entirely
false,
devoid
of
any
truth
and
should
be
dismissed
with
the
contempt
it
deserves”.

The
Authority
said
that
the
Government,
through
its
recently
launched
National
Energy
Compact,
intends
to
achieve
universal
access
to
energy
by
2030.

As
part
of
this
effort,
measures
are
already
in
place
to
expand
all
forms
of
energy,
including
solar,
to
ensure
that
“no
one
and
no
place
is
left
behind”.

ZERA
said
the
Government
has
introduced
several
incentives
to
promote
solar
energy.
These
include
duty-free
importation
of
solar
equipment,
training
programmes
for
solar
installers
to
strengthen
the
industry
and
ensure
compliance
with
safety
standards,
and
net-metering
regulations
that
allow
households
to
feed
excess
power
back
into
the
national
grid.

The
regulator
reassured
the
public
that
no
levy
or
charge
exists,
or
will
be
introduced,
for
installing
or
owning
a
solar
system
for
domestic
use.

It
urged
the
public
to
ignore
misleading
statements
that
contradict
Government
policy
and
priorities.

Nyakujawa,
who
serves
as
the
District
Public
Works
Officer
for
Ingutsheni
District
in
Bulawayo,
pleaded
guilty
to
the
charges.

Six
months
of
his
sentence
were
suspended
on
condition
of
good
behaviour,
while
the
remaining
six
months
were
suspended
on
condition
that
he
completes
210
hours
of
community
service.

The
court
heard
that
sometime
in
2024,
Nyakujawa
visited
Founders
High
School
in
his
official
capacity
to
assess
and
prepare
a
bill
of
quantities
for
painting
work
that
the
Public
Works
Department
was
scheduled
to
carry
out.

However,
in
December
2024,
he
allegedly
told
the
school
that
the
department
lacked
sufficient
human
resources
for
the
job
and
advised
them
to
hire
his
private
company,
Rota
Cons
Engineering
(Pvt)
Ltd.

The
company
was
subsequently
awarded
a
contract
worth
US$2,002
to
paint
the
school’s
administration
block,
its
roof,
and
the
front
of
an
adjacent
classroom.

The
court
found
that
Nyakujawa
acted
in
a
clear
conflict
of
interest
by
supervising
the
work
both
as
the
director
of
Rota
Cons
Engineering
and
as
the
District
Public
Works
Officer.

He
also
failed
to
produce
site
handover
certificates
and
site
supervision
reports,
a
deliberate
move
to
conceal
the
transaction
from
his
superiors.