Zimbabwe's approach to community participation and indigenisation in extractive activities : problems and prospects

Abstract

Community participation is one of the most important initiatives in the extractive activities sector with regard to any community benefiting from the resources around it. There is lack of community participation in extractive activities, despite the plethora of mineral deposits in Zimbabwe, particularly in the "Great Dyke". Lack of community participation is fertile ground for the political elite to use it as a means of attaining authority from the communities with the anticipation that development will transpire. The community's interests are often not fully attended to despite having a constitution which protects access to information and socio economic rights. The research seeks to explore the existence of participation by communities in the extractive sector in Zimbabwe. Emphasis is made on its problems and prospects. A comparative analysis will be drawn with other jurisdictions. Zimbabwe has shown its commitment to socio economic rights by ratifying the major international and regional instruments. These principles must be implemented in ensuring that communities with minerals around them are empowered. The findings of this research indicate that Zimbabwe could make great strides in making sure that communities benefit from the extractive sector if it learns from other jurisdictions with regard to empowering the communities around it. At the same time, the research advocates for the promotion and respect of human rights which in other words is less censoring of media in order for people to be informed about what is happening in the extractive sector and that mechanisms have been put in place by government to make sure that the people benefit from the minerals around them. This research consists of a background study, analysis of legislation, case study of a selected community in Zimbabwe, community involvement in revenue management, comparative study with three other jurisdictions and, finally, conclusions and recommendations are laid out based on the discussion in this dissertation.