---

Communities have a constitutional right to benefit from resources in their areas in line with Section 13 (4) on National Development. Given government’s inclination to open Zimbabwe for business, there is an ominous risk that investors get prioritised over community rights is ominous. In March 2019, the Minister of Finance, Prof Mthuli Ncube boasted that government has so far sealed US$8 billion deals in the mining sector. But the exact connection between mining mega deals and benefits accruable to communities are not clear. The mining deals are not open for public scrutiny despite the constitutional requirement that Parliament must play and oversight role during negotiation of mining agreements together with performance monitoring of existing mining contracts – Section 315 (2) (c).

---