Online Reporter
Patrick Chitumba, [email protected]
GOVERNMENT has stepped up efforts to revitalise Community Share Ownership Trusts (CSOTs), aiming to ensure that local communities benefit from economic activities in their areas.
Only six out of 59 registered CSOTs are operational, with a mere 10 percent survival rate, while the remainder are either dormant or defunct.
Initially established to promote community development through funding local infrastructure, education, healthcare, and income-generating projects, CSOTs have been hindered by inactivity, poor oversight, and unclear implementation frameworks.
In line with Vision 2030, the Second Republic is committed to leaving no community behind and is working to introduce stronger accountability structures and legal mechanisms to ensure mining firms comply with local beneficiation provisions related to CSOTs.
With growing consensus on the need to devolve economic empowerment, the CSOTs are being positioned not only as conduits for development but as agents of community-driven industrialisation in the new economic dispensation.
Speaking during the consultative workshop on the Draft Implementation Framework for Community Share Ownership Trusts Revitalisation and Reserved Sector Operations in Gweru on Thursday, Minister of Industry and Commerce, Mangaliso Ndlovu, said the revival of the CSOTs is part of the Second Republic’s broader rural industrialisation agenda, which aims to ensure the equitable distribution of mineral wealth while promoting inclusive and sustainable local development.
“We are saying people should be able to benefit from the economic activities in their localities. We cannot fold our hands when the law is clear on what needs to be done,” he said.
Minister Ndlovu said consultations being carried out will culminate in a policy position to be approved by the Cabinet.
“We want to see the industrialisation of communities being driven by CSOTs, which remain vital in the development matrix,” he said.
In mineral-rich provinces like the Midlands, authorities believe the revival of CSOTs will play a catalytic role in boosting local economies and unlocking entrepreneurship potential.
Minister of State for Midlands Provincial Affairs and Devolution, Owen Ncube, said the Second Republic’s bold move to rejuvenate CSOTs will positively impact previously established trusts such as Tongogara, Mberengwa and Zvishavane in Midlands, as well as potential new ones from current investments across all provinces.
“The revitalisation of the Community Share Ownership Trusts resonates with the Second Republic’s heritage-based modernisation and industrialisation agenda, which is anchored on harnessing local resources and empowering indigenous people to spearhead innovation that addresses local problems guided by President Mnangagwa’ s mantra: ‘Nyika inovakwa, inotongwa, inonamatirwa nevene vayo,” he said.
Minister Ncube said in view of the foregoing, some of the major investments in the extractive sector realised in Midlands with potential to have CSOTs include the Dinson Iron and Steel Company, which also has a capacity to generate power to the tune of 50MW, Chengetai Cheng Xi investments, Sabi, Mimosa, Unki and Murowa Diamonds, among several others.
In Shurugwi, CSOTs have been established, particularly the Tongogara Community Share Ownership Trust, to facilitate community development and benefit from mining activities.
Chiefs in Shurugwi, including those under Chief Nhema, Ndanga, and Banga, have been involved in these trusts, representing their communities in negotiations and development projects
Chief Ndanga said the Tongogara CSOT, for instance, funded projects like road construction, borehole refurbishment, and the construction of schools and clinics — the positive development that ended several years ago when the trust was abandoned.
“Now we have mining companies that are just coming to extract the mineral resources without giving anything back.
“They find roads passable and when their trucks start transportation of natural resources, they damage the roads and unfortunately they don’t bother rehabilitating them. So, we are grateful that the CSOTs are coming back,” he said.
Chief Banga said a lot of projects started during the tenure the CSOTs had stalled, adding that they were eagerly waiting for their revival.
