Online Reporter
Online Reporter
The Ministry of Mines and Mining Development has intensified its mining governance transformation agenda with the official opening of the Executive Leadership in Mining and Public Governance Training Programme for Provincial Mining Directors held at the Zimbabwe School of Mines (ZSM) in Bulawayo.
Giving a keynote address, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Dr Thomas UteteWushe outlined Zimbabwe’s transition towards a digitised, transparent and investment-responsive mining administration system.
Dr Wushe said mining remains the backbone of Zimbabwe’s economy, contributing an estimated 90 percent of export earnings and continuing to anchor foreign currency generation, noting that projected sector growth of above 7 percent is underpinned by strong performance in gold, platinum group metals and diamonds as well as emerging strategic minerals, but stressed that growth must be matched by advanced governance systems, stronger regulatory precision and institutional accountability in line with global expectations for transparency, environmental stewardship and community engagement.
Central to the address was the proposed Mines and Minerals Bill, which introduces a centralised digital mining cadastre system designed to eliminate structural inefficiencies such as overlapping claims, double allocations and tenure disputes while strengthening mineral rights transparency, improving spatial accuracy in licensing and reinforcing investor confidence through secure and auditable tenure administration, a reform Dr Wushe described as a structural re-engineering of mineral governance architecture rather than incremental administrative adjustment.
The training programme brings together Provincial Mining Directors as key execution nodes within the national mining governance system, with Dr Wushe emphasising their role as the critical interface between national policy and provincial implementation where regulatory enforcement, investment facilitation and community engagement converge, adding that modern mining governance now requires not only technical competence but also leadership capability in managing environmental compliance, stakeholder relations and the increasingly critical “social licence to operate”.
The programme incorporates multi-agency participation involving the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (ZIMRA), the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP), the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC), the Environmental Management Agency (EMA) and land administration authorities, with Dr Wushe stressing the need for integrated enforcement systems, inter-agency coordination and data-driven compliance mechanisms to eliminate regulatory fragmentation and strengthen sector integrity.
He further highlighted that Zimbabwe’s mining sector is operating in a competitive global investment environment where capital allocation is increasingly determined by governance credibility, policy predictability and administrative efficiency, noting that recent foreign direct investment inflows into mining reflect growing investor interest but also place greater responsibility on regulatory institutions to maintain high standards of professionalism and consistency.
The training modules include mining economics, fiscal regimes, investment facilitation, dispute resolution, environmental governance and leadership development, with particular emphasis on emotional intelligence, change management and public sector communication as part of a broader shift towards performance-based governance in the extractive sector.
The programme is aligned with the Ministry’s new branding and institutional transformation framework aimed at repositioning Zimbabwe’s mining sector as transparent, digitally enabled, investment-ready and globally competitive, reflecting what Dr Wushe described as a deliberate shift towards modern mining governance standards anchored on accountability, innovation and institutional discipline.
Dr Wushe challenged Provincial Mining Directors to translate technical learning into measurable governance outcomes that improve
Bongani Ndlovu