Online Reporter
Herald Reporters
In a major relief for businesses and ordinary people, the Government has gazetted revised compliance fees for all local authorities, including slashed parking rates and abolished levies as part of President Mnangagwa’s comprehensive “Ease of Doing Business” reforms targeting critical economic sectors.
The move is expected to boost domestic business operational efficiencies, attract more investment, and promote profitability by local entities and individual entrepreneurs.
Its full enforcement is one of the landmark achievements under the Second Republic led by President Mnangagwa, who, in his inaugural speech in 2017, declared that “Zimbabwe is Open for Business.”
Since then, the Second Republic has ignited local and foreign investor confidence through sustained reforms and focused commitment to ensuring robust economic transformation.
The latest measures are contained in Statutory Instrument 41 of 2026 (Model Fees By-Laws, 2026), which takes immediate effect and outlines several revised fees across various urban and rural local authorities.
Retail shops will benefit from abolished fees, such as bakery and food factory licensing within a retail shop, fish monger, takeaway license, restaurant, and bottle store licensing within a retail shop, which have ceased.
Also abolished is the timber transportation levy, borehole and water abstraction costs, livestock movement clearance levy, and fuel storage license.
This follows pronouncements last year by President Mnangagwa of a wide-ranging reform implemented across key sectors, including tourism, agriculture, mining, and manufacturing.
Under the latest SI 41 of 2026, parking fees have been capped at US$0,50 per hour from US$1, clamping fees capped at US$20 per incident, while tow-away charges have been reduced by 50 percent for all local authorities.
The standardisation of parking fees is expected to bring uniformity and affordability to urban centres, where charges had previously varied across local authorities.
In Bulawayo, where parking management is handled by Tendy Three Investments under a contract with the City of Bulawayo, the company is now expected to adjust its parking charges from US$1 to the new Government-approved rate of US$0,50 per hour in line with the new statutory instrument.
The harmonisation of fees is designed to protect motorists and businesses from excessive charges while ensuring local authorities operate within a clear and predictable regulatory framework.
In a major boost to the livestock sector, the Government has also abolished the annual cattle levy and livestock movement clearance fees charged by rural district councils.
