By Tadiwa Jery
Sanctions have been blamed for the demise of the Zimbabwean economy since the United States
sanctions in 2001 and the EU sanctions in 2003. These sanctions were claimed to target certain
individuals and included a suspension of non-humanitarian government-to-government assistance.
The Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act (ZIDERA) sanctions saw Zimbabwe’s
access to international credit markets blocked. The country accumulated an international financial
risk profile and this made investors skeptical about opening operations in Zimbabwe.
In an interview with mining matters, Hon Minister Winston Chitando stated that the country does not
have enough financial resources to increase the production capacity. He said that mines need
funding, and our banks are incapacitated to offer assistance as they have limited streams of income.
Sanctions are making it hard for the nation to get the financial assistance it needs and investors are
not coming forward to help.
However, the lack of financial muscle can not only be attributed to the sanctions, the missed
opportunity of establishing mineral value addition plants has also played a role in depriving the
mining industry millions in revenue.
It is only recently that the government decided to invest in mineral value addition. According to Hon
Chitando, the ministry is now investing in coal value addition to provide more electricity, a carbon
steel plant which will be operational in 2022 to add value to iron ore and a base metal refinery plant
for platinum which will be completed by the end of 2024.
