Community Empowerment Policy Shift Puts Focus on Local Value Chains and Agric-Supply

GWANDA, ZIMBABWE – The commissioning of the Gungwe Dam yesterday provided the platform for the Minister of Industry and Commerce, Hon. M. N. Ndhlovu, to outline a major new policy shift for the nation's community economic empowerment agenda. The Government has approved a revitalized framework for Community Trusts, now formally rebranded as Community Economic Empowerment Trusts (CEETs), with a mandate to drive rural industrialisation and strengthen local supply chains.

By Francis S. Bingandadi: Editor FinTech Review.Africa

New Policy Framework to Revitalise Community Trusts: Focus on Industrialisation and Local Procurement

The Minister detailed a significant change in policy direction for the CEETs. While the initial focus was largely on the equity model, the new framework provides a decisive shift towards an economic empowerment model.

Under this thrust, CEETs will be used as critical vehicles to exploit economic opportunities provided by mining activities and participate in local enterprise development. The key mechanism will be a strong encouragement, through incentives, for mining companies to identify and source inputs in their supply chain directly from the local community.

"This will ensure that communities become active participants in mining business value chains," Minister Ndhlovu explained, emphasising that this strategy harmonises with the national mantra of 'leaving no one and no place behind.' For the agricultural sector, this creates immediate opportunities for smallholder farmers and agri-businesses to become reliable local suppliers of inputs like foodstuffs, raw materials, or support services required by large-scale mining operations like Blanket Mine.

The Minister acknowledged that only six of the initially established 60 Community Trusts are currently functional. To address this, his Ministry has developed a robust and comprehensive Strategic Plan to revive all 60 CEETs, with an initial target of 24 earmarked during the 2026 strategic year. The plan includes reviewing trust boards into lean structures, revising Trust Deeds, and providing capacity building.

The commissioning event highlighted exemplary corporate citizenship. The Minister specifically commended PPC and Blanket Mine for partnering meaningfully with the community. PPC’s Community Special Trust has funded key projects like the Gungwe Dam and rehabilitation of irrigation schemes and poultry out-grower schemes. Furthermore, the Gwanda CEET's shareholding in Blanket Mine has generated US$12.6 million in dividends, funds now earmarked to form the "critical mass behind industrialising our communities and more importantly, championing supply chain development as well as local enterprise development."

Minister Ndhlovu urged all extractive companies in Zimbabwe to follow this living example, noting, "When industries grow responsibly, national prosperity becomes sustainable and communities will be able to prosper."