The Role of Natural Resources in Zimbabwe’s Socio-Political Landscape

Introduction

Zimbabwe’s abundant natural resources have profoundly shaped its socio-political landscape, serving as both a blessing and a curse for the nation.

From the colonial era to today, control over these resources has been central to power dynamics, economic development, and international relations.

FAF, Africa.Forum examines how natural resources have influenced Zimbabwe’s political structures, economic trajectory, and social fabric.

Mineral Wealth and Economic Significance

Zimbabwe possesses extraordinary mineral diversity, with close to 40 different minerals that form the backbone of its economy. The country’s mining sector contributes significantly to its economic output and foreign exchange earnings.

Key Mineral Resources

Gold: Zimbabwe’s most valuable mineral export, with production rising to 680.3 metric tons in 2021 and exports increasing from US$913 million in 2016 to $4.48 billion in 2022.

The country possessed the second-largest gold reserves in Africa as of 2023.

Platinum Group Metals (PGMs)

Zimbabwe holds the second-largest platinum deposits in the world, primarily extracted from the Great Dyke region.

Diamonds

Discovered in the late 1990s, diamonds have emerged as a key export, especially from the Marange fields.

Lithium

Zimbabwe has significant lithium deposits, which are increasingly crucial for batteries and green technologies.

Other minerals

The country also has substantial chromite, coal, nickel, and iron ore deposits.

The mining sector contributes approximately 12% to Zimbabwe’s GDP, accounting for 80% of national exports. In 2021, Zimbabwe earned about $5.7 billion in mineral exports, a significant increase from $3.2 billion the previous year.

Political Control and Elite Capture

Natural resources in Zimbabwe have become deeply intertwined with political power structures, often serving as instruments of patronage and control

Elite Capture of Resources

Zimbabwe’s ruling elite and security services have systematically captured control of the country’s natural resources, particularly in the mining sector.

A report by Zimbabwe’s leading academics revealed that the ruling elite and private companies control mineral resources, creating a system where wealth is concentrated among those with political connections.

The Marange diamond fields exemplify this pattern of elite capture. Discovered in 2006, they have been repeatedly linked to corruption and human rights violations.

Global Witness found evidence linking Zimbabwe’s military and intelligence agency with several companies operating in the Marange diamond fields.

These connections had been long hidden behind an opaque wall of secrecy over revenue flows and ownership.

Patronage Networks and Resource Control

Natural resources form the foundation of extensive patronage networks that sustain political power in Zimbabwe.

Under Robert Mugabe’s leadership, these networks flourished in exchange for supporting his presidency, accelerating the grand-scale looting of Zimbabwe’s natural resources.

This pattern has continued under President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s administration.

The ruling ZANU-PF party elite is influential within the political economy, controlling a large number of potential voters through land and resource allocation.

This creates a system where political loyalty is rewarded with access to valuable resources, reinforcing the party’s grip on power.

Land as a Political Resource

Land remains one of Zimbabwe’s most contested natural resources, with its distribution and control having profound political implications.

Land Reform and Political Power

Zimbabwe’s Fast Track Land Reform Programme (FTLRP), initiated in 2000, extensively redistributed land from white commercial farmers to black Zimbabweans.

While officially aimed at addressing colonial injustices, the land reform process became highly politicized, with land often allocated based on political connections rather than agricultural expertise.

The sweeping land reform seized approximately 6,000 large, white-owned farms and converted them into over 168,000 black-owned farms

Many of the new occupants included landless black citizens but also several prominent members of the ruling ZANU-PF administration.

This redistribution fundamentally altered Zimbabwe’s agrarian structure and created new patterns of political dependency.

Land as a Tool for Political Control

Land allocation has become a powerful tool for political control in Zimbabwe.

By controlling access to land, the ruling party can reward supporters and punish opponents, creating a system of dependency that reinforces political loyalty. This has contributed to the entrenchment of ZANU-PF’s political dominance since independence.

Resource Extraction and Corruption

The exploitation of Zimbabwe’s natural resources has been characterized by widespread corruption, a lack of transparency, and illicit financial flows.

Corruption in the Mining Sector

Zimbabwe’s mining sector, particularly artisanal gold mining, is dominated by haphazard and chaotic operations. This is largely due to politics and the absence of political will to formalize it and implement appropriate governance frameworks.

The sector is bedeviled by conflict, corruption, violence, patronage, and environmental destruction.

A case study exploring public finance fraud in Zimbabwe found that political corruption has translated into the mismanagement and misuse of public revenues from natural resources for private gain and power consolidation.

Complex organizational networks and mechanisms have been created to divert public assets with the help of front companies.

Illicit Financial Flows

The lack of transparency in Zimbabwe’s natural resource governance has facilitated significant illicit financial flows.

In 2012, Partnership Africa Canada alleged that about $2 billion in diamond revenue had been stolen by Zimbabwe’s political elite.

The country’s parliamentary portfolio committee on mines and energy pointed out “irregularities and loopholes in the entire diamond value chain,” with apparent discrepancies between the government’s books and figures provided by mining houses.

International Relations and Resource Diplomacy

Zimbabwe’s natural resources are crucial in shaping its international relations and diplomatic strategy.

Resource Diplomacy

Zimbabwe has increasingly employed “resource diplomacy” as a foreign policy tool. This approach involves using the country’s abundant natural resources to advance diplomatic and foreign policy goals.

President Mnangagwa has explicitly stated that Zimbabwe would use diamonds as a foreign policy tool in its re-engagement with the West.

Resource diplomacy entails either using economic power for political purposes or using political power for economic purposes. For Zimbabwe, this has become particularly important in the context of international sanctions and diplomatic isolation.

Sanctions and Natural Resources

Zimbabwe has faced targeted sanctions from Western countries, particularly the United States and European Union, which have affected its ability to exploit its natural resources fully.

While these sanctions primarily target key officials of the ruling ZANU-PF party, they also impact international loans and investment in the resource sector.

The Zimbabwean government has portrayed these sanctions as a form of economic invasion aimed at controlling the country’s natural resources.

According to this narrative, Zimbabwe has rejected “structured economic superiority” by the US and its allies, who seek to siphon natural resources and raw materials without investing in local beneficiation.

Chinese Investment in Natural Resources

As Western relations deteriorated, Zimbabwe has increasingly turned to China for investment in its natural resource sector. Chinese investments have given new impetus to Zimbabwe’s mining sector growth, with significant investments in gold and lithium mining.

In 2022 alone, President Mnangagwa commissioned two major Chinese mining projects: a $35 million gold crush and recovery plant by Radnor Mine and a $200 million project by Sinomine to build a lithium mining and processing plant.

These investments are expected to significantly contribute to the realization of Zimbabwe’s mining sector growth plans.

Resource Nationalism and Economic Strategy

Zimbabwe has recently embraced resource nationalism as part of its economic strategy, seeking to maximize the benefits of its natural resources.

Export Restrictions and Local Beneficiation

In December 2022, Zimbabwe banned raw lithium ore exports to minimize the economic potential of artisanal mining and encourage investments in state-approved production facilities.

This ban was later expanded to cover all base mineral ores, including critical minerals such as nickel and manganese.

These export restrictions are part of a broader trend of resource nationalism, where countries protect their mineral resources from foreign exploitation and seek to capture more value through local processing and beneficiation.

Zimbabwe hopes that requiring local processing of minerals will create more jobs, develop local industries, and increase export revenues.

Vision for Mining Sector Growth

The Zimbabwean government has set ambitious targets for its mining sector, with the goal of increasing mineral production and maximizing beneficiation.

In 2019, Zimbabwe set out to more than quadruple mining sector revenue by hauling minerals worth $12 billion by 2023.

To achieve this vision, the government has sought to attract foreign investment, particularly from China, while implementing policies to ensure greater local benefit from resource extraction.

However, power shortages, foreign currency shortages, and policy uncertainties continue to hamper the full realization of this potential.

Social Impact and Community Relations

Exploiting Zimbabwe’s natural resources has had profound social impacts, often exacerbating inequalities and creating tensions between communities and resource extractors.

Two Zimbabwes

Elite Wealth and Popular Poverty

Zimbabwe’s natural resource wealth has contributed to the emergence of “two Zimbabwes”: one for a small elite and another for millions of poor Zimbabweans.

The elite captures the vast majority of economic growth—those with access to the country’s natural resources, government contracts, and political connections.

Despite positive GDP growth figures (7.8% in 2021, 6.1% in 2022, and 5.3% in 2023), the reality for ordinary Zimbabweans is far from rosy.

While the economy may be expanding on paper, there has been a slight, tangible improvement in the living standards of the vast majority of Zimbabweans.

Community Resource Management

Zimbabwe has attempted to implement community-based natural resource management programs, such as the Communal Areas Management Programme for Indigenous Resources (CAMPFIRE).

Under this program, communities manage wildlife in their own areas, with the government retaining only a supervisory role.

However, political interference has undermined effective community management of resources like water.

While Zimbabwe’s water governance is supposed to be decentralized, with communities having authority over their water resources, resistance from the ruling party has prevented full implementation of this approach.

The result is that community participation in local water systems is undermined, affecting both drinking water access and agricultural productivity.

Conclusion

Natural resources play a multifaceted and central role in Zimbabwe’s socio-political landscape.

They serve as the foundation of the country’s economy, providing essential export earnings and employment opportunities.

However, the control and distribution of these resources have become deeply politicized, with a small elite capturing a disproportionate share of the benefits.

The exploitation of Zimbabwe’s natural resources has been characterized by corruption, lack of transparency, and environmental degradation. At the same time, these resources have shaped the country’s international relations, providing leverage in diplomatic engagements and attracting foreign interests that may not always align with national development goals.

As Zimbabwe moves forward, the challenge will be to develop governance systems that ensure more equitable distribution of resource benefits, greater transparency in resource management, and sustainable exploitation that preserves these resources for future generations.

The country’s abundant natural wealth could be the key to economic prosperity and social development, but only if the political will exists to manage these resources in the interests of all Zimbabweans.