Zimbabwe’s vast natural resource wealth continues to tell two conflicting stories, one of economic promise, and another of deepening inequality, environmental harm, and community dispossession. The Centre for Natural Resource Governance (CNRG) 2025 Annual Report captures this tension while documenting a year of bold action, community resistance, and growing impact.
A Year Defined by Struggle and Progress
In 2025, communities across Zimbabwe, from Penhalonga to Hwange, Marange to Magunje, faced the harsh realities of extractive expansion: land dispossession, pollution, unsafe labour practices, and human rights violations. At the same time, CNRG stood at the forefront of efforts to shift power back to communities.
Through advocacy, research, and grassroots mobilisation, CNRG helped transform local grievances into national and international conversations on justice, accountability, and equitable resource governance.
Key Highlights from 2025
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- Major Advocacy Victory: A landmark campaign successfully halted mining at Christmas Pass, protecting a critical ecological and cultural site.
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- Exposing Injustice: Investigations revealed systemic abuses in mining operations, including labour exploitation, environmental destruction, and violence against artisanal miners.
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- Lithium & Illicit Flows Campaigns: CNRG intensified calls for value addition and accountability, highlighting the daily export of unprocessed lithium and massive gold leakages through illicit financial flows.
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- Flagship Research: The report “Investments or Plunder?” unpacked the impacts of foreign-dominated mining, particularly the structural inequalities embedded in the sector.
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- Growing Influence: Through The Weekly and international platforms like the Kimberley Process Civil Society Coalition, CNRG amplified Zimbabwean community voices on the global stage.
Communities at the Centre
At the heart of CNRG’s work is a simple but powerful principle: communities must have a voice, and a choice. In 2025, this vision came to life through:
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- Capacity-building programmes empowering youth, women, and local leaders
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- The expansion of the Right2SayNo campaign across mining-affected regions
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- Digital platforms and storytelling tools that enabled communities to speak directly to power
Navigating a Complex Operating Environment
CNRG’s work unfolded in a challenging context marked by:
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- Increasing dominance of foreign-controlled mining operations
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- Rising illicit financial flows draining national wealth
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- Climate-related disasters worsening community vulnerability
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- Shrinking civic space and threats against activists
Despite these pressures, the organisation continued to push boundaries, locally, regionally, and globally.
Looking Ahead
The report sets out an ambitious vision for 2026: scaling community campaigns, strengthening digital advocacy, advancing climate justice, and deepening continental and global alliances. At its core is a commitment to ensuring that Zimbabwe’s mineral wealth benefits its people, not at their expense.
Why This Report Matters
This is more than a record of activities, it is a call to action. It speaks to policymakers, communities, civil society, and international partners, urging a fundamental rethink of how natural resources are governed. It challenges extractive models that prioritise profit over people, and it offers a pathway toward justice, accountability, and shared prosperity.
Read the full report to explore the stories, struggles, and victories shaping the future of natural resource governance in Zimbabwe.