Resource Nationalism and Zambia’s Oscillating Mining Taxation Regime

Authors

Edna Kabala, Copperbelt University
Rosemary Mapoma, Copperbelt University
John Lungu, Copperbelt University

Abstract

The parcelling and privatisation of the large state-owned mining conglomerate Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines (ZCCM) involved the signing of Development Agreements (DAs) between the Zambian government and the new private investors. These DAs were concessionary to the new investors, offering low taxation rates, tax exemptions and deductions. But in 2008, under political pressure from the opposition, then President Mwanawasa abrogated the DAs with a new Mines and Minerals Act, removing exemptions and deductions and increasing taxation rates. This action set in motion a decade long period of contestation over mining taxation in Zambia, with the introduction and retraction of numerous mining taxation policies. This paper endeavours to explore the motivations, constraints, and economic and political implications of these oscillating mining taxation policies, in an effort to better understand the dynamics of resource nationalism in Zambia.

Recommended Citation

Kabala, Edna; Mapoma, Rosemary; and Lungu, John (2020) "Resource Nationalism and Zambia’s Oscillating Mining Taxation Regime," Zambia Social Science Journal: Vol. 8: No. 2, Article 5.
Available at: https://scholarship.law.cornell.edu/zssj/vol8/iss2/5