This article discusses the Domestic Minimum Top Up Tax (DMTT) introduced into Zimbabwe’s tax legislation in 2024. It considers the impact of the DMTT on multi-national companies operating in Zimbabwe and its implications on foreign investment.
Tatenda Tendayi is an Associate in the Corporate and Finance, and Tax practice groups. Tatenda holds Bachelor of Social Science (BSS), Bachelor of Laws (LLB) and Masters of Commerce in Taxation (MCom (Taxation)) degrees from Rhodes University. He was on the Dean’s List for Academic Merit at Rhodes University for three out of five academic years and was third place in the Final Year Moots.
From the year 2016, Tatenda was a tax intern at a medium-sized accounting, tax and advisory firm in Grahamstown, South Africa. In his work as a tax intern, Tatenda gained experience in drafting tax opinions, lodging objections to tax assessments, computing and filing tax returns and drafting and reviewing various commercial agreements. After returning to Zimbabwe, Tatenda completed his legal conversions and is honing his legal skills, with a specific focus on commercial taxation, at Manokore Attorneys.
Experience has included advising:
- The Concessionaire of a National Project in the tax structuring of the project and mitigating the financial risk thereof
- A regional developmental funding institution in a due diligence exercise involving the extension of a USD30 million facility
- A listed mining entity, in conducting a financial and legal due diligence for the extension of a loan facility
- An international investor in drafting and negotiating a concession agreement between a state entity and an international investor involving multi-million dollar capital deployment
- An international investor in the review and amendment of a facility agreement relating to a USD36 million facility
Professional Qualifications
- Registered Legal Practitioner of the High Court of Zimbabwe (2018)
Education
- Rhodes University, South Africa, BSS/LLB and MCom in Taxation (2015)
Prior Experience
- 2018 – date, Associate at Manokore Attorneys; DLA Piper Africa member firm in Zimbabwe
- Jan. 2016 to Dec. 2016, Tax Consultant, The Tax House South Africa
Memberships
- Law Society of Zimbabwe (2018 - present)
- Institute of Risk Management of South Africa (2018)
The proposed amendments to the Finance Act [Chapter 23:04] are contained in the Finance Bill, 2019 (the “Finance Bill”), and, if approved by Parliament, will give effect to certain fiscal measures mentioned by the Minister of Finance and Economic Development in the National Budget Statement delivered on the 22nd of November 2018.
This article will trace the history of currency use in Zimbabwe, tracking Zimbabwe’s movement from relative monetary stabilization following independence, to its crippling hyperinflation, abandonment of the Zimbabwean dollar, adoption of a multi-currency system and ultimately how the evolution of the currency regime has led to the rise of fintech methods of transacting on the back of a cashless society’s desperate need to adapt to debilitating shortages of cash in the economy.