We cannot find a solution if we fail to first understand the problem.
The recent announcement by the Minister of Information Communication Technology, Tatenda Mavetera, that the government is engaging global tech giants like Google and Meta to “unlock” monetization for Zimbabwean digital creators is a scene we have witnessed many times before.
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It is a carefully choreographed performance of concern, designed to signal to a frustrated generation of youths that the state is finally fighting for their seat at the global table.
Yet, almost as soon as the Minister’s words hit the airwaves, the familiar, tired refrain followed from the usual quarters: the only reason our talented YouTubers, Facebook influencers, and digital entrepreneurs cannot earn a living is because of “illegal sanctions.”
It is high time we strip away the layers of this convenient fiction.
For too long, the “sanctions narrative” has served as a multipurpose shield, protecting the Zimbabwean government from the consequences of its own economic mismanagement and legal ineptitude.
To blame the exclusion of Zimbabwean creators from global payment systems solely on a handful of targeted restrictions is not just a simplification; it is a deliberate deception.
It ignores the cold, hard reality of how global finance works and how this government has systematically made our country “unbankable.”
First, let us deal with the legal facts that the peddlers of the sanctions myth conveniently omit.
On March 4, 2024, the United States fundamentally overhauled its sanctions regime against Zimbabwe.
The old, broad-based program—which was often blamed for “collateral damage”—was terminated.
In its place, the U.S. moved to the Global Magnitsky Program, a system that targets specific individuals and entities accused of corruption or human rights abuses.
Legally speaking, the Zimbabwean “state” is not under sanctions.
The digital infrastructure is not under sanctions.
The millions of young people trying to upload content from Highfield or Chitungwiza are not under sanctions.
If a tech company like Meta or Google refuses to process payments to Zimbabwe, it is rarely because a law in Washington forbids it; it is because the risk of doing business in our broken financial ecosystem far outweighs the potential profit.
The true barrier to monetization is not a list in a foreign treasury department; it is the reputational and systemic “high-risk” profile that our own government has cultivated.
Global tech firms are businesses, not charities.
To enable monetization in a specific country, they must ensure that their payment pipelines are secure, transparent, and compliant with Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Counter-Terrorist Financing (CFT) regulations.
While Zimbabwe was recently removed from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) “grey list,” we remain under “enhanced follow-up.”
This means our financial systems are still viewed with extreme skepticism.
When a bank in Silicon Valley sees a transaction destined for Harare, it doesn’t just see a content creator; it sees a red flag.
It sees a country with a history of murky financial flows, institutionalized corruption, and a lack of judicial independence.
For a global corporation, the cost of hiring a compliance team to vet every single Zimbabwean payout for potential “leakage” into the pockets of sanctioned elites is simply not worth the few thousand dollars in ad revenue.
Furthermore, we must address the elephant in the room: our disastrous monetary policy.
Digital monetization relies on stability.
A creator on YouTube earns in a currency they can actually use or trade.
How can Google or Meta integrate a payment system into an economy where the currency changes names and values more often than the seasons?
From the bond note to the RTGS, and now to the ZiG, the Zimbabwean government has created a laboratory of monetary chaos.
Tech giants require predictable exchange rates and the ability to repatriate funds without being strangled by the Reserve Bank’s restrictive exchange controls.
When the state demands a “cut” of every foreign transaction or forces the conversion of hard currency into a volatile local unit at an arbitrary rate, it signals to global platforms that Zimbabwe is a hostile environment for automated financial systems.
There is also the matter of market viability, a factor that has nothing to do with politics and everything to do with the “ease of doing business.”
For Google or Meta to enable monetization, there must be a robust local advertising market.
Advertisers pay to have their products shown to viewers.
If the local economy is so depressed that Zimbabwean companies cannot afford to spend significant amounts on digital ads, the “pot” of revenue to be shared with creators is empty.
By destroying the local manufacturing sector and eroding the purchasing power of the middle class, the government has inadvertently killed the very ecosystem required for digital monetization.
Our creators are essentially trying to harvest from a field that the state has salted through decades of economic pillaging.
We must also look at the legislative environment.
While Minister Mavetera talks of “engagement,” other arms of the government are busy crafting laws that make international companies shudder.
Recent regulations, such as Statutory Instrument 215 of 2025, which restricts foreign participation in various economic sectors, send a clear message: Zimbabwe is not an open market; it is a fortress of protectionism and surveillance.
Why would a company like X (formerly Twitter) or TikTok invest in the legal and technical infrastructure to pay Zimbabwean creators when the state frequently threatens to shut down the internet, treats digital spaces as a front for “subversion”, and views the digital economy primarily as a cow to be milked?
A perfect example of this parasitic relationship is the government’s recent introduction of the 15% Digital Services Withholding Tax, which came into effect on January 1, 2026.
This tax, announced in the 2026 National Budget, forces banks and mobile money operators to snatch 15% of every payment made to foreign digital platforms—from Netflix and Spotify to Starlink.
When the state imposes such aggressive levies on the very platforms our creators rely on, it creates a massive disincentive for those platforms to formalize their presence here.
Why would Meta or Google go through the bureaucratic nightmare of setting up monetization for Zimbabweans when the local government has already signaled its intent to aggressively tax and intercept digital flows?
The tragedy of this situation is that it is the youth who pay the price for this grand deception.
By blaming sanctions, the government abdicates its responsibility to fix the banking sector, stabilize the currency, and create a transparent legal framework.
They tell the young filmmaker in Bulawayo that their poverty is the fault of an invisible hand in London or Washington, rather than the visible hand in Harare that has mismanaged the treasury for forty-five years.
It is a psychological trap designed to divert anger away from the source of the rot.
If the government were serious about monetization, they would not need a “dialogue” with Google.
They would need a dialogue with the people of Zimbabwe about transparency.
They would need to prove to the world that our banks are not conduits for the “Gold Mafia” or the elite’s offshore accounts.
They would need to create a currency that survives a considerable length of time without devaluing.
They would need to remove the “risk premium” that they have placed on the head of every Zimbabwean citizen through their own behavior.
The digital age offers a path to prosperity that bypasses traditional borders, but that path requires a foundation of trust.
You cannot be a pariah in the world of international law and transparency and then wonder why you are excluded from the world of international finance.
The “sanctions” excuse has expired.
It is time for Minister Mavetera and her colleagues to stop chasing ghosts in the boardroom and start fixing the policy rot at home.
Until they do, Zimbabwean creators will remain digital exiles, not because of what was decided in a foreign capital, but because of what was destroyed in their own.
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