Rich Billi

@richbilli

[Rich Billi @RbRichbilli]

@wicknellchivayo DEMBARE YANGU MHAYIIII THANK YOU SIR FROM TODAY MAKUNZI SIR NHAPITAPI MAKAPENGA I LOVE DEMBARE TO THE FULLEST

[𝐂𝐫𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐖𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡 𝐙𝐖 @CrimeWatchZW]

Naison Marufu has responded to @Zimra_11’s decision to introduce taxes on content creators. Thoughts? : Munotanga mafunga here musati mataura or kuita zvimwe zvinhu.

Some of the things that these government institutions do, they even offend common sense 🙌

You want to tax Content creators, but cannot lobby for them ... Painful...That is the contradiction sitting at the heart of Zimbabwe’s digital economy.

Zimbabwe has no formal monetization agreement with Meta or Google. Content creators are using foreign details ... South African bank accounts, relatives abroad, VPNs .... to unlock what their own country cannot give them. And now ZIMRA wants a cut of money that technically, by platform rules, was never supposed to reach Zimbabwe in the first place .
This is ambush economics.

Content creators are already paying taxes where they are registered ... which is not in Zimbabwe ... because the Ministry of ICT has no formal relationship with Meta. They file where the platform recognizes them. They comply where the system exists. Zimbabwe is simply not on that map.

The government confirmed the gap itself. Minister of ICT Tatenda Mavetera admitted in January 2026 that discussions with Google and Meta are ongoing but acknowledged “limitations” and gave no timeline . Meanwhile, ZIMRA issued Public Notice 25 of 2026 demanding voluntary disclosure by 30 May 2026 .... penalties waived, but interest still applies.

So one arm of government is “engaging” global platforms. The other is taxing income earned through back channels because the engagement produced nothing.

But wasn't the first move supposed to be pushing the Ministry of ICT to lobby for Zimbabwe to be on Meta's monetization map? Shouldn't that have been the opening gambit? Get the country whitelisted. Secure the payout pipeline. Formalize the relationship. Then, and only then, talk about tax withholding, registration thresholds, and voluntary disclosure. Instead, ZIMRA issued deadlines while ICT holds meetings that produce nothing. The cart is not just before the horse ... the cart is demanding fuel from a horse that hasn't been born.

ZIMRA has the power to tax. Does the Ministry of ICT have the power to lobby? Can you walk into Meta's offices and say "monetize Zimbabwe"? Because if you can't, then you're taxing air. You're demanding compliance for a system you haven't built. Creators are paying the price of your diplomatic silence.

Do ZIMRA and the Ministry of ICT ever communicate? The evidence suggests no. Or if they do, they are not listening to each other.

To be clear: using the source-based tax rule, ZIMRA is legally correct. If you create content while sitting in Zimbabwe, they consider the income source Zimbabwean .... even if the payment lands in an SA account. The Double Taxation Agreement with South Africa exists, but that requires disclosure and paperwork most creators have not filed .

It is possible for ZIMRA to track payments through TaRMS, monitoring mobile money and bank transfers that bring foreign earnings back home, and auditing public disclosures of wealth.

It is impossible for ZIMRA to force Meta or Google to write checks directly to Zimbabwean accounts. That is not their mandate and power. They tax what comes in ... they do not create the pipes for it to flow.

It is also hard for the Ministry of ICT delivering a monetization deal while US sanctions remain in place. US-based companies face significant legal risks making payments that could indirectly benefit sanctioned individuals. Even if the government negotiates, compliance costs will outweigh Zimbabwe’s small ad market. Google Adsense pays based on viewer location ... a Zimbabwean audience generates roughly 30 cents per thousand views versus up to $7 for a US audience.
The market is classified as operationally dead for advertisers.

Let's talk about the WhatsApp admin fiasco. 2024. Ministry of ICT floated a tax on WhatsApp group admins. A data protection license, they called it. The policy was so absurd that Meta's Terms of Service don't even allow third parties to charge admin fees for group operation. WhatsApp's end-to-end encryption means ZIMRA cannot see a single message without breaking the protocol. The policy was unenforceable from the first sentence. Yet someone in government said it out loud. Off the cuff. Zero technical understanding. Zero legal grounding. It died in public ridicule ... but it should never have been born.

So ZIMRA is correct to tax undeclared income. The Ministry of ICT is failing to deliver access. Meta terms make the workaround a violation. Sanctions are blocking the official route. The digital advertising market is too small to attract serious platform investment. And two government arms are operating as if they serve different countries.

ZIMRA has no legal relationship with Meta at all. They are demanding tax on income generated through a platform that does not recognize Zimbabwean creators.🤦

If your citizens must break a platform’s terms of service to earn anything, who is really breaking the law? The creator trying to survive? Or the government taxing a transaction it cannot see, cannot enforce, and cannot protect?

Until Zimbabwe gets formal monetization, asking creators to pay tax on income earned through loopholes you cannot close and channels you cannot open is economic ambush.

©The Marketing Maven

[Rich Billi @RbRichbilli]

@agribusiness110 Looking clean boo

[Rich Billi @RbRichbilli]

@todo_simms ukangoita skiri iroro neni wabata pamuviri january inosvika wakupfira pfira

[Rich Billi @RbRichbilli]

@wicknellchivayo Happy birthday mkuru we share same month

[Rich Billi @RbRichbilli]

@wicknellchivayo This is lovely mkuru

[Rich Billi @RbRichbilli]

@todo_simms Aka kamunhu aka kanongoda mwana chete zvinopera izvi

[Rich Billi @RbRichbilli]

@agribusiness110 I'm good mdiwa how are you doing

[Rich Billi @RbRichbilli]

@todo_simms @ least make up is quite moderate on this picture!!!

[Rich Billi @RbRichbilli]

@wicknellchivayo Thank you sir this is impressive

[Rich Billi @RbRichbilli]

@todo_simms I'm just wondering what you'll be like without these make up thing.

[Rich Billi @RbRichbilli]

@HighlanderBosso This is the biggest match in Zimbabwe, I love these clubs both but Dynamos is going to win this match.

[Rich Billi @RbRichbilli]

@HighlanderBosso Izabona intuthu iBosso ngesonto asambe Dhina Dhina

[Rich Billi @RbRichbilli]

@HighlanderBosso I support you both but you're going to die lol

[Rich Billi @RbRichbilli]

@JSCZim Well done my secretary @JSCZim

[Rich Billi @RbRichbilli]

@JSCZim Good going @JSCZim

[Rich Billi @RbRichbilli]

@agribusiness110 Mwaaaa you're welcome sweetheart

[Rich Billi @RbRichbilli]

@LloydJudges @Savheya_Happie Iweee titorimowo mune zvekutengesa mota izvi dzikama you're overpricing that vehicle. Tengeserai vakapata vekumaruzevha not munhu wemutown nxaaa nonsense