🗞️ City of Harare Slashes Business Licence Fees in Landmark 2026 Budget
Presenting the much-anticipated 2026 Budget, City of Harare Finance Committee Chairperson Councillor Costa Mande unveiled a significant overhaul of the city’s business licence fee structure. This bold move is directly aligned with the Government of Zimbabwe’s national directive urging municipalities to rationalise and substantially reduce business licence fees across the country.
The City of Harare has formally recalibrated its 2026 tariff framework with a primary focus on supporting investment growth, enterprise formalisation, and overall economic recovery within the capital. This strategic pivot aims to lower the barrier to entry for new businesses and provide relief to existing enterprises.
Key Reductions and Tariff Details
The core of the new budget framework features substantial reductions, averaging around 50% across several key business categories:
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Small Shops (Below ): These businesses, previously charged an annual fee of US$400, will now benefit from a simplified, flat-rate annual licence fee of US$200. This represents a direct 50% reduction for small-scale entrepreneurs.
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Hawkers (Non-Food): Fees for non-food hawkers have been more than halved, dropping from US$115 to a new rate of US$58.
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Hairdressers Class A (Shop): Recognising the high prevalence of women and youth operators in this sector, shop-based hairdressers will now pay US$230, down from the previous charge, marking a fifty percent reduction designed specifically to support these demographic groups.
Cllr Mande emphasised: “This is a direct effort to support women and youth operators. We believe that by making it easier and cheaper to formalise, we are not only boosting their individual capacity but contributing directly to the city’s economic vitality.”
Strategic Vision: A Competitive, Inclusive Capital
The proposed budget tariff structure is underpinned by a clear vision: to make Harare a competitive, inclusive, and genuinely business-friendly city. The Council is striving to strike a critical balance between fiscal responsibility and economic stimulus.
To achieve this, the City has adopted a tiered reduction model. This model allows the Council to comply fully with the national directive while simultaneously maintaining adequate fiscal capacity to sustain its essential service delivery mandate—a crucial consideration for any municipal administration.
Recognising Harare’s strategic role as the national capital and commercial hub, the Council noted that affordable licensing is absolutely essential to attract much-needed domestic and foreign investment. Lower licence fees are anticipated to spur job creation and accelerate the formalisation of the small to medium enterprises (SME) sector, which is a major employer in the city.
The move signals a major shift in the city’s regulatory approach, moving away from a punitive fee structure to one that actively incentivises compliance, investment, and growth for all enterprises, ensuring that Harare remains the economic engine of the nation.
