The Minister of Mines, Louis Watum Kabamba, was on 4 June 2026 auditioned by the National Assembly's Commission on Environment, Tourism, Natural Resources and Sustainable Development on the mechanisms designed to redistribute a share of Congolese mining revenues to populations living in extraction zones.
The session focused on three instruments introduced by the 2018 revised Mining Code: the 0.3% community dotation levied on mining-company turnover; the mining royalty, of which 25% goes to provinces and 15% to decentralised territorial entities (ETDs); and the cahiers des charges under which mining companies commit to corporate social responsibility undertakings.
Watum presented an inventory of resources mobilised through these instruments and projects financed across several mining provinces, in sectors including education, health, drinking water, community infrastructure, agriculture, energy, and vocational training. The 0.3% dotation, the Minister noted, was designed as a direct community-level mechanism, with funds intended to finance development projects identified locally.
Deputies pressed the Minister on the governance of these funds.
The discussion turned to control mechanisms, management procedures, and transparency in project execution. Watum acknowledged that several challenges remain — including project monitoring, the functioning of the structures responsible for managing community funds (the Organismes Spécialisés or OS), and the strengthening of control mechanisms. Reforms, the Minister said, are under way to improve transparency and accountability in the use of these resources.
The session also extended beyond the immediate question of revenue redistribution. Parliamentarians and the government discussed the need to prepare the future of mining zones by developing economic activities able to survive the eventual depletion of deposits — a reference to the broader local-transformation doctrine the government has been articulating across multiple recent fora.
In line with parliamentary procedure, the Minister of Mines is required to return before the Commission within 48 hours to provide additional answers to questions raised during the audition.
