If you have bought a ticket to a Zimbabwean show this year, the promoter behind it should have a licence from the National Arts Council of Zimbabwe (NACZ). The council says plenty do not, and it is now promising to do something about it.
In a statement dated 16 October, the NACZ said it would work with the Zimbabwe Republic Police on joint inspections, monitoring and enforcement against promoters running events without a valid licence or failing to meet required standards, the Herald reports. The council's legal footing is Section 13(4) of Statutory Instrument 87 of 2006, and its message was blunt: "The NACZ is issuing a stern warning to all unlicensed promoters to desist from hosting events."
What the council says is at stake
The NACZ lists a long set of harms. For audiences, that means poor security, weak crowd control, unsafe venues, no emergency medical cover, misleading adverts and cancelled shows. For artists, it names late or withheld pay, no written contracts, unfair revenue splits and lost royalties. It also argues that unlicensed operators undercut compliant ones and cost government and local authorities revenue, and that badly run events scare off sponsors.
The statement does not name any promoter or event. Promoters without a licence are told to visit the NACZ head office in Harare or a provincial office, fill in the application forms, pay the prescribed fees and meet health and safety rules.
We have heard this warning before
This is not the council's first attempt. In May 2015 it warned unregistered promoters that offenders would be reported to police, and at that point only 51 promoters were registered with it, according to a Herald report republished by Africultures. The NACZ also said then that it could act only when someone reported a breach or supplied evidence. Whether the 2026 operations change that approach is the open question.
The cost of getting licensed
Here is the part the October statement leaves out. In January, promoters told Zimpapers that the fee structure was strangling live events. According to the Herald, a promoter paid US$1,850 to register and US$1,750 a year to renew, plus 15 percent of an artist's fee to the NACZ with a minimum of US$1,000 per show. Add US$250 to the Zimbabwe Censorship Board and US$500 to Immigration for clearing foreign performers.
One promoter, speaking anonymously, said these costs are why tickets are expensive, because promoters pass them on to cover flights, hotels, artist fees and government charges. The NACZ spokesperson did not dispute the burden. He said the fees are set at Cabinet level and that the council expected them to be reduced. The October statement does not say whether revised fees are now in force, and I could not find confirmation that they are.
What it means for fans and artists
For fans, the practical point is that a licence is a rough signal that a show has met safety and contract standards, though the council has not published a list of licensed promoters in the statement. For artists, the contract and payment protections the council cites only work if the promoter is inside the system. For small promoters, the squeeze is real: enforcement is arriving before, or at least without announced, fee relief. If the council wants compliance, how quickly the cheaper fees arrive may matter as much as how many police operations it runs.
Sources
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