Harare - Zimbabwe would strengthen and clarify a law compelling foreign companies to cede at least 51 percent of local assets to black Zimbabweans or the government in a bid to win investment, Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa said in an interview in Harare yesterday.
President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu-PF party, which won the July 31 elections, would also close any “loopholes” in the law, he said.
Investors “would want to see clarity on the rules of the game so they can decide to come or stay home”, he said.
“We need to engage with the investors. Let’s be clear so there is no equivocation.”
Chinamasa said Zimbabwe was seeking investment in the power industry.
Saviour Kasukuwere, the Youth Development, Indigenisation and Empowerment Minister, said on Tuesday that Mugabe’s government planned to seize control of foreign-owned mines without paying for them, while compensating owners for a majority stake in banks operating in Zimbabwe.
Chinamasa said the ruling party would make minor changes to the constitution, having won the two-thirds legislative majority it needed to do so. Citizenship laws would not be altered while security reform would be halted, he said.
Zimbabwe’s main stock index fell for a third day by 1 percent yesterday, with the mining index dropping 2.6 percent. – Bloomberg