Harare - President Robert Mugabe’s government planned to seize control of foreign-owned mines in Zimbabwe without paying for them as part of a programme to accumulate $7 billion (R69bn) worth of assets following Zanu-PF’s victory in last week’s election, a minister said yesterday.
The government would compensate bank owners as it took control of their companies, Indigenisation Minister Saviour Kasukuwere said in an interview. Kasukuwere is in charge of the programme to compel foreign companies to transfer majority stakes to black investors or the government and his comments echo a suggestion made by Mugabe earlier.
“When it comes to natural resources, Zimbabwe will not pay for her resources,” Kasukuwere said. “If they don’t want to follow the law that’s their problem.” Mine owners that did not comply with the requirement to hand over control risked losing their licences, he said.
Other industries, like telecommunications, might have to yield smaller stakes to black owners, he noted.
Foreign mining firms operating in the country include Anglo American Platinum (Amplats) and Impala Platinum (Implats), and banks include Standard Chartered and Barclays.
Metals and minerals accounted for 71 percent of exports in the first four months of 2013, bringing in $720 million (R7.1bn), the Herald newspaper said, citing the finance ministry.
On the JSE Implats fell 2.65 percent and Amplats lost 1.1 percent. Barclays Bank of Zimbabwe lost 20 percent on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange, whose industrial index dipped 2.2 percent after plunging 11 percent on Monday.
The government and black Zimbabweans would take half of the value of assets it had identified in the economy, Kasukuwere said. The state empowerment fund had so far acquired about $1bn in assets, he said.
The government would open a new stock exchange to trade the black-owned stakes in the companies, he said. Trading at the Harare Stock Exchange, which would rival the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange, might start within 100 days of the new government taking office and would only be open to black Zimbabweans, he said.
Investments would be protected by the government as long as companies did not seek to exploit the country without its people benefiting, Kasukuwere said. – Bloomberg