Zimbabwe business grab on the way

Harare - Addressing the Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce (ZNCC) and Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI) representatives, the Minister of State for Indigenisation and Empowerment, Munyaradzi Paul Mangwana, said the proposed law would be under the spotlight in the next parliamentary session next month.
 
Said Mangwana, "The first reading of the law will be done in the first week of August, and it will ensure that at least 51 percent of the shares of every public company and other business shall be owned by indigenous Zimbabweans,".
 
Mangwana said the move is aimed at correcting and not discriminating [against] people in the business arena.
 
Since the proposal of the law, which will allow government to forcibly seize a controlling stake in all foreign owned firms, there have been concerns that the phrase “indigenous black Zimbabweans" was both racist and discriminatory.
 
"We are not discriminating but we want to correct and empower those who were discriminated before April 1980. The law will also provide an environment for people who had no access to wealth to have it," Mangwana added.
 
It is not true that the Bill has been proposed to shut out white business players and foreign investors in the economy, the minister said.
 
He added that foreign investors still had numerous options, among them seeking joint ventures and partnerships with black Zimbabweans who will now control majority shareholding in all companies.

New bill not racist, but whites ‘failed', hence the new law

Meanwhile, Mangwana has since embarked on a countrywide tour of the country addressing business stakeholders about the new law and its objectives.

He has since met business in Harare and Bulawayo and will be in Mutare in a fortnight. He said the tour was aimed at explaining the Bill to avoid distortion and misinformation.

"We are meeting people to erase the distortions of the intention of the introduction of the law. Most of the whites thought we were introducing a law similar to the land reform in business. Foreign investors are welcome, but they have to abide by our rules", he said.
 
Under the proposed law, Zimbabwe's black majority are expected to be major shareholders in any business operating in the country.
 
The pending law will also block approval of any business or demerger of two or more businesses unless black indigenous Zimbabweans hold at least 51% shareholding in the restructured business.
 
Foreign direct investments shall only be approved if Zimbabweans own the 51% of the shares.
 
Mangwana said the Bill is as a result of the whites' failure to take heed of government's earlier proposal for them to share with locals in companies.
 
"We started at a point whereby we were persuading our fellow business players to share with us so that we become at par but the message was not heard enough, hence the birth of the Indigenisation Law", he said.
 
Mangwana has since warned critics of the initiative that they risk losing their operating licenses if they continued to incite foreign investors.
 
Independent economists, the country's largest labour grouping Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions and civic groups have been in the forefront in criticising the bill saying it would chase away the little foreign direct investment remaining in the country.

Article courtesy of TheZimbabwean