(ZIMBABWE GUARDIAN) No arrests: minister calms fears on indigenisation deadline

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

(ZIMBABWE GUARDIAN) No arrests: minister calms fears on indigenisation deadline

No arrests: minister calms fears on indigenisation deadline
by Staff Reporter
13/04/2010 00:00:00

INDIGENISATION Minister Savior Kasukuwere moved to calm industry fears of mass arrests for company directors who fail to comply with an April 15 deadline to inform the government of the citizenship status of their shareholders.

“No-one will be arrested,” Kasukuwere told New Zimbabwe.com on Tuesday. “There is a lot of hue and cry for nothing … people are trying to poison a very smooth process, criminalise it.”

Zimbabwe plans to force large, foreign-owned companies with assets of over US$500,000 to cede 51 percent shareholding to “indigenous” Zimbabweans over the next five years.

Kasukuwere, speaking from Victoria Falls, denied reports that the government was planning to suspend the Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Regulations published on March 1 to give effect to a two-year-old law.

Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's spokesman told journalists that a cabinet meeting earlier Tuesday, which Kasukuwere didn't attend, had "directed that the directives as announced in the law are null and void", and had "instructed all the parties involved to go and consult more on the issue."

Kasukuwere said as minister in charge of indigenisation, he was not aware of the decision. "How do you do that (reverse the regulations)?," he asked. "It sounds like gossip more than anything."

The minister added: “Most companies have complied with our information gathering process set out so far in which we have asked them to outline their shareholding, and further indicate how they intend to indigenise.

“The regulations are clear that if some companies fail to meet the deadline, my ministry will send out forms to them so that they comply. Should that fail, we will consider other options like fines and so on … but no-one will be arrested. How do you arrest Old Mutual, for instance?”

The indigenisation drive has met opposition from some companies and Prime Minister Tsvangirai, after initial scepticism, had appeared in recent weeks to have rolled back his criticism although calling on the government to continue consultations to perfect the policy.

The Zimbabwe Chamber of Mines, for instance, says that 15 percent equity in foreign-owned mines should suffice for indigenous Zimbabweans. The industry body says the minimum value for foreign firms that must indigenise must be raised from US$500,000 to US$5 million.

The Chamber also wants listing on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange to qualify as indigenisation.

Kasukuwere has dismissed the proposals as “crazy” and vowed to push ahead with the policy which will affect large corporations in mining, banking and manufacturing.

Labels: INDIGENIZATION AND EMPOWERMENT ACT (ZIMBABWE), SAVIOUR KASUKUWERE