(NEWZIMBABWE) Kasukuwere: Foreign firms face prosecution

Kasukuwere: Foreign firms face prosecution
28/11/2012 00:00:00
by Paradzai Brian Paradza I AFP

EMPOWERMENT Minister Saviour Kasukuwere warned on Wednesday that foreign companies that fail to cede majority stakes to locals as required by a controversial law risk being prosecuted.

Kasukuwere said most foreign companies submitted compliance plans but added that some businesses had ignored the law and reminded them to "realise the folly of what they are doing."

"Over 400 employee share ownership schemes have been established and more will be established as more companies comply with the legislation,” Kasukuwere told an economic conference in Harare.

“But I wish to make it clear that the law will take its course in such matters of deliberate disregard of the rule of law," said Kasukuwere during an economic conference in the capital Harare, attended by President Robert Mugabe.

Kasukuwere said anyone who "does not want to comply with the laws of this country or associate themselves with the aspirations of black Zimbabweans has no place in the affairs of our country."
The two-year-old law forces foreign companies to cede 51 percent of their shares to indigenous Zimbabweans.
"This programme is irreplaceable as it is founded on the ideals of our independence struggle," he said.

Several companies like Zimplats, the Zimbabwean unit of South African's Impala Platinum, have submitted their plans to hand over majority shares to local people.

Kasukuwere also dismissed claims industry and economic commentators that the policy would hinder foreign investment saying all the companies which have submitted their compliance proposals have gone on to make additional investments.

Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa said there was need to have the Investment Act and Indigenisation Act administered by one minister to ensure harmony. Presently Kasukuwere administers the Indigenisation while the Economic Planning Minister Tapiwa Mashakada is responsible for the Investment Act.