* Not clear which firms are being targeted hammer will fall
* Cash-strapped Harare afford to pay for stakes
By Nelson Banya
HARARE, April 5 (Reuters) – Zimbabwe’s government raised the
stakes on Thursday in its drive to wrest majority control of
foreign mining companies, with a minister saying the state now
considered it owned 51 percent of firms that have not complied
with local ownership laws.
“All mining companies that have not complied … should note
that 51 percent of their shareholding is now deemed to be owned
by the state,” empowerment minister Saviour Kasukuwere said in a
statement.
It was not immediately clear which firms were being
targeted, or whether President Robert Mugabe’s cash-strapped
government planned to pay for the shares. Kasukuwere did not
respond to requests for clarification.
The demand for foreign companies, particularly miners, to
transfer a 51 percent stake in local operations to black
investors is widely seen as a tactic by Mugabe’s ZANU-PF party
to raise cash for elections that may come this year.
Johannesburg-listed Impala Platinum, the world’s
second-biggest platinum producer, bowed to pressure last month
to surrender half its Zimplats unit, although details
of the transfer have not yet been worked out.
Analysts said this latest broadside from Kasukuwere might be
more bluster than fact.
Continued…
