* Targeting banks part of drive against foreign firms
* Mining firms complied with local ownership law
* Private schools, energy and tourism firms targeted
By MacDonald Dzirutwe
HARARE, July 3 (Reuters) – Zimbabwe has given foreign-owned
banks one year to hand over 51 percent stakes to locals,
according to a government notice, as President Robert Mugabe
ramps up a drive to force all foreign-owned businesses to
surrender majority control to blacks.
A government notice released last week said all
foreign-owned banks with a minimum net value of $1 had one year
to reduce their shareholding to 49 percent.
The southern African state has already forced mining
companies such as Rio Tinto and Impala Platinum
, the world’s second-largest platinum miner, to turn
over majority stakes in their local units to black Zimbabweans.
Emboldened by his success against miners, empowerment
minister Saviour Kasukuwere is now targeting banks.
Kasukuwere, a 41-year-old member of Mugabe’s ZANU-PF party,
has clashed with central bank Governor Gideon Gono and Finance
Minister Tendai Biti over the banking sector.
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