By Nelson Banya
HARARE, April 8 (Reuters) – Zimbabwe is happy with a plan
proposed by Anglo American Platinum, the world’s top
producer of the precious metal, to sell a 51 percent
shareholding in its Unki project to locals in terms of the
country’s empowerment law, a minister said on Sunday.
President Robert Mugabe is championing the law, which
requires all foreign firms, including mines and banks, to sell
majority stakes to Zimbabweans.
Empowerment Minister Saviour Kasukuwere, a Mugabe ally,
wrote in the state-controlled Sunday Mail newspaper that Amplats
had submitted its proposals, detailing how it sought to comply
with the law.
“As implementers, the latest plan by Anglo Platinum Unki, is
reflective of the positive co-operation we are now enjoying,”
Kasukuwere wrote. “We are happy with the 51 percent plan
presented by July Ndlovu, the Unki chairman.”
On Thursday, Kasukuwere increased pressure on miners when he
issued a statement declaring that the state now owned 51 percent
of firms that had not complied with the local ownership laws.
His statement was, however, quickly contradicted by Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, Mugabe’s partner in a shaky
coalition, who said the minister had no power to expropriate
mines.
The empowerment crusade is widely seen as a tactic by
Mugabe’s ZANU-PF party to raise cash for elections that may come
this year.
In his letter, Kasukuwere, a senior ZANU-PF official, also
sought to highlight his party’s difference with Tsvangirai’s MDC
over the empowerment policy.
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.
