Zimbabwe Mines Minister Obert Mpofu is said to be moving to amend the Mines and Minerals Act to allow indigenous Zimbabweans to acquire majority shares in mining operations along the mineral-rich Great Dyke.
Sources said the move is intended to circumvent indigenization regulations under revision by the Office of the Attorney General following complaints that the regulations are discouraging foreign direct investment.
Sources said Mpofu has started consulting with the Office of the Attorney General to develop a new set of laws intended to speed up indigenization in the key mining sector.
Political commentator Nkululeko Sibanda told VOA Studio 7v reporter Gibbs Dube that the drafting a new set of indigenization laws will impede efforts to revive Zimbabwe's battered economy. “If we have going to have two laws that are overlapping, they will become very difficult to separate and implement,” he said.
In other economic news, Bloomberg quoted an unidentified official in Harare as saying the government will block African mobile giant MTN from making a large investment in the Zimbabwean unit of Orascom Telecommunications in a move that would lead to the acquisition of a controlling stake in Telecel Zimbabwe.
Economist John Robertson of Harare said there will be no meaningful investment in Zimbabwe until laws prejudicial to international investors have been repealed.
Sources said the move is intended to circumvent indigenization regulations under revision by the Office of the Attorney General following complaints that the regulations are discouraging foreign investment
