Zimbabwe has published revised indigenization regulations that like an earlier version call for disadvantaged groups to acquire a 51 percent stake in companies, mainly foreign-owned, with assets of more than $500,000.
Under the new proposals shares would not be ceded to indigenous investors, but purchased. Indigenous investors according to the language of the 2007 Indigenization and Economic Empowerment Act are mainly black.
The new rules provide for a levy on companies, approved by the Minister of Finance and passed by both houses of parliament, to fund the purchase of shares by indigenous investors.
Companies must still submit indigenization plans. Sectoral committees named by the Minister of Indigenization will advise the minister on appropriate asset thresholds and credits to meet indigenization quotas.
The Zimbabwe Chamber of Mines welcomed the new regulations.
But Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions Deputy Secretary General Japhet Moyo told VOA Studio 7 reporter Gibbs Dube that even revised indigenization will not bring investment and new jobs.
“Our country is well known worldwide for not respecting human rights and the rule of law, and as such we don’t think that these revised regulations will lead to meaningful investment,” Moyo said.
The indigenization regulations were revised after the Movement for Democratic Change formation of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and international investors expressed concern at the controversial regulations that seemed to set the stage for an indiscriminate grab of corporate assets by politically connected Zimbabweans.
