Foreign firms have been repeatedly threatened by ZANU PF’s Empowerment Minister Saviour Kasukuwere, to fall in line with the Indigenisation Campaign, which calls for foreign owned firms to cede 51% of their shareholding to locals.

Most recently, the Zimbabwean subsidiary of the South African owned Impala Platinum firm (Zimplats) was last week forced into renegotiating its empowerment plans, after Kasukuwere rejected its offer and threaten to revoke its licence.

Mpofu immediately rushed to Zimplat’s defence, and the company has now been given until November to work out a new indigenisation plan.

But Kasukuwere’s threats, slammed by many analysts as “cheap bullying tactics,” have left other foreign firms worried about their futures in Zimbabwe.

With these concerns rising, Mpofu told a mining investment conference that the government would continue to engage the mining sector.

“We have no intention of canceling any licences. There are some negotiations taking place with some parties. No licence has been cancelled. We have no such intention,” Mpofu told investors at the conference.

Investors have complained that the government has not been clear on the empowerment law, saying for example they still do not know whether the 51% equity would be paid for by the government, and whether a planned sovereign wealth fund would see the government being a passive investor in mines or not.

According to the ZimOnline news service, a prospective foreign investor in the gold sector said this week that he was “backing off” from Zimbabwe and was now investing some US$40 million into a mining venture in Mozambique “where the laws are clear”.

By SW radio