HARARE - Foreign investors’ fears and discomforts will not subside despite government’s move to clarify its indigenisation policy, listed ZB Financial Holdings Limited ZBFH) says.
While presenting the 2014 National Budget, Finance minister Patrick Chinamasa went out of his way to explain how the empowerment policy would be implemented and insisted that there was not going to be any variation from the current position.
“I feel I need to take this opportunity to clarify the position and set the record straight,” he said.
“In the case of resource-based investments, our contribution is the depleting asset in the form of the in-situ value of the mineral which will be our contribution to the 51 percent of the business,” Chinamasa said, adding that “the investor who comes with capital, technology and managerial skills to exploit this depleting resource is entitled to 49 percent of the shareholding.”
He added that in the same vein, where the enterprise does not benefit from a natural resource or raw material derived from Zimbabwe, the business partners in the investment are free to make their own decisions on how and when, within the gazetted framework, the 51 percent contribution is to be financed or achieved.
“Government does not expect this to happen overnight, but expects it to be a process which should ultimately lead to conformity with the law.
“It should also be clarified and understood, Mr Speaker Sir, that the investor has a privilege of choosing his/her Zimbabwean partner,” Chinamasa said.
However, ZBFH said “while this clarification is helpful, it is unlikely to ease the fears or discomforts among international investors over the implementation of the indigenisation and economic empowerment policy in the short to the medium term.”
“…the view of government is that challenges faced on indigenisation relate to perceptions, as well as elements related to interpretations over the application of the indigenisation policy,” the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange-quoted group said.