News

September 02, 2008

The MDC Goes Into Battle In Parliament On The Indigenization Law, As Mining Companies In Zimbabwe Hold Their Breath

By Tawanda Karombo in Harare

International mining companies have had it pretty bad in Zimbabwe. It really is a nightmare sustaining operations here, let alone undertaking expansion or exploratory activities. Ask any mining company executive and he will tell you that the regulatory environment is restrictive and discouraging. And off the record, you’ll get a whole lot worse than that. Yet there have been more than a handful of mining corporations that have remained interested and willing to stick it out in Zimbabwe, hoping – sometimes against hope – that one day, the wheels of fortune will reward those who had the guts to cling on.

And that time could be now, or at least this year, or the next. Following the passing into law of the Economic Indigenization and Empowerment Act, Zimbabwe’s mining sector has teetered on the brink of collapse. The law seeks to parcel out and allocate 51 per cent majority stakes in all foreign owned companies, not excepting those in the mining sector. It aims at the “economic empowerment of local black Zimbabweans”. So far, as far mining is concerned it’s achieved little other than stagnation....