Kasukuwere and Mpofu clash over mine licences

Minister of Mines Obert Mpofu has strongly contradicted claims by Youth and Indigenization Minister Saviour Kasukuwere that government will be cancelling mining licences over the implementation of the country’s indigenization law.

Speaking at a Zimbabwe Mining Indaba on Wednesday, Mpofu said his Ministry has “no intention of cancelling any licenses. There are some negotiations taking place with some parties. No license has been cancelled. We have no such intentions.”

A controversial indigenization law enacted in 2008 but only being more forcefully implemented now, requires multi-national companies to sell a 51% stake in local assets to designated black-owned entities. Critics say just like the land grab campaign, the new exercise is another formalised looting.

While investors in the country with world’s second-largest platinum reserves may welcome the comments, the abrupt change in tone will keep them guessing and reinforces the impression that the policy has been ad-hoc and based on brinkmanship.

Companies that have felt the heat have included Zimplats, 87 percent-owned by Impala Platinum, the world’s second-largest platinum producer, and Canada’s Caledonia Mining Corporation. Both have so far survived threats to have their mining licences revoked for failure to comply with the new ownership law.