The President of Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe, says the country will soft pedal on its controversial indigenisation law which makes it mandatory for foreign-owned companies to sell 51% of their holdings to Zimbabweans.
President Mugabe made the revelation on Thursday while speaking on speaking at the opening of the country’s parliament.
He signed the Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Bill into law in 2008 despite stiff resistance from the opposition party, Movement for Democratic Change.
The law gives Zimbabweans rights to acquire and control many foreign owned companies in the country.
However, the law does not say if the transfer of ownership would apply to mergers and restructurings in the future, or if it applies to all current companies.
Worsening economy
Zimbabwe has seen a number of anti- government protests in the last few months, largely due to the dire economic circumstances in the country.
The International Monetary Fund blamed the controversial law as one of the major causes of Zimbabwe’s economic woes.
Years ago, President Mugabe in another indigenisation policy redistributed the commercial farms owned by non-black-African farmers to Zimbabweans.
This resulted in the massive exodus of white farmers from the country, leading to a slump in foreign investments and a huge decline in output in the agricultural sector.
