Mugabe wants 50 percent shares in mines

Mugabe wants 50 percent shares in mines

MUGABE

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By Agencies

ZIMBABWE'S government will soon demand half the shares in all the country's privately owned mines, President Robert Mugabe has said, quoted by the state-run Herald.

The 80-year-old leader, whose government has controversially taken over thousands of white-owned farms in the past four years for redistribution to new black farmers, insisted Zimbabweans did not yet enjoy "absolute ownership" of natural resources.

"We are going to demand that government be given 50% shares in the mines," the paper quoted Mugabe as saying.

"We cannot recognise absolute ownership of our resources. No! That must be corrected," he said.

A task force comprising government ministers this month took control of the mining interests of fugitive businessman Mutumwa Mawere, who fled to South Africa earlier this year allegedly to avoid a government probe into illegal foreign currency dealings by him and other prominent businessmen.

Zimbabwe is rich in mineral resources including gold, which accounts for slightly over 50% of Zimbabwe's mineral exports. The precious mineral is one of the country's major foreign exchange earners.

Last year a draft bill was issued that would have allowed "historically disadvantaged" Zimbabweans to hold a 49% stake in private and foreign-owned mines.

The proposed law caused alarm in the industry, but an official version of the bill has not yet been published.

The southern African country's mineral production has sagged in recent years due to rising production costs and labour costs as well as a skewed foreign exchange rate seen to punish exporters - AFP
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