Zimbabwe Audits Companies on Meeting Black Ownership Targets

Harare, Zimbabwe, Capital Markets in Africa — Zimbabwean government began an audit to examine whether foreign and white-owned companies are complying with the law, which  required companies to sell or cede 51 percent ownership to black Zimbabweans.

“We’re now in the process of checking which companies are in full compliance of our indigenization policy and will come up with a database of these companies,” Mathias Tongofa, the deputy indigenization and empowerment minister, told lawmakers late Wednesday in Harare, the capital.

“Many” foreign and white-owned companies submitted proposals to meet the requirement and failed to act on them “despite the fact that we gave them more than five years to comply,” he said.

Foreign miners such as Zimplats Ltd., Anglo Platinum Ltd. and Aquarius Platinum Ltd. met their empowerment obligations as early as 2014.