Zim to act on Implats after deadlock

Harare - Zimbabwe is set to announce on Wednesday the fate of Impala Platinum Holdings [JSE:IMP] shareholding in its local unit after latest talks on black ownership ended in deadlock, the state-controlled Herald newspaper said.

The government wants Implats, the world’s second-largest platinum producer, to hand a majority stake in its local operation Zimplats to Zimbabweans and transfer 29.5% shares to a state-run fund.

The Herald said on Tuesday the government had met Zimplats officials last week but the meeting ended without an agreement.

“It (meeting) ended in a deadlock. The Zimplats issue will be tackled, there are no two ways about it,” the paper quoted an unnamed source as saying.

Mines Minister Obert Mpofu and Youth and Empowerment minister Saviour Kasukuwere, all members from President Robert Mugabe’s ZANU-PF, would now meet on Wednesday and announce a decision on Zimplats, the Herald said.

Implats has offered 5% to workers and 6.5% to the state-run fund, in addition to the 10% it handed to local communities last year. It plans to make up the balance through empowerment credits from giving up some of its claims in 2006.

Kasukuwere has rejected parts of the proposal and told Reuters last week he would not talk to Implats unless the company fully complied with the empowerment law.