Harare - Zimbabwe's Indigenisation and Empowerment Minister Munyaradzi Mangwana says white businesspeople will not be compelled to surrender stakes in their businesses if they can prove that they were affected by colonialism.
Mangwana was quoted in the state-owned daily, The Herald, as saying whites who could provide proof that they were affected by the colonial regime would be exempted from shedding off their shareholding to indigenous persons.
This was said before a joint parliamentary portfolio committee session on Budget and Finance, Foreign Affairs and Industry and International Trade committee.
He told parliamentarians while responding to concerns raised by the Bankers Association of Zimbabwe, which last week said the banking industry should be exempted from indigenisation because Zimbabweans already own a large share of banks and financial services firms.
At least eight banks are owned and run by locals, while only four are owned by foreigners. In fact, if the central bank had not placed a number of local banks under the care of curators in 2004, the number of blacks in the financial services sector would be higher.
'Coloureds', Indians spared
NMB, FBC Bank, Met Bank, CBZ Bank, CFX Bank, Renaissance Merchant Bank, African Banking Corporation and Kingdom Bank are all owned and run by blacks. Only three banks, namely Standard Chartered Bank, Stanbic Bank and MBCA, are still in the hands of foreigners.
Barclays Bank Zim is now part owned by locals.
In the meeting Mangwana revealed that "coloureds" and Indians will be spared from seizure under the new law seeking to empower Zimbabweans.
According to Mangwana whites born in Zimbabwe do not qualify for empowerment.
"A Zimbabwean-born (white) cannot qualify. He has to prove that he has been disadvantaged by colonisation. I have been asked if coloureds are included, yes they are included, Indians they are also included if they can prove that they were disadvantaged by the colonial regime. All blacks qualify because they fall within the definition of indigenous," said Mangwana.
He had also come under attack from stakeholders who said the definition of indigenisation was vague because it excluded Zimbabwean-born whites.
All about politics
But Mangwana says the Indigenisation and Empowerment Bill currently in parliament defined indigenous persons as people "who would have been affected by the colonial system".
The government official said foreign owned banks must be ready to comply with the dictates of the bill to shed off their shareholding to local people.
He also added that the government's decision to nationalise businesses was a "response to political imperatives".
"The Bill is not about economics but politics. It is about the total liberation of Zimbabwe, it is not to please X, Y or Z. These banks don't have a single black shareholder; they want to create white islands in a liberated Zimbabwe. If you look at the percentage of foreign capital they are bringing into Zimbabwe, it is very little," said Mangwana.
"I will dismiss their concerns as nonsensical. Foreign currency inflows have been US$70m out of a possible US$3b," added Mangwana.
Land reform
He also criticised foreign owned banks for not funding the land reform programme, which Robert Mugabe's government embarked on several years ago.
The land reform programme meant to benefit blacks has seen agricultural output falling, forcing government to depend on food imports.
Mugabe's critics say his economic policies have run the country's once thriving economy down. Now, inflation is running close to 7 000%.
- Fin24