President Mnangagwa seems to have reneged on his promise to set aside the Indigenisation Policy on some minerals when he came to power on the back of military tanks in 2017.
When President Mnangagwa replaced President Mugabe he announced that the Indigenisation policy provisions on some minerals would be set aside as he said he was opening Zimbabwe up for business.
However, The Finance Bill was amended in 2020 and it states that the Indigenisation Act was amended to include a provision that allows the government to control all minerals in this country and not just diamond and platinum.
The Finance Bill amended section stated that:
Section 3(1) of the Indigenisation and Empowerment Act [Chapter 14:33] is amended
(a) by the insertion after “extraction of” of ‘such mineral as may be prescribed by the Minister in consultation with the Minister responsible for Mines and the Minister responsible for Finance;
(b) by the repeal of paragraph (a);
(c) the repeal of paragraph (b).
The NewsHawks noted that the government has decided to depart from the previous provisions of the act:
However, the new provision marks a departure from the Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Act [Chapter 14:33] as amended by the Finance Act No.1 of 2018 that allowed locals to have 51% only in diamond or platinum extractive industries. Before that it was in all minerals.