The Zimbabwean government is currently revising its controversial indigenisation law, Economic Planning and Investment Promotion Minister Dr Tapiwa Mashakada told prospective investors in the country’s mining sector.

In terms of the law, local Zimbabweans must own 51% of all businesses in which foreigners have a stake.

“We are looking to revise our indigenisation legislation so that it is harmonised with transformation and is, at the same time, investor-friendly,” he said at the Zimbabwe High Level Investment Conference, held in Johannesburg, on Wednesday.

According to the Zimbabwe Investment Authority, the country recorded a sharp fall in approved new investments to $930-million in 2012, from $6.6-billion in 2011.

This was believed to be owing to economic uncertainty arising from the indigenisation programme and prevailing international investor perceptions that the country remained a high-risk investment destination.

But Mashakada said that, while investors were “shying away” from investment in the country because of the rapid roll-out of the legislation, the law was not intended to facilitate nationalisation, but rather to be aspirational.

“We don’t simply seize private assets under this legislation,” he emphasised.

“Indigenisation is a flexible programme where a foreign company chooses their own local partner and discusses the terms of the transfer of shares privately. It is not based on charity, but is a transaction,” he stated.

He added that the government had embarked on a reform agenda, which had positioned Zimbabwe in a transitional phase that would not be driven by a political agenda.

“The Zimbabwe of yesterday and today are completely different places. As a government, we are no longer driven by politics, but by business and economy,” he commented.

Zimbabwe Deputy Prime Minister Guseni Oliver Mutambara further alluded to a “reform of all African natural resource laws”, stating that South Africa’s and Zimbabwe’s mining laws were created in the pre-independence era.

“These laws are meant to benefit investors without empowering Africans,” he commented.

Mashakada emphasised, however, that any legislation would aim to move Zimbabwe towards a regime of protecting investors and their interests in the country.