Zimbabwe To Tone Down Contentious Investment Law: Mugabe

HARARE, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 07th Oct, 2016 ) - Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe on Thursday said he planned to tone down contentious "indigenisation" legislation which in its current form obliges foreign companies to hand over most of their shares to local investors.

"The relevant act will be amended to bring it into consonance with enunciated policy," Mugabe said at the opening of parliament, without going into detail. In March, Zimbabwe threatened to close all companies that failed to comply with the legislation, passed in 2008.

But a few weeks later, Mugabe tried to reassure foreign investors, saying several sectors, notably banks, would be exempt from the most stringent stipulations of the law, which has been blamed for shutting off desperately needed foreign investment.

The government says the aim of the law is to empower the majority black population who were disadvantaged by colonial rule. Critics say it has benefitted Mugabe's allies. In parliament on Thursday, Mugabe bemoaned a worsening economic crisis that has sparked a spate of nationwide protests in recent months.