HARARE (dpa) – South African mining firm Impala Platinum (Implats) agreed Tuesday to transfer a 51-per-cent stake in the company's local unit in Zimbabwe to blacks in the country. The move was demanded by the Zimbabwe government, which threatened to nationalize Zimplats, the local unit, unless the South African firm agreed to a transfer. The company and the government in Harare have been at odds for two years. Tuesday was the final day given by Zimbabwe for the transfer of the stake, worth some 331 million dollars, according to estimates in South Africa. The government is demanding that foreign-owned companies transfer just over half their stakes to black Zimbabweans as part of an “indigenisation” program designed to help previously disadvantaged blacks. Until independence in 1980, Zimbabwe was run by a white-minority government. It remained unclear how the Zimbabwe government, which is starved for funds after the economy tanked more than a decade ago, will pay for the stake in Zimplats. The collapse of the southern African nation's economy is largely blamed on flawed policies by President Robert Mugabe, including measures that allowed inflation to reach astronomical levels while also evicting white farmers from their land without compensation. According to the mining deal reached, 10 per cent of the stake will go to the community, a further 10 per cent to Zimplats employees, and 31 percent to the National Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Fund. Implats is the world's second largest platinum producer. The moves against the company had frightened other investors away from Zimbabwe, according to analysts. BM ShortURL: http://goo.gl/pjXh5 Tags: 51%, Platinum Mine, Zimbabwe Section: Africa, Business
