Gorden Moyo, a minister in the coalition government loyal to Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, said in a statement Wednesday that the law was declared ”null and void” at a meeting of the power-sharing government chaired by President Robert Mugabe on Tuesday.
”Cabinet agreed that the essence of the original regulations was against government’s policy of true empowerment through full utilization of our national resources and encouraging investment to drive economic growth,” he said.
The first deadline for companies to submit handover proposals was set for Thursday.
But Savior Kasukuwere, a minister from Mugabe’s party, said implementation of the law will go ahead, but has been delayed for more discussions. ”They are consultations which must be made with various sectors and this is why the act has been set aside,” Kasukuwere said.
Rugare Gumbo, a spokesman for Mugabe’s ZANU-PF party, said the law’s implementation was being rescheduled to allow the government to win more widespread support. ”We support empowerment but accept adjustments have to be made,” he said.
The law was passed in 2008, when parliament was still dominated by Mugabe’s lawmakers. It aimed to benefit ”indigenous” Zimbabweans — defined as those who suffered under colonial-era racial discrimination and their children born after independence in 1980, effectively excluding the nation’s 20,000 whites.
Source: Africa Daily
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