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Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Regulations will be refined as Government intensifies efforts to attract more foreign capital and improve the ease of doing business.
The framework will make it simpler for foreign entities to comply with indigenisation laws.
The Sunday Mail understands that Cabinet tasked Youth, Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Minister Patrick Zhuwao to work on this, with the new measures likely to be gazetted before Christmas.
Minister Zhuwao confirmed the development.
“We are going to introduce a cocktail of measures that include invoking Section 17 of the Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Act, albeit in a manner that recognises businesses that are complying with the legislation through the provision of indigenisation legislation compliance rebates, lesser shares credit rebates and indigenous shareholding rebates,” he said.
Minister Zhuwao said this would entail specific, economically desirable objectives towards the fulfilment of indigenisation.
He said these include “the undertaking of specified development work in the community the business in question carries its operation and the beneficiation to a specified extent of raw materials that are extracted in Zimbabwe by the business in question before it exports them.
“Businesses that achieve socially and economically desirable objectives will earn Lesser Share Credit Rebates of up to 30 percent of the Empowerment Levy.”
Minister Zhuwao said businesses would earn an Indigenous Shareholding Rebate related to their indigenisation compliance rating.
“Rebate earnings from the three brackets namely indigenisation legislation compliance rebates, lesser shares credit rebates and indigenous shareholding rebates shall be added to amount to a total Empowerment Levy Rebate Score,” he said.
“The Empowerment Levy Rebate Score shall be calculated against the Empowerment Levy is such a manner that any business shall be able to reduce the Empowerment Levy payable by it according to the rebates it has earned.
“A 100 percent Indigenisation Levy Rebate Score will mean that a business has effectively complied with the indigenisation and economic empowerment programme and does not need to pay the Empowerment Levy.”
In the 2016 National Budget statement, Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa said consultations on strengthening and clarifying the process of implementing indigenisation were complete and the new measures would contribute immensely towards the ease of doing business.
Online Reporter