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Patrick Chitumba Midlands Bureau Chief
THE government is working on legislation that will compel foreign owned companies to cede 10 percent shares to Community Share Ownership Trusts (CSOT), Youth Development, Indigenisation and Empowerment Minister Christopher Mushowe said yesterday.
The Minister said the government has noted with great concern that a lot of qualifying companies under the scheme, especially diamond mining companies in Marange, were reluctant to cede funds into the trusts.
President Mugabe launched CSOT programme under the indigenisation regulations, which entitles local communities to own 10 percent of shares in companies that exploit natural resources in their areas.
Mushowe said when he was still the Resident Minister and Governor of Manicaland province, families were moved paving way for diamond mining but to date, the companies had not ceded anything into the Community Share Ownership Trust.
Addressing journalists after he officially opened Msasa Primary School in Shurugwi, which was constructed using proceeds from the scheme on Friday, the minister said compliance was a serious thrust of his ministry.
“The government is crafting a new Statutory Instrument that will compel all foreign owned companies to cede 10 percent to the Community Share Ownership Trust. Most companies are yet to comply with the indigenisation policies,” he said.
“Companies, especially those in the extraction of minerals like mining, must cede 10 percent to the Community Share Ownership Trust in terms of the Empowerment Act.”
Once communities have been given the 10 percent, said Mushowe, they should also play a pivotal role in the operations of that company.
“We’re saying if they have 10 percent share holding of a company, surely they must have a part to play in management. At least one community representative should be directly involved in the operations of the company,” he said.
The Minister said he had summoned all the companies that had been reluctant to comply with the Empowerment Act adding that he was confident that they would comply with the law.
Only Gwanda and Umguza schemes are operating successfully in Matabeleland region following their launch by the President in 2012.
Several mining companies in the coal rich Hwange District are yet to honour their $10 million pledge for the community share scheme three years on.
On Friday Bubi District officially launched its scheme with only $70,000 out of a possible $4 million.
The trusts are chaired by traditional leaders who work with councillors and villagers when deciding on the projects needing funding.
Bongani Ndlovu