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Africa Moyo and Tawanda Musarurwa
PRESIDENT Mnangagwa says the platinum sector will be opened up to all interested investors, while the future of the diamond industry will be determined by the Diamond Policy, which is set to be announced “very soon”.
Responding to questions from delegates during the Professional Women, Women Executives and Business Women’s Forum (Proweb) in Harare yesterday, President Mnangagwa said the platinum sector will be open “for everybody”.
“We are going to pronounce ourselves as Government on our policy on those two issues,” said President Mnangagwa.
“We didn’t have a Diamond Policy as a country, we have now done our research and we are now going to announce our Diamond Policy. With regard to platinum, I can safely say it (the platinum sector) is going to be open to anybody but the Diamond Policy is slightly complex and it is going to be announced by the appropriate Minister (Winston Chitando) very soon.”
One of the delegates had asked for the Government policy on the extraction of gold, diamonds and other minerals, particularly for women, who she claimed remain excluded from the lucrative sectors.
“We want to know why gold, diamond and platinum mining leaves out women, we are ready (to mine). Women are good at what they do, like you said Your Excellency,” queried the participant.
President Mnangagwa said while all other minerals have been opened up to private investors, the diamond and platinum sectors remain closed until after the policies governing their operations have been pronounced.
“So all other minerals, including platinum are open, but for diamonds, currently it is Government alone (mining) but we are going to announce that policy . . .” he said.
Government said diamonds and platinum were omitted when the mining sector was liberalised after the tweaking of the Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Act. The Indigenisation Act, which was operationalised in March 2010, demanded that locals hold 51 percent in all foreign-owned companies. While the Indigenisation Act in its previous form was feted as a noble law designed to prevent the plunder of finite resources such as gold, diamonds and platinum, foreign investors failed to appreciate its intentions and withheld their investments.
This resulted in a major plunge in Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), averaging $450 million per year compared to regional averages of $2 billion.
But the new administration led by President Mnangagwa resolved to amend the Indigenisation Act to allow foreign investors to own 100 percent of their ventures in all other minerals except diamonds and platinum.
Mines Minister Chitando told The Herald Business recently that the new Diamond Policy is expected to guide a number of issues such as exploration and ownership in the sector, mining, processes and selling. It was previously expected that once the Diamond Policy has been announced, work to create a Platinum Policy would begin.
The Platinum Policy was also expected to speak to issues regards exploration, shareholding, selling and mining, so that there is a clear structure on who does what, and at what stage. But following yesterday’s pronouncement by President Mnangagwa, on the platinum sector, it remains unclear if a Platinum Policy would be crafted.
The Diamond Policy comes at a time when Government is considering moving away from exporting raw mineral resources to finished products.
Eventually, Government wants products even from the agricultural and manufacturing sectors to be value added and beneficiated before being exported.
Online Reporter