News / National
Zimbabwe's ethanol project threatened with collapse
12 Mar 2012 at 07:24hrs | Views
The $600 million Chisumbanje ethanol project is threatened with collapse as Zanu-PF chefs, including Cabinet ministers, demand free shares in the lucrative venture under the guise of indigenisation.
Powerful people who include MPs, Cabinet ministers and other top government officials (names supplied) were demanding free shares for themselves so as to facilitate the smooth flow of the project.
"The sharks have realised the potential of the project and their mouths are wide open, ready to pounce," said one of the sources.
The ethanol project is a partnership between the Agricultural and Rural Development Authority and Billy Rautenbach's Green Fuels, Rating and Macdom Investments in a 20-year Build-Operate-and-Transfer arrangement signed in 2009.
The source said some politicians were claiming Rautenbach, who was born in Zimbabwe and is linked to Zanu PF, was not indigenous, hence he has to cede 51% shareholding to them in accordance with the indigenisation and economic empowerment act. "He is Zimbabwean, but of the wrong colour," said the source.
Powerful people who include MPs, Cabinet ministers and other top government officials (names supplied) were demanding free shares for themselves so as to facilitate the smooth flow of the project.
The ethanol project is a partnership between the Agricultural and Rural Development Authority and Billy Rautenbach's Green Fuels, Rating and Macdom Investments in a 20-year Build-Operate-and-Transfer arrangement signed in 2009.
The source said some politicians were claiming Rautenbach, who was born in Zimbabwe and is linked to Zanu PF, was not indigenous, hence he has to cede 51% shareholding to them in accordance with the indigenisation and economic empowerment act. "He is Zimbabwean, but of the wrong colour," said the source.
Source - standard
