News / National
New rules on diamonds
09 Dec 2010 at 10:42hrs | Views
CABINET has unanimously agreed that the State should own 100 percent of all alluvial diamond mining activities under the Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Act.
In a far-reaching decision that comes into effe-ct as soon as the laws are gazetted, Cabinet, at its weekly meeting on Tuesday, indicated that the State would own a minimum of 51 percent for other minerals including non-alluvial diamonds.
Cabinet also resolved that communities would own 10 percent of gross profit from mining activities in their areas.
Addressing journalists in Harare yesterday, Youth Development, Indigenisation and Empowerment Minister Saviour Kasukuwere, said the regulations were expected to derive maximum benefits for the people from their natural resour-ces.
Minister Kasukuwere said 13 sector committees set up under the Act to consider the appropriate framework for each sector, comprising various stakeholders, completed their work in November and submitted their recommendations.
The recommendations provided a discussion base for Cabinet and will be tabled sector-by-sector for a final position.
"Government has decided on a Sovereign Wea-lth Fund whose main objective is to house value deriving from the ownership requirements provided for in terms of the law.
"All new projects in the mining sector are expected to comply with the above requirements of the law.
"Recognising that our communities have not been benefiting from the exploitation of natural resources which they host, Cabinet has resolved that through a Community Share Ownership Scheme already provided for in the law, communities shall be entitled to 10 percent of gross profit ' that is 10 percent of profit before tax," he said.
Minister Kasukuwere said the Government would meet companies that were mining alluvial diamonds from Marange to discuss issues pertaining to the 100 percent ownership of all alluvial diamond activities.
"This is the position of Government and those companies (in Marange) will be sitting down with us to discuss . . . But the broad principle that has been set up by Government is that the alluvial diamonds belong to the State and they must benefit the people of Zimbabwe."
He said over 620 companies had sent to Government their Provisional Indigenisation Implementation Plans while some have already started implementing them.
"We have received some very reasonable submissions from some of the companies and most of them were involved in crafting the final position, which we have now set out.
"We now make sure that those companies whi-ch made their submissions, if their submissions do comply with the recommendations and what Cabinet finally adopts, will be considered to have complied with the laws.
"Those which submitted submissions, which are way below what we expect, will be expected to adjust themselves to what is the final position of Cabinet," he said.
Minister Kasukuwere said the Community Share Ownership Scheme would be used for five sectors.
"We have identified five sectors ' health, education, roads, agricultural activities and any other desired by the community and is approved by Government.
"Once the community says apart from the four we specified we expected the following project to be considered, we will support that.
"In other words, these are the areas in which the resources will be used to benefit and uplift the generality of people in those given areas," he said.
Minister Kasukuwere said the Government expected all companies to comply with the laws
of the country.
"We would expect most of the companies to basically comply with the law and I think this is in keeping with world standards. Every other country in the world ensures that people benefit from their resources and we expect that there will be compliance.
Minister Kasukuwere reiterated that he was the sole mouthpiece on issues of indigenisation and empowerment in Zimbabwe.
The Indigenisation and Economic empowerment Act came into force in 2008 seeking the broad participation for indigenous Zimbabweans in all sectors of the economy.
It is derived from the United Nations General Assembly Resolution 1803 of December 14 1962 relating to a permanent sovereignty of a people over natural resources falling within their territory.
The Act was developed as a way of domesticating the sacred principle enshrined in the UN Charter.
Minister Kasukuwere said on March 1 this year Government published Statutory Instrument No. 21 of 2010, which set out the implementation modalities of the Act.
The regulations required that all businesses with a minimum net asset value of US$500 000 should submit their plans for complying with the 51 percent indigenisation requirement over five years.
This was followed, after consultations with stakeholders, by the publication of the Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment (General) (Amendment) Regulations, 2010, which established sector specific committees to make recommendations to Government.
The committees were looking at such sectors as agriculture, manufacturing, financial services, information communication technology among others.
In a far-reaching decision that comes into effe-ct as soon as the laws are gazetted, Cabinet, at its weekly meeting on Tuesday, indicated that the State would own a minimum of 51 percent for other minerals including non-alluvial diamonds.
Cabinet also resolved that communities would own 10 percent of gross profit from mining activities in their areas.
Addressing journalists in Harare yesterday, Youth Development, Indigenisation and Empowerment Minister Saviour Kasukuwere, said the regulations were expected to derive maximum benefits for the people from their natural resour-ces.
Minister Kasukuwere said 13 sector committees set up under the Act to consider the appropriate framework for each sector, comprising various stakeholders, completed their work in November and submitted their recommendations.
The recommendations provided a discussion base for Cabinet and will be tabled sector-by-sector for a final position.
"Government has decided on a Sovereign Wea-lth Fund whose main objective is to house value deriving from the ownership requirements provided for in terms of the law.
"All new projects in the mining sector are expected to comply with the above requirements of the law.
"Recognising that our communities have not been benefiting from the exploitation of natural resources which they host, Cabinet has resolved that through a Community Share Ownership Scheme already provided for in the law, communities shall be entitled to 10 percent of gross profit ' that is 10 percent of profit before tax," he said.
Minister Kasukuwere said the Government would meet companies that were mining alluvial diamonds from Marange to discuss issues pertaining to the 100 percent ownership of all alluvial diamond activities.
"This is the position of Government and those companies (in Marange) will be sitting down with us to discuss . . . But the broad principle that has been set up by Government is that the alluvial diamonds belong to the State and they must benefit the people of Zimbabwe."
He said over 620 companies had sent to Government their Provisional Indigenisation Implementation Plans while some have already started implementing them.
"We have received some very reasonable submissions from some of the companies and most of them were involved in crafting the final position, which we have now set out.
"We now make sure that those companies whi-ch made their submissions, if their submissions do comply with the recommendations and what Cabinet finally adopts, will be considered to have complied with the laws.
"Those which submitted submissions, which are way below what we expect, will be expected to adjust themselves to what is the final position of Cabinet," he said.
Minister Kasukuwere said the Community Share Ownership Scheme would be used for five sectors.
"We have identified five sectors ' health, education, roads, agricultural activities and any other desired by the community and is approved by Government.
"Once the community says apart from the four we specified we expected the following project to be considered, we will support that.
"In other words, these are the areas in which the resources will be used to benefit and uplift the generality of people in those given areas," he said.
Minister Kasukuwere said the Government expected all companies to comply with the laws
of the country.
"We would expect most of the companies to basically comply with the law and I think this is in keeping with world standards. Every other country in the world ensures that people benefit from their resources and we expect that there will be compliance.
Minister Kasukuwere reiterated that he was the sole mouthpiece on issues of indigenisation and empowerment in Zimbabwe.
The Indigenisation and Economic empowerment Act came into force in 2008 seeking the broad participation for indigenous Zimbabweans in all sectors of the economy.
It is derived from the United Nations General Assembly Resolution 1803 of December 14 1962 relating to a permanent sovereignty of a people over natural resources falling within their territory.
The Act was developed as a way of domesticating the sacred principle enshrined in the UN Charter.
Minister Kasukuwere said on March 1 this year Government published Statutory Instrument No. 21 of 2010, which set out the implementation modalities of the Act.
The regulations required that all businesses with a minimum net asset value of US$500 000 should submit their plans for complying with the 51 percent indigenisation requirement over five years.
This was followed, after consultations with stakeholders, by the publication of the Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment (General) (Amendment) Regulations, 2010, which established sector specific committees to make recommendations to Government.
The committees were looking at such sectors as agriculture, manufacturing, financial services, information communication technology among others.
Source - Herald
