Zimbabwe PM says local ownership rule too stringent

Mon Oct 17, 2011

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's local ownership rules for foreign mining companies are too stringent, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai said on Monday.

Under the controversial law, the Zimbabwean units of international firms are required eventually to become majority-owned by local blacks.

The change in ownership will take years, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai said, with even a minimum of 30 percent as an initial threshold being too high.

"I think 30 percent is too high," Tsvangirai told reporters in Johannesburg on the sidelines of an agricultural conference.

(sourced Reuters)