Indigenization law to affect more sectors in Zimbabwe

In 2007 the Zimbabwean government passed into law the controversial Indigenization and Economic Empowerment Act. The act empowers the government to secure that at least 51% of the shares of every public company and any other company are owned by indigenous Zimbabweans.

An indigenous Zimbabwean is defined in the act as “any person who, before the 18th April 1980, was disadvantaged by unfair discrimination on the grounds of his or her race, and any descendant of such person, and includes any company, association, syndicate or partnership of which indigenous Zimbabweans form the majority of the members or hold the controlling interest”.

The pre-1980 governments in Zimbabwe adopted racist policies which resulted in unfair discrimination against non-white people. Any non-white Zimbabwean would therefore be an indigenous Zimbabwean.

Safiyya Patel is a partner at Webber Wentzel. Webber Wentzel is one of the leading corporate law firms in Africa and the South African member of ALN, a group of Africa’s 12 foremost law firms.