The agreement also stipulated that the Zimbabwe government would pay $153 million for those resources. It is yet to do so.
Government has completely ignored this, ominously warning Zimplats about the impending expiry of the miner’s 25-year special mining lease granted to its successor BHP Minerals Zimbabwe in 1994.
“Whether the government of Zimbabwe will extend the Special Mining Lease in 2019 remains to be seen,” Mugabe deposed in his affidavit.
It is this treatment of a firm that has spent $4.588 billion ($533 million of this in taxes and royalties) in the country since 2002 that will spook many investors.
Although the lease is due to expire in 2019, there is an option to renew it for two terms of 10 years each.
Analysts have cited Zimbabwe’s uncertain investment environment, plagued by policy inconsistency, disregard for agreements, a controversial local ownership law and the oft-violent seizure of white-owned farms since 2000, as the reason why the country continues to lag behind its regional peers in terms of drawing foreign direct investment.
In 2015, FDI declined 23 percent to $421 million. Last year, Mozambique and Zambia registered $3.7 billion and $1.6 billion, respectively.- The Source
(170 VIEWS)
