Government to grab Zimplat's land

"If there is anyone who thinks they own land, please prepare yourselves for the shocks that will actually befall you," said mines and mineral development minister Obert Mpofu.

"No one owns land especially mining land. It is owned by the state," he told a meeting in the capital called to discuss the government's mining policy.

The government has said it wants the mining land back from Zimplats because it is under-utilised.

According to the mines ministry, Zimplats would not exhaust the ore body within the tenure of its 25-year lease, which was granted in 1994.

In January, Impala Platinum, the world's second largest producer of the metal agreed to sell off 51% of Zimplats to the government.

But participation in the state-imposed black empowerment scheme did not fend off government advances.

President Robert Mugabe, who a decade ago launched a campaign to seize white-owned farms, has threatened to take over firms which do not comply with this indigenisation policy.

Source: AFP via I-Net Bridge