President Robert Mugabe is now expected to intervene in the battle between Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) governor Gideon Gono and Indigenisation minister Saviour Kasukuwere after the central bank boss on Wednesday declared that foreign banks would not be seized “yesterday, today or tomorrow”.
Gono was responding to a notice issued by Kasukuwere last Friday extending government’s asset grab programme under the indigenisation laws to include banks, crèches, primary and secondary schools as well as institutions of higher learning.
The minister gave foreign-owned banks a year to transfer 51% of their shareholding to locals.
The RBZ chief is out of the country on business, but last night issued a statement rubbishing Kasukuwere’s threats.
Gono said he was now seeking a meeting with Mugabe, who is in Singapore until this weekend for a medical check-up.
“Although I’m on a business trip outside Zimbabwe and therefore have not familiarised myself with the full content of the gazetted notice in question, the Zimbabwean banking sector needs to be advised that there is no law that provides for arbitrariness on the part of anyone and/or expropriation of banking assets in Zimbabwe,” he said.
“I will, soon as I get back, be consulting with and
obtaining further guidance from President Mugabe on the latest moves by the minister (Kasukuwere) in relation to the sector that I superintend, the banking sector, and his (Mugabe’s) instructions will be final in the manner in which we will proceed.
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“Until such guidance is received from the President, we regard the regulations as gazetted as devoid of detail and rationality as they are contradictory in many respects with existing laws in the country such as the Banking Act and the RBZ Act which stand at par with any other law in the country except the Constitution,” he added.
Gono said Kasukuwere and David Chapfika, the chairman of the National Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Board, must not be allowed anywhere near the banking sector because of their association with failed banks.
“The fact that the two main proponents of the recent illogical moves have presided over the failure of their two banks before, namely Unibank (Chapfika) and Genesis (Kasukuwere), calls for Solomonic wisdom on the part of Zimbabwe’s population and leadership,” he said.
“Ordinarily, anyone who was near a failed bank is not a fit and proper person to deal with banking matters or to ever own, run or talk about the ownership of a bank again until cleared by the central bank. This is a universal practice.”
He reiterated his stance that those who wanted to run banks must apply to the RBZ for licences rather than muscling into established banks.
Gono gave an example of Mines and Mining Development minister Obert Mpofu who recently bought ZABG Bank.
“The example of Minister of Mines Dr O Mpofu, who came forward with his money and sought permission to take over ZABG Bank, which was ailing then, is a case in point,” he said.
“The question then is, do we just indigenise to empower our people or we empower our people to indigenise . . . ?”
He attacked the current empowerment model as populist and outdated. Gono also called for a sober debate on “sustainable models of development in Zimbabwe, including broad-based empowerment and indigenisation models for the financial sector and benefit of many as opposed to a few”.
“The model that I have proposed gives Zimbabweans from all walks of life and across the length and breadth of this country a share of $350-400 million per annum in supply-based empowerment which will lead to indigenisation sooner rather than later,” Gono said.
He said his proposed model spoke to “bread and butter issues for people, including school fees, medical fees, food, water, transport, rent, airtime, seeds and fertilisers”.
The RBZ boss said Kasukuwere’s notice had been published without consultation with “monetary authorities in the country”.
Earlier, the youthful minister on his Facebook page posted a boisterous message saying there was no going back on the regulations.
“The regulations have been gazetted,” Kasukuwere wrote.
“All corporate citizens are encouraged to comply and fulfil the mandatory thresholds. We are engaged with all the banks and that should continue so that we bring finality to their compliance with the laws. As usual, noises will be made, but the law must be respected and fulfilled. The Act remains in force and is law.”
Gono has in the past boasted that he has the support of Zimbabwe’s Presidium in his stance that foreign banks would not be forced to cede their shareholdings to locals.
