Speaking during before the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Industry and Commerce, Industry and Commerce Minister Welshman Ncube said unless there were proper ways for getting rid of the debt, efforts to revive operations would not succeed. The only viable option for Zisco will be to find a partner to inject money to clear the debt. We need to get rid of the debt if other options that we have are to work,” said Ncube.
The Minister told the committee that the major difficulty in going it alone was the US$228-million debt that was hanging over the company. “Government is literally broke and has other pressing demands, he said. He added that his ministry was in the process of looking at courting mid-sized strategic partners to help re-capitalise Zisco and restore operations. “Prospective investors were, however, concerned with the companys huge debts,” Ncube said
The Zimbabwe government recently announced that it had pulled out of plans to sell a significant shareholding in the company to either the India-based Jindal Steel or ArcellorMittals South Africa unit saying the two firms were too big.
Post published in: Economy