TRYMORE TAGWIREI
MIRROR REPORTER

MASVINGO – All foreign entities operating in Zimbabwe are now mandated to have Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities that benefit the host community, the Ministry of Industry and Commerce has said.
The Ministry’s Director of Investment Promotion, Expo Development and Economic Empowerment Bridget Dzimwasha said this during an Economic Empowerment Bill consultation meeting held in Masvingo recently.
The meeting attended by Government employees, traditional leaders and the civic society was held at Chevron, a Regency Group hotel.
The bill, should it be approved will be enacted to repeal the Indigenization and Economic Empowerment Act Chapter (14:33).the Indigenization Policy.
Zimbabwe until now didn’t have a law that made CSR mandatory.
“As the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, we come up with an idea of empowering the locals’ communities in every project that was done in the area. It’s now a mandate for investors who came in the country to invest to do Corporate Social Responsibility to the local community.
“We set the Economic Empowerment plan in which the investors are obliged to implement the plan within a period of two years. We also encourage foreign companies to employ more locals at their firms and that helps them with knowledge and new technological skills,” she said.
The development comes at a time most foreign investors have been accused of not developing their host communities. Those in the mining industry have particularly been accused of leaving a poisoned and degraded environment.