HARARE - Indigenisation minister Savior Kasukuwere said he will meet Barclays Africa Chief Executive Officer Kennedy Bungane about plans by the lender’s local unit to sell a majority stake to black citizens by June.

“We will be meeting him on Tuesday to discuss their plans and proposal with regards to the indigenisation compliance,” Kasukuwere said in a telephone interview on Friday. “The meeting is already set.”

Under Zimbabwean law, foreign-owned companies must sell or cede 51 percent of their operations to black Zimbabweans or the government.

Barclays, Standard Chartered and the local units of South Africa’s Standard Bank Group Ltd and Nedbank held talks with the National Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Board in the last week of February.

Barclays Zimbabwe, which is listed on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange, has “made all submissions required by the laws on indigenisation to the relevant authorities,” managing director George Guvamatanga said.

Bungane’s visit to Zimbabwe is routine, Guvamatanga said. He declined to confirm if the meeting with Kasukuwere was set.

Standard Chartered, which also operates in the southern African nation, has yet to schedule a date, Kasukuwere said.

“We also expect representatives of Standard Chartered Bank to come,” Kasukuwere said. “If they don’t come, we will simply publicise through a gazette that they are not compliant and the law will have to take its course.”

Mining companies including units of Impala Platinum and Anglo American Platinum Ltd. have already complied with the law. President Robert Mugabe said on March 1 that 51 percent ownership won’t be required in every case. — Bloomberg