Zimbabwe: Robert Mugabe’s takeover target: crèches

president Robert Mugabe has ordered the takeover of private schools, universities and playgroups in Zimbabwe, as he steps up his indigenisation drive ahead of elections.

New regulations say any school, college or crèche with net assets of 60 pence or more must hand over 51 per cent of its shares to blacks.

Legal experts said the decree was “alarming”.

The move may be an attempt to target elite boarding schools in the southern African country that are run along traditional British lines. These days, their intake is no longer exclusively white, but fees of upwards of £2,000 per term put them beyond the reach of many.

Jameson Timba, former head of the Association of Trust Schools which represents 62 private learning institutions in Zimbabwe, said there were no shares to hand over.

Twelve years after the launch of his disastrous land reforms, Mr Mugabe, 88, is extending his black empowerment drive to include the takeover of banks, hotels, mobile phone companies and even sports clubs.

Unemployed youths are being urged to form empowerment clubs in towns and cities to identify firms for seizure in the run-up to polls next year.

Foreign banks were yesterday given one year to hand over majority shares.