ZIMBABWE GIVES NIGERIAN BUSINESS OWNERS QUIT NOTICE

Zimbabwean authorities say they have given foreign shop-owners, mostly Chinese and Nigerian nationals, an ultimatum to shut down their businesses by 1 January 2014, hand them over to Zimbabweans or face arrest.A top official of the black empowerment ministry said only Zimbabweans had the right to run shops that have sprung up across the country and are termed foreign businesses targeted under the nation’s black empowerment laws, the state-controlled Herald newspaper reported Friday.Permanent secretary for the empowerment ministry, George Magosvongwe, told a Parliamentary committee that the government would enforce regulations which reserve certain sectors of the economy to Zimbabweans on January 1, 2014.Under the country’s economic empowerment legislation, areas reserved for locals include retail and wholesale businesses, barbershops, hairdressing, beauty salons, bakeries, employment agencies and grain milling, among others.