HARARE: Zimbabwe will from April 1 cancel licences for foreign firms, including those operating mines and banks that have not complied with a law to sell majority shares to locals, Empowerment Minister Patrick Zhuwao said on Wednesday. Zimbabwe had given foreign-owned firms a March 2016 deadline to submit plans on how to comply with a law requiring them to sell at least 51 per cent shares to locals. “It’s either you comply or you close shop,”  Zhuwao told reporters. The Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Act was passed in 2008 under President Robert Mugabe’s black empowerment drive but implementation has been slow. Some foreign companies say the law will hinder much-needed investment.