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+ 2.34 The capital used for mining was depleting Zimbabwe’s resources, Mugabe added.

“You want to leave holes in my country? You want to say capital is worth more than minerals? That’s bad economics,” he said, adding that 49 percent was “quite generous”.

But he indicated that his government was negotiable on the 51 percent to 49 percent split with foreign investors when it came to non-mining investment such as in manufacturing.

And he added that “when we talk 51-49 we’re thinking of people coming from outside. If it’s our own people it doesn’t apply. With our own people we can have 50:50 partnerships.”

Mugabe’s reference to “our own people” seemed to refer to companies in South Africa and the region as he went on to refer to South African platinum and gold companies forming partnerships with Zimbabwean companies.

This was how Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies read Mugabe’s remarks.

He said afterwards that Mugabe’s proposal had not come up for discussion in the meetings between the two Zuma said the imbalance would be one of the issues discussed and corrected in the new Binational Commission between the two countries, which was being set up at the highest level, as it was to be jointly chaired by the two heads of state.

“Our desire is that the economies and trade must favour both sides equally.”

But Mugabe said he did not expect trade between the two countries to be equal as South Africa was a much bigger economy.

“So the balance of trade could never favour Zimbabwe.”

However, he said that he wanted Davies and his Zimbabwean counterpart to discuss the problem of some Zimbabwean exports being halted at the border as that would narrow the deficit.