Robert Mugabe threatens UK firms in Zimbabwe they could be taken over by local people or 'friendly' countries

Some of Britain's biggest companies, such as banking giant Standard Chartered and mining group Anglo American, have branches or subsidiaries in Zimbabwe. 

A Zimbabwean government spokesman told the country's Sunday Mail newspaper: 'In the context of growing hostility, the government is planning to invite companies from friendly countries to take over companies that will close down.'

Robert Mugabe has threatened UK businesses

Mugabe, 84, has also passed a law compelling foreign-owned firms to cede 51 per cent of their shares to Zimbabweans.

'Friendly' countries could include South Africa, whose government has been accused of being too supportive of the Mugabe regime, and some in the Far East, particularly China, which recently blocked UN sanctions on Mugabe.

Observers fear he is planning a ' corporate seizures' similar to his land grab of white farms eight years ago that reduced the country from the breadbasket of the region to an economic basket case.

The Sunday Mail said preliminary results of a Zimbabwean audit of foreign firms showed 97 were wholly owned by British companies.

Barclays, which has 1,200 staff and more than 30 branches in Zimbabwe, Standard Chartered, which employs 860 and has 24 branches, and Anglo American which is planning to invest £200million in a platinum mine, refused to comment last night.

The opposition Movement for Democratic-Change party says firms such as Anglo American help to prop up Mugabe through the transfer of foreign exchange and payments for mining licences.

Other firms such as Waitrose import food from Zimbabwe but do not employ staff or have any subsidiaries there.

Last month Gordon Brown urged British firms not to invest in Zimbabwe. The UK and U.S. back UN sanctions.

The Zimbabwean government source told the Sunday Mail: 'It would have been foolhardy for the government to adopt a 'business-as-usual' approach when the UK and the U.S. are dishing out threats. We had to take action. This is the beginning.'

Mugabe's spokesman George Charamba said: 'The government is not sleeping. It is hard at work and the spotlight is on the corporate sector.'

Last week, inflation hit 2,200,000 per cent. A banknote worth 100billion Zimbabwean dollars has been issued in response to the rampant inflation, but it will barely cover a loaf of bread. 

Tesco agreed this month to take all food produced in Zimbabwe off its shelves 'until there is an end to the current political crisis'.