White-owned companies in Zimbabwe are to be forced to hand majority control to black businessmen in a move that could lead to chaos rivalling the seizure of the country's commercial farms.

he new regulations demand that all foreign and locally owned companies hand over at least 51 per cent ownership to black Zimbabweans.

Thousands of firms, including the Zimbabwean operations of giants such as Barclays Bank, Standard Chartered Bank and the mining company Rio Tinto, will be affected, and they must submit their plans to comply by March 1.

Owners who fail to comply could be jailed.

The new law plunged the unity government into deeper crisis. Morgan Tsvangirai, the leader of the former opposition Movement for Democratic Change turned prime minister in the coalition, told The Daily Telegraph the move had been made without his knowledge.

“I am in charge of all policy formulations by cabinet and these regulations were gazetted without being seen by either myself or cabinet,” he said.

“They were published without due process and in contravention of the global political agrement [which set up the coalition] and constitution of Zimbabwe and are therefore null and void.”

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