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(TALKZIMBABWE) Zim, SA to sign investment promotion agreement

Zim, SA to sign investment promotion agreement
Philip Murombedzi
Thu, 26 Nov 2009 09:31:00 +0000



President Mugabe (R) discusses investment in Zimbabwe with South African businessman Patrice Motsepe in Harare, April 6, 2009.

AFTER a decade of negotiations, the governments of Zimbabwe and South Africa will on Friday sign a Bilateral Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement (Bippa) to boost investment in Zimbabwe. The South African Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies made the announcement Tuesday.

Davies said the two governments were going to go ahead with the agreement unless there were legal issues brought to the fore to warrant delay in signing the agreement.

“I have not seen anything from the legal perspective and we have been communicating to the parties there was no possible way in the world that we can persuade Zimbabwe otherwise,” he said.

Quizzed about the land reform programme in Zimbabwe, Davies said the word 'land' does not appear in the agreement and it (the agreement) will not interfere with the Zimbabwe government's land reform programme.

He added that past events, such as those pertaining to land reform would not be addressed retrospectively, adding that the agreement would protect South African interests only from the date it is signed.

The investment protection agreement will provide relief, particularly to South African investors in Zimbabwe's mining, commercial and industrial sectors and should help increase foreign investor confidence.

Once the agreement is signed it will have to be ratified by parliaments in both countries.

The parties to the inclusive Government of Zimbabwe support the agreement which they hope will help boost the much needed investment in the country.

Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's MDC-T party have put its weight behind the agreement.

WHITE FARMERS TO FIGHT BIPPA IN COURT

White commercial farmers who are traditional supporters of the MDC-T party say PM Tsvangirai has done little to "protect" them as the agreement does not address the issue of compensation.

The farmers provided considerable funding to the MDC shortly after it was launched in late 1999 and that many of them assisted the MDC fight elections.

However, in the Global Political Areement which led to the formation of Zimbabwe's inclusive Government in February, PM Tsvangirai committed his party to recognizing that the land reform programme was irreversible.

The white commercial farmers in both Zimbabwe and South Africa have criticised the agreement saying it does not adequately address the issue of compensation for farmers who are in properties designated for acquisition under the third phase of the Zimbabwean land reform programme.

Agricultural unions representing these farmers in Zimbabwe and South Africa were up in arms on Thursday over the proposed agreement.

They say that they will challenge Bippa in the North Gauteng High Court on Thursday saying it is unlawful.

AGRI SA and Zimbabwe’s Commercial Farmers Union argue that the proposed agreement contained an exclusion clause making it unconstitutional and discriminatory.

In terms of the agreement South African farmers’ interests in Zimbabwe will not be protected.

President Mugabe argues that Britain has reneged on its obligation to compensate commercial farmers whose land was designated by Government. At the 1979 Lancaster House talks, Britain pledged to pay compensation to white commercial farmers whose farms were acquired by government.

The New Labour government of then Prime Minister Tony Blair refused to pay compensation saying they were not directly responsible for colonisation of Zimbabwe, nor where they morally obligated to pay compensation.

Labels: BIPPA, INVESTMENT, MUGABE, PATRICE MOTSEPE, SOUTH AFRICA

posted by MrK @ 2:05 PM