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09/05/2010 00:00:00
DEPUTY Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara has said sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe by western countries are scaring away potential investment thereby holding back efforts to sustain the country’s economic recovery.
Speaking during last week’s World Economic Forum for Africa meetings in Tanzania, Mutambara said the coalition government was now migrating from “stabilisation economics” to “growth economics” but insisted the policy shift required the removal of sanctions to be successful.
He said the sanctions - imposed by the West citing rights abuses and allegations of electoral fraud – were keeping much needed international capital away from the country.
“Even if the sanctions are targeted (against senior government officials) … capital is a coward; investors are circumspect. They (investors) will not come to a country where the President is on a travel ban.
“So even if the objective is personal and targeted, the impact is for the whole country; we can’t attract lines of credit and we can’t attract investors. So sanctions must go,” Mutambara told a session of the Forum also attended by President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai.
The coalition partners are pushing for the removal of the sanctions which are being blamed for delays in the full implementation of a political deal which facilitated formation of the unity government.
Prime Minister Tsvangirai also weighed-in on the issue saying it didn’t “make sense that some cabinet ministers could not travel abroad” on government business because of the sanctions.
“That (refusal to lift sanctions) is not an endorsement of the progress we have made in the country,” Tsvangirai said.
“We have agreed to work together and you (western countries) must get guidance from what we are saying and not what you believe in.”
Meanwhile Mutambara also defended the government’s contentious empowerment programme which requires foreign-owned firms worth at least US$500 000 to localise 51 percent of their shareholding.
“It is not sustainable in a country to have the majority of the people as spectators in the economy. It is not sustainable in the long run; neither is it desirable.
“The majority of Zimbabweans must be players in the economy,” Mutambara said.
He added that the policy was not unique to Zimbabwe as similar programmes have been implemented in countries such as India and South Africa without any adverse impact on existing and potential investment.
“When we say 49 percent, we are not different from global best practise … (so) there is nothing adverse because we are creating long-term stability by involving the majority in our economy,” Mutambara said.
[Finally, a good argument. - MrK]
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