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(HERALD) Sanctions: Retaliatory legislation on cards

Sanctions: Retaliatory legislation on cards
Monday, 07 March 2011 20:25
Business Reporter

THE State has finished compiling the list of foreign companies whose home governments imposed illegal sanctions on Zimbabwe and will soon enact legislation to deal with them in retaliation, a Cabinet Minister has said.

Youth Development, Indigenisation and Economic Empo-werment Minister Saviour Kasukuwere yesterday said the appropriate legislation would be announced soon, but would not give further details.

He said these companies should serve the interests of Zimbabweans instead of countries that were making the local economy scream.

At last December's Zanu-PF Annual People's Conference, President Mugabe said the Government should take action against such firms.

He recently repeated his warning against the firms and pointed out that the 400 or so British companies in Zimbabwe should start playing their part in fighting sanctions.
Yesterday, Minister Kasukuwere said: "We have to send a strong message . . . If they are in Zimbabwe, they have to operate according to the laws of the land and we will make sure that legislation is in place.

"We have the legal authority to tackle all these companies and what we have done is to craft the appropriate legislation which is in the national interest.

"It is worrying to note that these companies have become an extension of the illegal sanctions policy."

Speaking at the launch of the National Anti-Sanctions Petition Campaign in Harare last week, President Mugabe said Government would take drastic measures against companies whose home governments imposed sanctions on Zimbabwe. He said the ongoing indigenisation programme would prioritise such firms.

Barclays Bank and Standard Chartered Bank are among British companies operating in the country, alongside miners Anglo America and Rio Tinto.

The banks have been accused of sitting on large sums of depositors' money and lending out very little in percentage terms.

Speaking in Shona, President Mugabe said: "I told Cde Kasukewere that the empowerment programme should start with these companies . . . we must take them over."

The Head of State and Government and Commander-in-Chief of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces also called on people to boycott these entities' products and services.
The recently launched National Anti-Sanctions Petition Campaign seeks more than two million signatures from Zimbabweans opposed to the widely-discredited embargo.

The campaign will be conducted at district and provincial level while an Internet-based offensive to incorporate Zimbabweans living abroad will also be rolled out.

Britain and its allies imposed sanctions on Zimbabwe after Government embarked on compulsory acquisition of land owned by a few white commercial farmers and redistributed it to some 300 000 black families.

Labels: SANCTIONS, ZDERA

posted by MrK @ 11:21 PM