Maravi

(HERALD) SM EDITORIAL COMMENT: Indigenisation an unstoppable revolution

SM EDITORIAL COMMENT: Indigenisation an unstoppable revolution
Sunday, 15 May 2011 00:00 Opinion

ZANU PF lead by President Mugabe is leading the black empowerment drive in Zimbabwe.
At this stage in the life of our republic, even the agents of imperialism are beginning to grudgingly accept the fact that the indigenisation and economic empowerment programme is an unstoppable force on Zimbabwe’s socio-economic landscape.

All the arguments against indigenisation are sounding hollow and threadbare. The anti-indigenisation lobby has lost the war for the hearts and minds of Zimbabweans.
The indigenisation proposition is simple but powerful: it gives the disadvantaged black majority a fair opportunity to chart the path from poverty to a better quality of life. You would have to be a clueless puppet of Western imperialism to oppose such a grassroots revolution.

There is no doubt out there that most people in this country are firmly in support of indigenisation. Even the fence-sitters who previously doubted Zanu-PF’s resolve to push through with indigenisation are now privately conceding that there is no going back.

We have seen it before. When the fast-track land redistribution programme gained momentum at the turn of the century, there were those who doubted Zanu-PF’s determination to accomplish the massive task.

Who doubts now?
But away from the euphoria and as the pieces fall in place, the nation should move ahead and look into all the vital aspects of indigenisation.

For maximum impact and as an efficient catalyst for socio-economic transformation, the empowerment thrust has to be broad and far-reaching. Empowerment, in general terms, can be either direct or indirect.

Direct empowerment refers to equity ownership and management. Most people who talk about indigenisation are often referring to equity ownership. There is nothing wrong with that perspective, but we should remain alive to the reality that there is much more to indigenisation than the direct ownership of equity in big companies.

Not everyone will own a big stake in a major firm. For instance, people could benefit from preferential procurement by securing tenders for the supply of equipment, consumables and services.

Preferential procurement will give up-and-coming entrepreneurs the opportunities to establish themselves and thrive.

Big companies have a responsibility to empower budding entrepreneurs with procurement deals that will cumulatively go a long way in stimulating broader economic development. Small and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs) have a crucial role to play in the socio-economic development matrix.

Professor Jeffry Timmons, an authority on the theory of entrepreneurship, says the game is all about the creation and/or recognition of opportunities. He argues that entrepreneurship is a way of thinking and reasoning. His point is absolutely vital. A thriving culture of entrepreneurship will naturally depend on the prevailing mindset.

For a long time, young people who wanted to venture into business were hamstrung by a system that worked against entrepreneurship. SMEs do well in an environment where entrepreneurs are opportunity-driven.

Zimbabwe’s indigenisation and economic empowerment programme will give young people the platform to excel.

In all this, skills development will feature prominently. Running a business is not a stroll in the park. Knowledge of bookkeeping, marketing and management is of the essence.

Vocational training centres and technical colleges — which have been neglected for many years now — should be given adequate funding and qualified instructors. Tertiary institutions at this level are useful in imparting hands-on competencies to students. These institutions can offer short courses to budding entrepreneurs.

Young entrepreneurs are not the only demographic group that deserves special attention. There should be a deliberate thrust to empower women.

Many women are proving daily that they can run successful businesses. Politicians and bureaucrats are often accused of paying lip service to the empowerment of women.

The indigenisation and economic empowerment programme will give them a chance to atone for past policy failures.

Rural folk are another specific group that deserves special attention. People in rural areas have suffered exclusion for far too long. Trans-national corporations go into the communal areas, establish mines and stash the profits abroad. The local community gets a few crumbs in the form of a primary school built by the foreign company.

This is daylight robbery! And these companies have been hard-pressed to hype up their piecemeal “corporate social responsibility” projects in a bid to deflect genuine criticism.

Most people are not fooled by the smoke-and-mirrors charade. We know, for a fact, that these companies are pocketing hundreds of millions of dollars.

They must stop treating local communities like beggars and start engaging them like majority shareholders. Our local villagers are the real owners of the platinum, diamond and gold profits that are developing the big cities of South Africa, Britain
and Australia.

This money is building other countries while our people live without clean drinking water, electricity and modern health care.

- The Sunday Mail

Labels: INDIGENIZATION AND EMPOWERMENT ACT (ZIMBABWE), ROBERT MUGABE

posted by MrK @ 3:17 AM