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(NEWZIMBABWE BLOG) Sinister agenda behind indigenisation misrepresentations

COMMENT - Reuters is majority owned by the same banking family who are now the largest single shareholders in global diamond monopolist Anglo-American De Beers.

Sinister agenda behind indigenisation misrepresentations
By Psychology MaziwisaBusiness, Companies, Mining, Politics Last updated on: July 27, 2011

THE distortion by Reuters of Saviour Kasukuwere’s July 20 speech on indigenisation was ample proof that some journalists have become more concerned about the headlines than the spirit of journalism. And although it may not have been as spine-chilling as the Murdoch scandal in the UK, there still was something gravely unprofessional about it, something unquantifiably sinister.

Occasionally, journalists can be forgiven for spicing-up stories in a bid to draw attention and excite their editors. It’s not entirely acceptable but it’s better than outright lies. Yet in Zimbabwe today, false reporting has become more than just a once off thing. It’s a tendency, a culture and a way of life.

Reuters reported that the Indigenisation Minister had rejected all 175 proposals submitted under the country’s company ownership and empowerment laws. But Kasukuwere never said that. It’s a bit curious that a publication of otherwise long-standing repute like Reuters could so unashamedly alter the contents of a very clear speech made by a public figure at a public gathering.

In hindsight, it was a deliberate ploy intended to discredit a remarkable exercise that has made remarkable progress in remarkably difficult circumstances.

For the benefit of Reuters, and indeed anyone else who might have been swayed by the lies, here is what Minister Kasukuwere actually said: “Of the 175 proposals received, the overwhelming majority (and overwhelming majority means just that, as some of the proposals received were quite reasonable, an indication that we are headed in the right direction) proposed 26% in direct equity and 25% in social developmental projects.

“While government is content with the 26% direct equity proposal, it is not happy with the latter aspect in part because, over the years, no foreign investor has made any meaningful contribution to the social development of this country. Foreign firms were given more than enough time to demonstrate what they are really made of. Yet all the available evidence indicates that they are not made of anything sweet. They are full of greed, insatiability and selfishness!”

Consequently, as Minister Kasukuwere said, the government will move to acquire the proposed 26% as well as the 25%, in both cases, as equity and nothing else.

Currently, the government is in the process of setting up a Sovereign Wealth Fund (essentially an investment Fund) for purposes of investing part of the 51% equity in order to benefit not just the present generation but the next generation and several more to come.

Hell, the United States of America has a similar fund and so do Australia, France and China. And in all these countries, the Fund has demonstrated that, if used for its original purpose, it can be central in guaranteeing a better life for all.

Make no mistake, the indigenisation drive is a national exercise intended to benefit the majority of indigenous Zimbabweans. In addition to the Sovereign Wealth Fund, for example, (and all of this was really explained by the Minister) there are other safeguards in place to ensure the widest possible advantage.

General Amendment 114 of 2011 (and Shepherd Mushonga can really make as much noise as he wants about this) enjoins government to ensure that part of the 51% stake goes towards Employee and Community Share Ownership Trusts. This way, our communities can enjoy not just the financial benefits that come with mining, but ownership as well. But more than that, they will be able, of their own free will, to determine how the proceeds of the minerals are utilised as opposed to being dictated to.

The people of Chiadzwa, Bindura, Hwange, Chegutu, Kadoma and Mutoko must all be able to have something to show for their resource-rich communities. That there has virtually been no development in these areas is an absolute disgrace.

Going forward, and starting with the present breed of foreign investors, anyone who comes here for purposes of extracting our natural resources, must, as a rule, disburse part of their benefits in a way that is commensurate with the quantity and value of our minerals. And this is not a political argument, it’s a pecuniary one. It’s not personal either, it’s the fair and just thing to do.

And Africa had better wake up. Tanzania and especially Ghana have attracted a great deal of investors in their gold mining sectors yet, today, both are crying foul. Only 5% of the total gold export value has found its way into the Ghanaian purse. Can you believe it? It is daylight robbery and Africa needs to wise-up before it’s too late.

Certainly in Zimbabwe, it is time to do things differently, for the benefit of all and sundry. Mercifully, this is not the Lobengula era. It’s the Mugabe epoch, the age of development and our time for improvement has come.

Believe it or not (and you better believe it) the indigenisation exercise is not about President Mugabe, or Zanu PF or any of the alleged beneficiaries. It is about eradicating poverty and improving the prospects and welfare of this country and its people. It is about rectifying the inequities of the past.

It is certainly about giving effect to our people’s rights as enshrined in the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights, the African Charter as well as the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights – all of which, by the way, compel member states to “take all necessary steps” to improve the lives of their people. Poverty, too, is a human rights issue and anyone who thought otherwise ought to think again.

In my respectful view, it might also be necessary, after this generation of foreign miners, for the government to compel every subsequent miner or any other investor for that matter, to demonstrate how the government’s 51% could be invested in, say, the manufacturing sector in order to ensure job creation.

Doing so, I believe, would not just be broad-based empowerment; it would be the broadest and most direct way of empowering our people especially in a country with over 80% unemployment.

As for Reuters, well they can go to hell. We cannot succeed in convincing every Tom, Dick and Harry that enough has been done to ensure that the indigenisation scheme is concluded amicably and to the maximum possible benefit of everyone. Personally, I would much rather keep warm and defeat the flu that has taken charge of my body than waste energy on people of no faith.

As long as we know the plans we have for our people, plans to prosper them and not to harm them, the rest is just complete and utter nonsense caused partly by bias, partly by malice and partly by lack of professionalism.

Labels: INDIGENIZATION AND EMPOWERMENT ACT (ZIMBABWE), REUTERS

posted by MrK @ 5:25 PM