Maravi

(NEWZIMBABWE) Indigenisation won’t create jobs: PM

COMMENT - More neoliberal nonsense about 'job creation' through creating a little employment in mining,instead of job creation through creating a lot of jobs through collection of taxes from the mines and investing that money in infrastructure, agriculture and manufacturing.

Indigenisation won’t create jobs: PM
05/12/2011 00:00:00
by Staff Reporter

PRIME Minister and MDC-T leader, Morgan Tsvangirai has blasted the indigenisation programme insisting the policy will not solve the country's unemployment crisis. Foreign companies are now required by law to localise control of at least 51 percent of their operations in a move President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu PF argues will help economically empower the country’s historically disadvantaged black majority.

But the programme has divided the country’s coalition government with Tsvangirai’s MDC-T party coming on the side of critics who say the policy will drive away much-needed investment.

Tsvangirai told supporters at a rally in Bulilima East, Plumtree over the weekend that his party differed with Zanu PF on the issue, saying the model being pushed by Mugabe would not create jobs.

“How are jobs created? Jobs are created by ensuring that you increase the size of the cake not shrinking the small cake,” he said.

“Jobs are not created by forcibly taking over part of established companies, but by ensuring that there are more companies opening. That’s where we differ with Zanu PF on indigenisation.

“Most of our young people have crossed the borders to get jobs, yet Zanu PF is destroying industries.”

Tsvangirai also said his party was ready for elections expected next year once the ‘right’ conditions were put in place.

“We won the mandate of the people before, we are not afraid of elections. We only want the elections to be conducted in a free and fair manner,” he said.

Mugabe wants fresh polls early next year, insisting the coalition government had become unworkable.

But Tsvangirai said the unity deal had helped turn-around the country’s economy and revive collapsed social services.

“Our country now has one of the lowest inflation in the world and a growth rate of 9.4 % is expected in the next year which is a significant improvement as compared to no progress at all,” he said.

“In the social services sector, people now go to the hospitals and are getting treatment. In the education sector, for the first time we have printed 13 million text books so that every primary school child has four textbooks of elementary education. We are working to ensure that the same happens to our secondary school children.”

Labels: INDIGENIZATION AND EMPOWERMENT ACT (ZIMBABWE), MDC, MORGAN TSVANGIRAI, NEOLIBERALISM

posted by MrK @ 1:55 AM