COMMENT - "“There is nothing that the MDC did in that regard to turnaround the economy. It was a result of
dollarisation. That is where the change came from not as a result of their implementing any praiseworthy policy. The MDC is pretty much out of its depth,’’ Hawkins said. "
Time to cut the chase
Wednesday, 13 June 2012 17:52
It is a common, but seemingly heartless response by any newsman whenever reports of a road traffic accident filter through. The first question is always, ‘‘were there any fatalities/ pafa vangani?’’
In the absence of fatalities one is bound to hear ‘‘haa hapana nyaya/ it’s not a story,’’ accompanied by discernible disappointment on the newsman’s face for an ordinary accident is just that, bad copy. It doesn’t sell the papers.
I have always been fascinated by this human condition that seems to put business ahead of human life.The mundane is not news.
I am sure many who have been following international media over the past few months will have noticed that Zimbabwe has been largely missing from the newscasts.
This either means westerners have realised the game is up in Harare, which may explain talk of moves to effect regime change at Harvest House, or the re-engagement process is gathering momentum, true to the dictum, if you can’t beat them, join them.
What is more, word doing the rounds is that the BBC wants to interview William Masvinu, who was conferred with the title of Mr Ugly Harare at a pageant held at City Sports Bar a fortnight ago.
It appears the politically ugly among us are no longer that newsworthy, the Masvinus are.
The other noticeable trend, over the past few months, are the attacks the MDC-T is being subjected to by its erstwhile allies like the CFU, ZCTU, NCA, Zinasu to mention just a few.
Tsvangirai is being deserted, not only by his handlers, but hangers on too.
And earlier this week, it was the turn of University of Zimbabwe economics Professor Tony Hawkins, who has hardly been flattering to Zanu-PF over the years.
Hawkins tore into what MDC-T hopes to use as a campaign issue: Their claim that their entry into Government stabilised the economy and brought inflation from nine to two-digit levels.
MDC-T secretary-general Tendai Biti, who is finance minister in the inclusive Government was even dubbed ‘‘best finance minister in Africa’’ for it.
Professor Hawkins was quoted in the South African weekly, the Sunday Times over the weekend blasting MDC-T for policy incoherence and for crediting itself with turning around the economy, which halted astronomical inflation in early 2009.
In the article titled, “MDC slated over economic revival claims,” and reproduced by this paper, Prof Hawkins pointed out that MDC-T had nothing directly to do with the fall in inflation as dollarisation brought an overnight change to the economy.
“There is nothing that the MDC did in that regard to turnaround the economy. It was a result of dollarisation. That is where the change came from not as a result of their implementing any praiseworthy policy. The MDC is pretty much out of its depth,’’ Hawkins said.
The then acting finance minister Patrick Chinamasa and Zanu-PF introduced dollarisation in a budget presented on Thursday January 29, 2009; a whole fortnight before the formation of the inclusive Government which was sworn in on February 13 the same year.
The then acting finance minister Chinamasa, presented this new policy package in the last budget of an exclusively Zanu-PF Government, after endless days and nights of inter-agency brainstorming.
The policy and decision to dollarise was a Zanu-PF idea, the implementation was by Zanu-PF.
The inclusive Government inherited a Zanu-PF programme, Biti found it there and is still to introduce anything as finance minister in the inclusive Government.
And now MDC-T wants to not only steal the idea, but to patent it and run with it at election time.
How they thought they could do that and get away with it is anybody’s guess.
In fact, the inclusive Government has been governing on Zanu-PF ideas.
MDC-T’s record in Government is an unenviable one, corruption in the councils and lethargy in central Government.
MDC-T leaders have, however, made headlines mostly for the wrong reasons, mostly mundane, shockingly puerile.
Take Tabitha Khumalo who wants the legalisation of prostitution and camaraderie between wives and mistresses.
Sithembile Mlothswa who wants sex toys for prisoners and a cap on the number of sexual encounters per month.
And of course, Tsvangirai’s name-sake, good ole Morgan Femai who wants our beautiful women to be less attractive to us; leaving many wondering whether given
his party’s pro-gay stance, he wants us to be attracted to one another.
The bottom line is something is afoot at Harvest House that may explain why the MDC-T breaks into goosebumps whenever the word election rolls off anyone’s lips.
Interesting things, very interesting things have been happening over the past few weeks, first you have Morgan Tsvangirai prancing to China at the invitation of the Municipality of Beijing, and claiming that he was invited by the Chinese government.
A clear quest for a home given the vibes from his handlers who no longer find him politically sexy.
The China jaunt, that came on the backdrop a Sinophobic campaign by his party, followed revelations by NCA chairman, Professor Lovemore Madhuku that some Western countries had approached him to headhunt for a capable leader for the MDC.
And where is Zanu-PF in all this? Tsvangirai’s flanks are exposed, does it have to take Hawkins to see that?
And the talk of election roadmaps, and constitution-making as if a new constitution was ever a pre-condition for elections should be put to rest.
It’s time to cut the chase, call for elections and finalise the Constitution thereafter.
I do not, for the life of me, see Copac finalising in a matter of months, what they have failed to do in three years.
Tsvangirai and his party are out at sea without a compass.
It’s time to bring the wave.
Labels: CAESAR ZVAYI, COPAC, MDC, PATRICK CHINAMASA, TONY HAWKINS
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Tsvangirai’s MDC-T broke, losing key allies
This article was written by Our reporter on 20 May, at 22 : 30 PM
PRIME Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s party is quickly losing allies and is facing -serious financial problems that are threatening its public outreach policy and development of the party. The Movement for Democratic Change party (MDC-T) has previously enjoyed the backing of western states and western funders, but since the 2008-9 ‘great recession’ the party has seen its finances depleted.
Western states can no longer afford to fund political groups like the MDC-T. The New Labour party of Tony Blair (and Gordon Brown) and the Republican party of George W Bush, who were traditional funders of the MDC-T are now out of power.
The new governments in the west have taken a more cautious and different approach to the problems in Zimbabwe than their predecessors, preferring to use diplomatic machinery to engage the Zimbabwean government, than fund the MDC-T to effect regime change.
Groups within the country that have also traditionally funded the party are also getting weary of fighting a losing battle. The Commercial Farmers’ Union (CFU), for example, previously supported the MDC-T in the hope that the party would reverse the fast-track land reform programme which left many white commercial farmers with no livelihoods.
The CFU, with more than 3,500 members out of their prime properties, expected the Prime Minister’s party to fight in their corner following the formation of the inclusive Government in 2009.
No dispossessed commercial farmer has managed to get back the farms four years later.
Charles Taffs, the CFU president, last week said: “What is the MDC’s policy on indigenisation, mining and land? It concerns us that all that they want to do and will hinge their election campaign (on) is to remove President Mugabe and Zanu-PF from power. ”That’s what they have been trying to do in the past decade.”
He added: “At least Zanu-PF programmes are clear-cut and well-known. It’s about time the election became a contestation of ideas”, he added.
Asked to give his views on the performance of the inclusive Government, Taffs said: “It has brought some stability, but the indigenisation programme has now put fear in every other sector.”
Tony Hawkins, an economics professor at the University of Zimbabwe, was quoted by the Financial Gazette saying the MDC-T has become weak and “is pretty much out of its depth”.
“The officials that PM Tsvangirai surrounds himself with really do not offer much. Besides Elton Mangoma (Energy and Power Development Minister) who is an accountant by profession and Tendai Biti (Finance Minister), a lawyer, who else do they really have?”
Trevor Maisiri, a political analyst, said: “Fatigue has set in from its supporters and allies as a result the MDC -T has fell short of expectations.”
Prime Minister Tsvangirai has also been beset with personal problems that have lost him the support of the women’s vote. His treatment of women, Lorcadia Tembo in particular, whom he dumped after only six days of marriage, is said to have cost him support of a vital voter constituency.
Labels: MDC, MORGAN TSVANGIRAI, TONY HAWKINS
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COMMENT - These two ancient rhodies couldn't think themselves out of a paper bag, or they're just lying. Only a fool would go to them for advice on anything. (Dumb***). The bumper harvest was bound to lower food prices. And by the way, John Robertson is not 'an independent economist based in Harare', he is part of The Economist Intelligence Unit. For a much better article, see:
Zimbabwe: Annual Inflation Slows to 4,3 Percent, by Tawanda Musarurwa (17 February 2012).
Zimbabwe's inflation figures don't add up
MATT QUIGLEY CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA - Mar 16 2012 14:40
Zimbabwe's annual inflation rate remained unchanged at 4.3% in February, according to official statistics released on Thursday. On a monthly basis, the rate of price rises facing Zimbabwean consumers edged up only slightly from 0.46% in January to 0.49% in February.
These official figures suggest that prices are rising at a slower annual rate in Zimbabwe than in neighbouring countries. Zambia reported a 6.0% annual inflation rate last month, for example, and South Africa most recently recorded a 6.3% inflation rate in January.
Tony Hawkins, an economist at the University of Zimbabwe and member of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe's monetary policy committee, believes that "the figures don't stack up". They are "not realistic", he said in a telephone interview earlier on Friday.
[Project much, Tony? - MrK]
The consumer price index (CPI) data released by Zimbabwe's National Statistical Office -- Zimstat -- suggested that prices have increased at just over 1.0% in the three years since the country abandoned its local currency after a prolonged period of hyperinflation.
According to the International Monetary Fund, the only other country in the world to experience such a low rate of inflation over the same time period was Japan, a country which has long battled deflation or falling prices.
[Those two economies aren't even compatable. - MrK]
The IMF, according to Hawkins, "reckons Zimbabwe's inflation rate has been closer to 6%".
Hawkins believes that one of the reasons the numbers are so inaccurate is that Zimbabwe's consumer price index -- compiled based on the average prices of a fixed basket of consumer goods -- gives a 30% weighting to food prices. Most African countries weight food at around 50%, he says.
John Robertson, an independent economist based in Harare, agrees that something is amiss in the data.
"[CPI] numbers have not gone up in the last three months, very much against expectations," Robertson said, "Government increased import duties on food in January, but the food [price] index has yet to move."
Robertson argues that Zimbabwe's highly competitive retail environment may partially explain the situation. Zimbabwe has experienced a significant expansion in supermarket and other retail space since 2009's "dollarisation" (abandonment of the local currency primarily in favour of the US dollar and South African rand). And, more recently, retailers increased their stocks around the Christmas holidays.
Although reliable retail sales figures are not available in Zimbabwe, Robertson believes that retailers are experiencing a surplus of goods. As evidence, he cites the fact that retailers have yet to repay the banks for the borrowing they undertook late last year to stock up. As a result of this, and other factors, Zimbabwe's retailers have not been able to achieve price increases, keeping inflation in check.
"There is very little liquidity [in the country] and cash is just not available." As a result, he argued, "retail sales have suffered over the past few months".
Although the two economists cite different possible explanations for the data's unreliability, they both believe that the official statistics are painting a "more and more distorted picture", as Hawkins explained.
Robertson agrees. "I think there is a certain amount of political interference in the numbers."
Consumer price index (CPI) figures compiled and released by Zimstat are one of very few economic statistics regularly available in the troubled nation.
In South Africa, dozens of economic variables -- from inflation measures to tourism statistics -- are released -- predictably, regularly and reliably -- by Statistics South Africa (Stats SA). This information, in aggregate, provides a useful snapshot of the country's economy to policymakers, economists, investors and businesses. Zimbabweans do not enjoy the same luxury.
An online visit to Zimstat on Friday morning resulted in a message informing visitors that the website is down. The same happens with a visit to the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (ZSE), which was hacked in August of last year and has been "under maintenance" ever since.
Labels: INFLATION, NEOLIBERALISM, TONY HAWKINS, ZIMBABWE
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Banking sector safe: Gono
Friday, 20 January 2012 00:00
Golden Sibanda Senior Business Reporter
RESERVE Bank of Zimbabwe Governor Dr Gideon Gono has given assurances that the domestic financial sector is safe and sound despite facing numerous financial and economic challenges. Dr Gono made the remarks at the Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries economic seminar in Harare yesterday, pointing out that severe liquidity challenges were fertile ground for financial sector instability.
The central bank governor assured the nation that the sector was safe and sound with 96 percent in deposits, assets and market share reportedly in the hands of the strongest banks with troubled banks holding the balance.
"As of December 31, 2011 the strongest banks held 96 percent of the market share. They had 97,3 percent share of assets and 96,1 percent share of loans while troubled banks held 4,1 percent share of assets, 2,6 percent market of deposits and 3,84 percent loans. It is about values and not about the numbers," said Dr Gono.
"They (troubled banks) may not be systemically important when we do the evaluation. Looking at the current state of affairs, the sector is generally safe and sound inspite of a lot of constraints the sector is facing," he said.
But Dr Gono emphasised that the current situation was precarious in that neither the central bank nor Treasury had financial capacity to intervene in the event of a major liquidity crisis.
The central bank requires more than US$150 million to effectively perform its lender of last resort function and participate in financial intermediation by determining accommodation rates to influence interest rates.
An unnamed foreign financial institution has pledged more than US$100 million to Zimbabwe for purposes of reviving the apex bank's lender of last resort function and Dr Gono said this should be pursued without delay.
To alleviate liquidity constraints he proposed introduction of Government paper such as Treasury bills to unlock funds currently circulating outside the formal banking system and securitising the country's resources. The securitisation would entail setting structures to derive value out of assets such as minerals and housing stock.
[Not that I care about 'GDP growth', but Tony Hawkins is usually wrong, although he likes to claim he is right after the fact. - MrK]
Speaking at the same occasion, economist Professor Tony Hawkins dismissed Finance Minister Tendai Biti's economic growth projections for the current year, contained in his 2012 National Budget statement.
Professor Hawkins said the economy was highly likely to lose its growth momentum and expand, at most, by 5 percent while gross domestic product and inflation would increase by 7 percent and 9,3 percent respectively.
But in his Budget statement Minister Biti said the economy would expand by 9,4 percent driven by improved performance and agriculture and mining while inflation would close the year around 5 percent.
Government's move to protect fragile industries is seen pushing up prices and consequently putting pressure on inflation.
"I think they should have been smoking something when they made these projections," said Prof Hawkins.
The University of Zimbabwe professor of economics based his forecast on the fact that Zimbabwe was presently reliant on resource driven growth, which was likely to suffer as global mineral prices look set to take a dive.
He also pointed out that there was likelihood of reduced output from the agriculture sector this season in respect of major crops namely maize, tobacco, cotton and soya due to factors associated with weather and key inputs.
Output from the manufacturing sector is also seen at reduced levels due to expected increased competition from cheaper imports from South Africa with the rand seen losing ground against the US dollar.
Labels: CONFEDERATION OF ZIMBABWE INDUSTRIES, GIDEON GONO, RBZ, TENDAI BITI, TONY HAWKINS
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No, I can’t take such racism: Kasukuwere
Sunday Mail Reporter
Monday 29 March, 2010
Walked out of the meeting after Hawkins likened the Indigenisation and Empowerment Act to apartheid law
Youth Development, Indigenisation and Empowerment Minister Cde Saviour Kasukuwere and black empowerment activists on Friday stormed out of a meeting with white entrepreneurs over what they termed “racist and backward” comments made by economist Professor Tony Hawkins. The meeting had been organised by a group of mainly white entrepreneurs to discuss the Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Act.
In an interview yesterday, Minister Kasukuwere said it was shocking that there were still some elements in society who were blatantly racist and against the empowerment of the black majority in Zimbabwe. He said he had walked out of the meeting after Prof Hawkins likened the Indigenisation and Empowerment Act to apartheid law.
“Mr Hawkins made some ludicrous comments which I considered racist and backward. “He basically implied that the Indigenisation and Empowerment Act was a worthless piece of legislation. It is obvious that his interests are only to protect the white people and he is not interested in the empowerment of the black majority. That is not acceptable,” he said.
Minister Kasukuwere said he was surprised by Mr Hawkins’ remarks, adding that he had hoped that the forum would be interactive and informative.
“I was shocked that they chose to take a racist stance at such a meeting which was meant to be interactive and informative,” he said. Cde Kasukuwere told the chairman of the meeting, Mr David Harrison, that he had been insulted at the forum, adding that despite the unfortunate incident, his ministry would continue to seek dialogue over the new law.
“We always look for amicable discussions and we are willing to engage with all stakeholders over the law because it affects the majority of Zimbabweans,” he said. Cde Kasukuwere said the Government would not go back on the Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Act as it was part of its broad agenda to uplift the status of the majority.
“We are going ahead and we will not be deterred,” he said.
The meeting, which was held at a Harare hotel, was organised by Human Resources (Pvt) Limited managing director Mr Harrison and attracted mainly white managers, amongst other stakeholders. Minister Kasukuwere told Mr Harrison that he had been insulted and advised him to “invite me when you have mobilised sober people”.
Affirmative Action Group (AAG) secretary-general Mr Tafadzwa Musarara said officials from his organisation also walked out of the meeting in solidarity with the minister after taking note of the allegedly racist intentions of the convention.
“We walked out in solidarity with the minister because we realised that it was a racist convention. It was most unfortunate that Mr Harrison appeared to support Professor Hawkins’ statements. We walked out before we presented our paper,” he said.
He said although they were major proponents of black empowerment and chief lobbyists during the crafting of the legislation, the AAG still welcomed engagement and criticism of the new law. Both Mr Harrison and Prof Hawkins could not be reached for comment yesterday. The Government passed the indigenisation law to empower the black majority. The law stipulates that all local companies worth over US$500 000 should cede 51 percent of their shareholding to indigenous black Zimbabweans and there are timeframes for this.
Labels: AAG, INDIGENIZATION AND EMPOWERMENT ACT (ZIMBABWE), SAVIOUR KASUKUWERE, TAFADZWA MUSARARA, TONY HAWKINS
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Tony Hawkins offside
EDITOR — I read with utmost disgust the story about a certain economist called Professor Tony Hawkins comparing the indigenisation laws of this country with apartheid. Are we missing something here?
Wasn’t the current economic dispensation favouring whites and built on the back of the exploitation of indigenous peoples, which Hawkins and his likes want to protect, not predicated on racism and apartheid? We all know what has happened in the history of Zimbabwe and Africa in general.
Did Rhodesian settlers apply any fair laws save deliberate enrichment of the white minority at the expense of the majority blacks?
Did they not rape, plunder, exploit and taint our people and our resources in marching to their present wealth?
The laws of Zimbabwe still gave them such freedom almost three decades after Independence.
True, there are other bona fide investors who might have nothing to do with the heinous act of colonialism, but are admittedly fewer than the rogue racists which Hawkins seems to protect if not embody.
Even in the case of the former, there should be a compelling morality that dictates that the people in whose country they do business should gain considerably from their God-given or human resources. It is only bigots and racists who oppose this.
At any rate getting 49 percent stake in a foreign venture is about the fairest share one can get.
Could we imagine Nigel Chanakira getting the same in Barclays, or better still more than that, had he the capital?
Mercy Matapatira.
Harare.
Labels: INDIGENIZATION AND EMPOWERMENT ACT (ZIMBABWE), RHODESIANS, TONY HAWKINS
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what’s left
Sophists for sanctionsBy Stephen Gowans
February 9, 2010
Tony Hawkins, a professor of economics at the University of Zimbabwe, thinks that Western sanctions on Zimbabwe should be maintained but that their effects “are minimal” and that “their continued existence really plays into the hands of some people in Zanu-PF.”
You would think, then, that Hawkins would favor the lifting of sanctions. After all, why continue to play into the hands of Zanu-PF, if, like Hawkins, you’re opposed to the party, its direction and its program, and the sanctions’ effects are minimal anyway?
For decades, supporters of the U.S. economic war on Cuba have lied that a near total U.S. blockade of the island has had little effect on the Cuban economy. On the contrary, they say, the blockade has actually worked against the U.S., by handing Fidel Castro, and now his brother, Raul, a way of diverting attention from their “failed” economic policies.
The Castros, they say, blame Cuba’s problems on the blockade and thus evade responsibility for their much larger role in crippling the island’s economy.
Yet none of these people has recommended that the blockade be lifted, a measure you would think Cuba-opponents would immediately latch onto for its supposed benefits in making clear to Cubans that socialism, not the U.S. blockade, is the source of their poverty, something that might impel them to fulfill U.S. foreign policy goals by overturning socialism. So, why aren’t these people, if they truly believe what they’re saying, pressing for the blockade to be lifted?
The answer is simple: they don’t really believe the blockade has minimal effects, but have to say it does, so they can blame Cuba’s poverty on the Castros.
Likewise, people like Hawkins don’t really believe sanctions on Zimbabwe have minimal effects, but have to say they do, so they can blame Zimbabwe’s economic troubles on Zanu-PF policies, particularly land reform.
Hawkins acknowledges his position is “a bit of a contradiction” (a bit?) but that he opposes the lifting of sanctions because ending them “would convince Zanu-PF that they are winning and make them even more intransigent than they are already.”
But you would think that if the effects of the sanctions were truly minimal, that Hawkins could scarcely care if lifting them allowed Zanu-PF something so insignificant as to think it was winning, when, by being denied the sanctions issue, it would really be losing. For how could Zanu-PF blame Zimbabwe’s troubles on sanctions if sanctions no longer existed? Surely, Hawkins can see that ending the sanctions has little downside (the effects are minimal anyway, he says) and a huge upside (Mugabe would no longer be able to blame the country’s difficulties on sanctions.)
To be effective, a sanctions regime requires more than sanctions alone. It also requires an understanding of the sanctions’ effects: are they devastating the economy or only creating inconvenience for a few highly placed political operatives? And what is the cause of the country’s economic woes: sanctions or failed policies?
The purpose of sanctions is to force a change of government. It’s critical that the people the sanctions are imposed on attribute the effects of the sanctions to their government’s policies, not to the sanctions themselves, otherwise, they won’t act to change their government, as the imposers of the sanctions intend.
This is where Hawkins comes in. Washington, London and the E.U. impose sanctions to wreck the economy. Hawkins’ task is to persuade Zimbabweans that sanctions aren’t devastating, and that the problems Zimbabweans face, come from within the country (Zanu-PF’s policies), not outside (sanctions). But in trying to make his case, he ties himself into knots – just as proponents of the U.S. blockade on Cuba do.
Hawkins wants Zanu-PF gone for the same reason the U.S. State Department, Whitehall and other supporters of the U.S. blockade on Cuba want the Castros gone: to create political jurisdictions congenial to Western investors, where the interests of the domestic population don’t matter. Hawkins says Zimbabweans “need a return to conditions that will attract investment that will foster confidence and so on.”
A return? Does he mean to go backward, to a time when the land and resources were in the hands of the British and their descendants, when indigenous Zimbabweans were relegated to roles as farm-workers, miners and employees, never owners?
It should be recalled that the British government, in the person of Clare Short, refused to back Zimbabwe’s fast-track land reform program because returning the land to the people British settlers stole it from would, she said, damage “prospects for attracting investment.”
Returning to conditions that will attract investment is code for undoing Zimbabwe’s land reform program, and giving the country back to the British. Making the case for so regressive a program could only rest on the kind of sophistry Hawkins, and other promoters of neo-colonialism, are prepared to try to bamboozle the Zimbabwe population with. Pity for them they keep tripping over their own contradictions.
Labels: COLOUR REVOLUTIONS, CUBA, NEOCOLONIALISM, SANCTIONS, STEPHEN GOWANS, TONY HAWKINS, ZDERA
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COMMENT - Interesting how opinions can change. PM Morgan Tsvangirai is often touted in the West as the 'former trade union leader', implying that he has the interests of ordinary workers at heart. However, this legislation is an excellent opportunity to advance those same workers. Even if it only meant that pension funds would become shareholders, it would direct money toward working people. However, like all neoliberal 'socialist' sellouts (Tony Blair comes to mind), he is more concerned about turning away 'investors'.
Tsvangirai rejects black quota law
by
09/02/2010 00:00:00
REGULATIONS published Tuesday in Zimbabwe declaring that large companies must hand blacks a 51 per cent stake within five years were summarily dismissed as "null and void" by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai.
The regulations, passed under two-year-old black empowerment legislation, say that by mid-April, all businesses with assets valued over $500,000 will have to submit to the government a form detailing the racial composition of their current shareholding. The power-sharing government, headed by President Robert Mugabe, would then decide how much of its shareholding is to be 'ceded' to 'indigenous' Zimbabweans.
"I am in charge of all policy formation in cabinet and neither myself nor the cabinet were shown these regulations before they were gazetted," former opposition leader Tsvangirai said in a statement."'They were published without due process as detailed in the constitution and are therefore null and void."
A maximum penalty of five years in jail faces any business that misses the deadline, according to the regulations.
The same penalty awaits whites who use black employees as "fronts", according to the law. The country's minister of indigenisation will keep of list of "suitable candidates", to whom shares can be ceded.
"We are trying to come up with policies that attract investment into the country," said Tsvangirai's spokesman, James Maridadi. "The thrust is to portray Zimbabwe as a safe destination for investment. This is counter-productive, it is old thinking.'
He said Tsvangirai was to meet with Mugabe over the issue. The prime minister has also summoned Empowerment Minister Saviour Kusukuwere, a Mugabe appointee, to a meeting Wednesday.
Political analysts say the promulgation of the law appears to be a deliberate strategy by Mugabe's Zanu-PF party to try and shore up its shrinking support among the electorate. Mugabe has long used patronage as a means to secure loyalty.
"It will obviously turn off investment very strongly," said economist Tony Hawkins.
"It doesn't matter who they are, the Chinese, everyone. And the Chinese are the biggest investors."
Companies most likely to be affected were foreign-owned, he said, and investors on Zimbabwe's stock exchange.
Last week, Tsvangirai told big business at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland that "confidence has returned" to Zimbabwe following a decade of economic collapse. "This is the time to look at the country in a more positive light," he said.
Business executives expressed shock at the new laws. "First they took the farms, now they are taking businesses," said one executive.
The regulations take effect on March 1 and companies have 45 days in which to complete and submit to the government a form that gives the names, nationality and identity details of their shareholders, and whether they are "indigenous" or "non-indigenous" Zimbabweans.
Zimbabwe's racial profile has fundamentally changed since independence from white minority rule nearly 30 years ago, when the economy was heavily dominated by whites. Since then, the white population has fallen from 200,000 to around 30,000 and most major businesses are run by blacks.
At Davos last week, Rio Tinto diamonds and minerals chief executive Harry Kenyon-Slaney, said "the only threat to our operations is indigenisation programmes."
Labels: BEE, ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT, MORGAN TSVANGIRAI, NEOLIBERALISM, TONY HAWKINS
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